Ocean Sprawl

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Land Reclamation ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Local Environment ◽  
Marine Species ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Artificial Structures ◽  
Energy Devices ◽  
Ship Hulls ◽  
Ocean Sprawl

Ocean sprawl is the proliferation of engineered artificial structures in coastal and offshore marine environments. These include ship hulls; infrastructure associated with land reclamation and urbanization (e.g., seawalls, bridges, floating docks); fisheries (artificial reefs, aquaculture installations); coastal defence structures (e.g., breakwaters, groynes); resource extraction (oil and gas rigs, renewable energy devices); and shipwrecks. Only fixed permanent and semipermanent structures are considered here and ship hulls are not included. Single structures can scale up with dramatic consequences for the local environment. Extreme examples of this include: the “New Great Wall” of China—seawalls enclosing coastal wetlands covering 60 percent of the total length of the Chinese coastline; “The World”, Dubai—an archipelago of over three hundred artificial islands constructed in the shape of a world map; and the “Steel Archipelago,” which describes more than four thousand oil and gas structures in the Gulf of Mexico. The placement of these fixed artificial structures modifies the local physical and chemical environment with cascading impacts on the composition, functioning, and service provision of surrounding species, habitats, and ecosystems. These structures also provide novel habitat which can offer surface for attachment, food, and protection for myriad marine species. They can act as fish aggregating devices, attracting fishing and other human activities. These structures may also have wide-reaching impacts through acting as barriers or conduits to ecological connectivity—the movement of organisms, materials, and energy between habitat units within seascapes. An improved understanding of the biological communities associated with artificial structures, coupled with the global drive for sustainable development, is driving an explosion of research into the design of multifunctional structures with built-in secondary ecological or socioeconomic benefits. Results to date have been promising but greater integration of the fields of ecology, engineering, and social sciences is necessary to better connect theory and practice in this emerging discipline.

scholarly journals Mechanical Properties of Protective Coatings against Marine Fouling: A Review

Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 173
Author(s):  
Alessandro Pistone ◽  
Cristina Scolaro ◽  
Annamaria Visco
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Properties ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Protective Coatings ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Product Distribution ◽  
Properties Of Coatings ◽  
Fouling Organism ◽  
Ship Hulls ◽  
Marine Industry ◽  
Application Fields

The accumulation of marine organisms on ship hulls, such as microorganisms, barnacles, and seaweeds, represents a global problem for maritime industries, with both economic and environmental costs. The use of biocide-containing paints poses a serious threat to marine ecosystems, affecting both target and non-target organisms driving science and technology towards non-biocidal solutions based on physico-chemical and materials properties of coatings. The review reports recent development of hydrophobic protective coatings in terms of mechanical properties, correlated with the wet ability features. The attention is focused mainly on coatings based on siloxane and epoxy resin due to the wide application fields of such systems in the marine industry. Polyurethane and other systems have been considered as well. These coatings for anti-fouling applications needs to be both long-term mechanically stable, perfectly adherent with the metallic/composite substrate, and capable to detach/destroy the fouling organism. Prospects should focus on developing even “greener” antifouling coatings solutions. These coatings should also be readily addressable to industrial scale-up for large-scale product distribution, possibly at a reasonable cost.

The Research of the Multimedia Technology Application in the Enhancing Oil and Gas Recovery Teaching

2013 ◽  
Vol 671-674 ◽  
pp. 3257-3260
Author(s):  
Wen Guo Ma ◽  
Ke Liang Wang ◽  
Ji Hong Zhang ◽  
Wen Xiang Wu ◽  
Jing Chun Wu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Training Program ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Petroleum Engineering ◽  
Multimedia Technology ◽  
Personnel Training ◽  
Technology Application ◽  
Gas Recovery

In this paper, the reformation of education concepts is studied during the implementation of the excellent engineer training program process. By the practical experience of innovative engineer personnel training is done in the Enhance Oil Recovery course of teaching practice, the innovative engineer personnel training content and reformation of education concepts is studied. Multimedia Technology ways to enhancing the relationship of theory and practice teaching, strengthen understanding and problem-solving abilities of students on the Enhancing Oil and gas Recovery teaching. It will provide references for the excellent engineer training program process in the field of petroleum engineering university.

Optimization of Mooring Configuration Parameters of Floating Wave Energy Converters

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro C. Vicente ◽  
Anto´nio F. O. Falca˜o ◽  
Paulo A. P. Justino
Keyword(s):  
Wave Energy ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Wave Energy Converter ◽  
Domain Model ◽  
Floating Point ◽  
Mooring System ◽  
Energy Converter ◽  
Energy Devices ◽  
Wave Energy Converters ◽  
Energy Converters

Floating point absorbers devices are a large class of wave energy converters for deployment offshore, typically in water depths between 40 and 100m. As floating oil and gas platforms, the devices are subject to drift forces due to waves, currents and wind, and therefore have to be kept in place by a proper mooring system. Although similarities can be found between the energy converting systems and floating platforms, the mooring design requirements will have some important differences between them, one of them associated to the fact that, in the case of a wave energy converter, the mooring connections may significantly modify its energy absorption properties by interacting with its oscillations. It is therefore important to examine what might be the more suitable mooring design for wave energy devices, according to the converters specifications. When defining a mooring system for a device, several initial parameters have to be established, such as cable material and thickness, distance to the mooring point on the bottom, and which can influence the device performance in terms of motion, power output and survivability. Different parameters, for which acceptable intervals can be established, will represent different power absorptions, displacements from equilibrium position, load demands on the moorings and of course also different costs. The work presented here analyzes what might be, for wave energy converter floating point absorber, the optimal mooring configuration parameters, respecting certain pre-established acceptable intervals and using a time-domain model that takes into account the non-linearities introduced by the mooring system. Numerical results for the mooring forces demands and also motions and absorbed power, are presented for two different mooring configurations for a system consisting of a hemispherical buoy in regular waves and assuming a liner PTO.

scholarly journals THEORETICAL FUNDAMENTALS OF AGRICULTURAL SPECIALISTS TRAINING

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (194) ◽  
pp. 10-13
Author(s):  
Olena Bida ◽  
◽  
Oleksandr Kuchai ◽  
Tetiana Kuchai ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Professional Training ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Local Environment ◽  
Rural Youth ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Modern Theory ◽  
Professional Activities ◽  
Global Issue ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
External Stimuli

The article considers the theoretical foundations of training of agricultural specialists. Contradictions have been identified as factors that determine changes in the training of agricultural specialists in the process of professional training of students. The professional training of future agricultural specialists has its own specifics, which is due to the fact that most of them are representatives of rural youth. Promising areas of professional training are highlighted. An important component of the development of professional training of specialists in the agricultural sector is the internship of teachers directly in the workplace. The article considers the signs of modern theory and practice of professional training of agricultural specialists. The professional training of future agricultural specialists has its own specifics, which is due to the fact that most of them are representatives of rural youth. These students are very persistent observant, attentive to the peculiarities of the natural environment, close to the ecosystems of the local environment and slow and deeper response to external stimuli. In times of significant economic, social and geopolitical transformations of society around the world, the education system faces a global issue - to prepare young people for new living conditions and professional activities in a highly automated environment of information and communication and innovative technologies, teach them to act independently competently carry out professional activities. The future specialist-agrarian must have a broad worldview, be able to conduct a comparative analysis of models of development of countries in different eras; to see the long-term perspective, to focus on clarifying the essential, objectively necessary aspects of events and phenomena of economic development. In addition, the scientific consciousness must form in students a clear system of views and practical beliefs based on universal qualities: honor, conscience, truthfulness, humanity.

scholarly journals Evaluation of the efficiency of using agricultural land in agricultural production

2021 ◽  
pp. 135-139
Author(s):  
L. V. Kireicheva ◽  
V. A. Shevchenko ◽  
I. F. Yurchenko
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Land Reclamation ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Industrial Complex ◽  
Land Resources ◽  
Integral Assessment

Relevance. The effective use of agricultural land is a fundamental prerequisite for the successful implementation in the agro-industrial complex of the task of providing the population with food, and production with raw materials. At the same time, the issues of methodological support of the procedures for determining the integral indicator for assessing the use of agricultural land, established on the basis of a theoretically grounded unified approach based on quantitative methods, have been developed with insufficient completeness. Actualization of the issues of improving the theory and practice of assessing the effectiveness of the use of agricultural land in agricultural production is becoming one of the priority tasks of land reclamation science. The purpose of this work is to create a methodological basis for the process of assessing the use of agricultural land, which guarantees the comparability of the considered options for agroproduction in different natural and economic conditions.Methods. The research is based on the method of point assessments for indicators of agricultural land exploitation and the formation on their basis an integral criterion of land use efficiency. The proposed procedure includes: analysis of statistical data characterizing the dynamics of the values of indicators of used land resources, calculation of local assessments of the feasibility of their exploitation and assessment of the efficiency of land use according to a generalizing criterion represented by the sum of these local assessments.Results. A methodology has been developed and a method has been created for determining the efficiency of the use of agricultural land, based on a generalized integral assessment of the operation of agricultural land, which allows to identify bottlenecks in agricultural production and outline rational directions for the development of land use. The testing of the algorithm of the methodology and capabilities of the scale for the integral assessment of the efficiency of the use of land resources was carried out on the example of the Non-Black Earth Zone of the Russian Federation. Shown is an unsatisfactory (below the national average) contribution of agricultural production to the gross regional product. On the whole, positive dynamics of agricultural production in the Non-Black Earth Zone was established, which is achieved due to the development of animal husbandry, which is an effective factor in the formation of modern efficient agriculture of the territory, with the orientation of the crop production system on the raw material basis of feed production or the sector of the economy of the agro-industrial complex of the territory.

Digital Change Takes a Network

2021 ◽  
Vol 73 (03) ◽  
pp. 24-24
Author(s):  
Stephen Rassenfoss
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Skills Training ◽  
Vice President ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Digital Skills ◽  
New Thinking ◽  
Potential Applications ◽  
Digital Knowledge

A lot is expected of Meindert Dillen and Philipp von Wussow by Wintershall Dea. Their mission is to ensure that the company’s technical team is increasingly able to use advanced data analysis to find and produce oil and gas more productively. The focus is on increasing the capabilities of those with traditional engineering and geology training. “Someone who can understand seismic processing can program a neural network,” said Patrick von Pattay, a vice president for Wintershall Dea and chairman off the Digital Transformation Committee of SPE’s Digital Energy Technical Section. That is an apt description of Dillen, whose work as a geophysicist using advanced analytics led to his current job. In both roles, finding new ways to extract useful bits of information from massive data sets is valuable. This team was created after the merger of Wintershall and Dea - with one member from each company. They have been working to scale up their influence by “building a community and pulling people together.” A key part of their effort was creating a digital skills network a few years ago. This grassroots effort has helped bring together technical staffers with the wide range of traditional and digital knowledge needed to deliver digital change. “We are in a lucky position,” Dillen said. “A lot of people are interested in this technology and want to apply it in ways” that can have a significant impact. The number involved must be expressed as a range - between 100 and 200, because engagement varies - with people including geophysics experts who were learning about neural networks in the 1980s when the available computing power limited its uses and digital natives who wonder why their workplace is not using the tools found in everyday life. A network’s worth of skills is required because the potential applications are as varied as the many disciplines within engineering, geology, and geophysics, among others. “No one on Earth can define all the use cases,” said von Wussow, whose career began in subsurface roles and later included stops in business development and management along the way to analytics. The company does offer digital skills training and discussions - which are done online because of COVID-19. A lot of the new thinking is spread by word of mouth in online communities. “Now, people in Norway who know people in Argentina and Russia spread the ideas,” von Wussow said. Von Wussow and Dillen sometimes play the role of matchmaker. Relatively simple requests can be met by connecting people with complementary skills inside the company or steering them to outside sources. Other times, the problem is bigger and project evaluation and management skills are required, beginning with figuring out the root of the problem, how digital might help solve it, and whether the benefit of doing so justifies the effort. If a project is a go, those involved need to think through the plan of attack and consider the people and resources required and whether they will come from inside or outside the company.

scholarly journals Long-term changes of ichthyoplankton communities in an Iberian estuary are driven by varying hydrodynamic conditions

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Monteiro ◽  
U M Azeiteiro ◽  
F Martinho ◽  
M A Pardal ◽  
A L Primo
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Variability ◽  
Larval Fish ◽  
Fish Larvae ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Variable Structure ◽  
Local Environment ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
Marine Species ◽  
Economic Implications ◽  
Species Dominance

Abstract Ichthyoplankton assemblages are key components of estuaries worldwide, playing a vital role as nurseries for fish larvae. Nonetheless, estuaries can be highly affected by ongoing climate change. Impacts of climate variability on ichthyoplankton assemblages will have consequences for marine pelagic food webs and fish populations biology, namely recruitment. This study aims to investigate the influence of environmental variability on an interannual abundance of ichthyoplankton assemblages of the Mondego estuary (Portugal). For this, an ichthyoplankton sampling programme of 13 years (2003–2015) along six distinct sampling stations was analysed to evaluate spatial, seasonal and interannual changes of ichthyoplankton distribution over periods of wet, regular and dry conditions. The ichthyoplanktonic community was dominated by Pomatoschistus spp. across all seasons and conditions, with higher larval abundances during summer and spring. Main changes were related to species seasonality and phenology as well as an increase in the number of marine species during extreme events. The larval fish community showed a strong relationship with the regional and local environment over the study, presenting a distinct yet highly variable structure during the 2009–2013 period. Reported changes will likely trigger major changes in species dominance and abundance, with clear ecological and socio-economic implications.

Methodology for environmental impact assessment of underwater noise on marine mammals

2011 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 467
Author(s):  
Dick Petersen ◽  
Antoine David ◽  
Darren Jurevicius
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Sound Propagation ◽  
Underwater Acoustics ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Marine Species ◽  
Marine Ecology ◽  
Underwater Sound ◽  
Underwater Noise ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
Marine Fauna

The oil and gas industry uses some exploration and production technologies that produce high levels of underwater sound, such as seismic surveys, underwater blasting for demolition and construction, and offshore piling. These underwater noise sources have the potential to impact marine species, which are usually reliant on sound instead of light as their primary sense for communication and sensing their environment. Regulatory interest in minimising the impacts of underwater noise on marine fauna is increasing. This paper presents a methodology for assessing these environmental impacts, with particular focus on cetaceans (whales and dolphins) and pinnipeds (seals and sea lions), although it can easily be adapted to other marine mammal species and fishes. It requires input from a variety of fields, such as: underwater acoustics for sound propagation modelling and source noise characterisation; marine bio-acoustics for determining the effects of sound on marine species’ hearing and communication; and marine ecology for identifying the marine species that may be affected and assessing the biological importance of noise-affected marine areas. These inputs are used in a risk assessment to assess the likely impacts of underwater noise on marine species, which is a collaborative effort by specialists in the fields of underwater acoustics, marine bio-acoustics and marine ecology.

Physical Component Testing to Simulate Dynamic Marine Load Conditions

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp R. Thies ◽  
Lars Johanning ◽  
Tessa Gordelier ◽  
Andrew Vickers ◽  
Sam Weller
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Fatigue Tests ◽  
Test Rig ◽  
Mooring Lines ◽  
Energy Devices ◽  
Component Testing ◽  
Component Test ◽  
Operational Load ◽  
Offshore Oil And Gas ◽  
Load Conditions

The reliability and integrity of components used in the marine offshore environment is paramount for the safety and viability of offshore installations. The engineering challenge is to design components that are robust enough to meet reliability targets whilst lean enough to minimise cost. This is particularly the case for offshore marine renewable installations which operate in the same, possibly harsher, environment as offshore oil and gas installations, and are subjected to highly cyclic and dynamic wave, wind and operational load conditions. The cost of electricity produced has to compete with other means of electricity generation and does thus not offer the same profit margins available as oil and gas commodities. As a result, components for marine renewable installations have to meet the target reliability, without the application of costly safety factors to account for load and environmental uncertainties. Industries with similar design tasks such as the aviation or automotive industry have successfully used a service simulation test approach to develop robust yet lean designs. This paper builds on an approach to establish and validate the reliability of floating renewable energy devices in which dedicated component testing using the purpose built Dynamic Marine Component test rig (DMaC) plays a pivotal role to assess, validate and predict the reliability of components in the marine environment. This paper presents a test rig for both static and fatigue tests of marine components such as mooring lines and mooring shackles under simulated or measured load conditions and provides two case studies from recently conducted mooring component tests. This includes an investigation into the load behaviour of synthetic mooring ropes and the ageing of mooring shackles.

scholarly journals Copper-Adapted Suillus luteus, a Symbiotic Solution for Pines Colonizing Cu Mine Spoils

2005 ◽  
Vol 71 (11) ◽  
pp. 7279-7284 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Adriaensen ◽  
T. Vrålstad ◽  
J.-P. Noben ◽  
J. Vangronsveld ◽  
J. V. Colpaert
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Land Reclamation ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Local Environment ◽  
Ectomycorrhizal Fungus ◽  
Suillus Luteus ◽  
Cu Toxicity ◽  
Pine Trees ◽  
Cu Tolerance

ABSTRACT Natural populations thriving in heavy-metal-contaminated ecosystems are often subjected to selective pressures for increased resistance to toxic metals. In the present study we describe a population of the ectomycorrhizal fungus Suillus luteus that colonized a toxic Cu mine spoil in Norway. We hypothesized that this population had developed adaptive Cu tolerance and was able to protect pine trees against Cu toxicity. We also tested for the existence of cotolerance to Cu and Zn in S. luteus. Isolates from Cu-polluted, Zn-polluted, and nonpolluted sites were grown in vitro on Cu- or Zn-supplemented medium. The Cu mine isolates exhibited high Cu tolerance, whereas the Zn-tolerant isolates were shown to be Cu sensitive, and vice versa. This indicates the evolution of metal-specific tolerance mechanisms is strongly triggered by the pollution in the local environment. Cotolerance does not occur in the S. luteus isolates studied. In a dose-response experiment, the Cu sensitivity of nonmycorrhizal Pinus sylvestris seedlings was compared to the sensitivity of mycorrhizal seedlings colonized either by a Cu-sensitive or Cu-tolerant S. luteus isolate. In nonmycorrhizal plants and plants colonized by the Cu-sensitive isolate, root growth and nutrient uptake were strongly inhibited under Cu stress conditions. In contrast, plants colonized by the Cu-tolerant isolate were hardly affected. The Cu-adapted S. luteus isolate provided excellent insurance against Cu toxicity in pine seedlings exposed to elevated Cu levels. Such a metal-adapted Suillus-Pinus combination might be suitable for large-scale land reclamation at phytotoxic metalliferous and industrial sites.

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