ECOLOGICAL AND GEOMORPHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE VULNERABILITY OF THE COASTS OF THE KARA SEA TO THE OIL SPILL

Author(s):  
Alexander Ermolov ◽  
Alexander Ermolov

International experience of oil spill response in the sea defines the priority of coastal protection and the need to identify as most valuable in ecological terms and the most vulnerable areas. Methodological approaches to the assessing the vulnerability of Arctic coasts to oil spills based on international systems of Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) and geomorphological zoning are considered in the article. The comprehensive environmental and geomorphological approach allowed us to form the morphodynamic basis for the classification of seacoasts and try to adapt the international system of indexes to the shores of the Kara Sea taking into account the specific natural conditions. This work has improved the expert assessments of the vulnerability and resilience of the seacoasts.

Author(s):  
Alexander Ermolov ◽  
Alexander Ermolov

International experience of oil spill response in the sea defines the priority of coastal protection and the need to identify as most valuable in ecological terms and the most vulnerable areas. Methodological approaches to the assessing the vulnerability of Arctic coasts to oil spills based on international systems of Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) and geomorphological zoning are considered in the article. The comprehensive environmental and geomorphological approach allowed us to form the morphodynamic basis for the classification of seacoasts and try to adapt the international system of indexes to the shores of the Kara Sea taking into account the specific natural conditions. This work has improved the expert assessments of the vulnerability and resilience of the seacoasts.


2001 ◽  
Vol 2001 (2) ◽  
pp. 1079-1081
Author(s):  
Seong-eok Joh ◽  
Song Hee You ◽  
Kyoung Hoon Lee ◽  
Soo Hyung Lee ◽  
Moon Jin Lee

ABSTRACT Oil spill countermeasure actions are combatants, and spilled oil is the enemy. A good operation map at the oil spill response plays a keystone role for victory as military combats. Various complicated geographical information—spill location, damaged areas, natural resources and positions of response resources like skimmers, booms and vessels—are involved in a spill situation. The development of Geographical Information System (GIS)-based spill management software was studied in the project entitled Computerized Oil Spill Response Support System in Korea, by Korea Ocean Research & Development Institute (KORDI) in cooperation with the Korea Maritime Police Agency (KMPA) and the Korea Environmental Science & Technology Institute (KESTI). The spill management software was developed to implement computer operation maps of oil spill countermeasures on the desktop of spill responders. Spill responders can draw the spill positions, damaged areas, and locations of response. The management of cleanup activities is another important role of this software. The users of this software can record every response activity with the time, location, and input amounts of resources, which allow for the evaluation of response activities and estimation of cleanup costs. Fisheries damage also can be assessed using the preimplemented aquaculture field database. The integrated oil spill model can predict oil trajectory of future with computer graphics animation. Moreover, Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) maps are included so spill responders can determine operational priority efficiently using the ESI and trajectory model predictions. This software is expected to give a great efficiency to spill responders and to be a good solution to manage oil spills.


Author(s):  
Rodrigo Zapelini Possobon ◽  
Rodrigo Cochrane Esteves ◽  
Anna Carolina Silva Pereira ◽  
Gustavo Xavier

Abstract The Brazilian oil spill response main regulation has been under a major review for the last couple of years. The origins of this regulation date back to the year 2000, when two accidents of great relevance happened: the Guanabara Bay and the Iguaçu River oil spills. These two accidents quickened the promulgation of the first version of this regulation, an adaptation of the USA framework for facilities transferring oil or hazardous material in bulk (33 CFR part 154). The major changes made during this adaptation to the Brazilian laws were: 01) The scope has been expanded to cover not only transferring coastal facilities, like ports and Abstract number oil terminals, but also oil rigs, offshore oil production units, pipelines and refineries. In a later revision other facilities were included: marinas, onshore oil rigs, shipyards and nautical clubs; 02) The response resources could only be provided by the owner of the facility, which has restrained the potential benefits of a shared capability approach like, for example, a specialized response company or association that could support several facilities in a region; In practice, the application of the same ground rule for inland, coastal and offshore facilities resulted in several distortions, like a dominance of the mechanical removal technique over other response techniques. This also resulted in the application of response time requirements designed for oil terminals to offshore facilities, resulting in an oversized dedicated oil spill response fleet. In addition, this rule is inadequate to linear spill sources, like marine pipelines, and inland facilities, like refineries. Finally, because of the aforementioned distortions and also some lack of technical guidance for relevant topics, like coastal protection, oil trajectory forecasting modelling, wildlife response planning, among others, several different interpretations of the national regulation have arrived from different levels of governmental agencies. This not only allowed for distinct requirements over time from a same agency but also created confusion when comparing the response capabilities of similar installations from different regions of Brazil. Thus, the purpose of this article is to describe the improvements proposed by the Oil and Gas producers to review the Brazilian regulation. It aims at presenting the key elements and references used in the review process and the predicted response structure that could arise in order to improve Brazil's environmental safety after the new regulation is in force.


2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Undang Hernawan ◽  
Rahayu Kusumah Risdianto

The southern part of Bintuni Bay with highly sensitive ecosystem conditions has evolved into an oil and gas industry where potential impacts on coastal and offshore environments need to be anticipated and planned comprehensively for environmental protection from oil spills. The main problem is the determination of areas that are sensitive and vulnerable to oil spills. This study is to analyze the factors and components that affect the level of environmental sensitivity and mapping Environment Sensitivity Index (ESI) to the oil spill.  The study was carried out by identifying and assessing each land units of its and use. Land use and land cover are interpreted through the use of satellite imagery with classification methods of guided satellite imagery. Field survey was also conducted in order to improve the accuracy of land use interpretation. Data analysis was performed by spatially by GIS method. The result indicated that ESI can be divided into five categories, are very sensitive (2,395.98 hectares or 2.38%), sensitive (13,133.53 hectares or 13.07%), moderately sensitive (17,902.78 hectares or 17.81%), low sensitive (52,409.14 hectares or 52.14%) and not sensitive (14,681.48 hectares or 14.61%). Although the study area is dominated by low sensitivity category, however the coastal protection from oil spill still should be prioritized.Keywords:  coastal protection, Environmental Sensitivity Index, Oil Spill, Bintuni Bay Wilayah bagian selatan Teluk Bintuni dengan kondisi ekosistem yang sangat sensitif telah berkembang menjadi industri minyak dan gas dimana potensi dampaknya terhadap lingkungan pesisir dan lepas pantai  perlu diantisipasi dan terencana secara komprehensif untuk perlindungan lingkungan dari kemungkinan tumpahan minyak. Masalah utamanya adalah penentuan daerah yang sensitif dan rentan terhadap tumpahan minyak. Penelitian ini menganalisis faktor dan komponen yang berpengaruh terhadap tingkat sensitivitas lingkungan dan pemetaan Indeks Sensitivitas Lingkungan (ISL) terhadap tumpahan minyak. Studi ini dilakukan dengan cara identifikasi dan penilaian unit lahan pada setiap penggunaan lahan. Penggunaan dan penutup lahan diinterpretasikan melalui penggunaan citra satelit dengan metode klasifikasi citra satelit terbimbing. Guna meningkatkan akurasi interpretasi penggunaan lahan juga dilaksanakan survei lapangan. Analisis data hasil penilaian unit identifikasi dilakukan secara spasial dengan metode SIG. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa ESI dapat dibagi menjadi lima kategori, yaitu sangat sensitif (2.395,98 hektar atau 2,38%), sensitif (13.133,53 hektar atau 13,07%), cukup sensitif (17.902,78 hektar atau 17,81%), sensitif rendah (52,409.14 hektar atau 52,14% dan tidak sensitif (14.681,48 hektar atau 14,61. Meskipun sebagian besar daerah daerah penelitian termasuk dalam kategori sensitif rendah, namun demikian perlindungan dari tumpahan minyak harus tetap diprioritaskan.Kata Kunci: perlindungan pantai, Indeks Sensitivits Lingkungan, tumpahan minyak, Teluk Bintuni 


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 6585
Author(s):  
Mihhail Fetissov ◽  
Robert Aps ◽  
Floris Goerlandt ◽  
Holger Jänes ◽  
Jonne Kotta ◽  
...  

The Baltic Sea is a unique and sensitive brackish-water ecosystem vulnerable to damage from shipping activities. Despite high levels of maritime safety in the area, there is a continued risk of oil spills and associated harmful environmental impacts. Achieving common situational awareness between oil spill response decision makers and other actors, such as merchant vessel and Vessel Traffic Service center operators, is an important step to minimizing detrimental effects. This paper presents the Next-Generation Smart Response Web (NG-SRW), a web-based application to aid decision making concerning oil spill response. This tool aims to provide, dynamically and interactively, relevant information on oil spills. By integrating the analysis and visualization of dynamic spill features with the sensitivity of environmental elements and value of human uses, the benefits of potential response actions can be compared, helping to develop an appropriate response strategy. The oil spill process simulation enables the response authorities to judge better the complexity and dynamic behavior of the systems and processes behind the potential environmental impact assessment and thereby better control the oil combat action.


Author(s):  
M. Sornam

Oil spill pollution plays a significant role in damaging marine ecosystem. Discharge of oil due to tanker accidents has the most dangerous effects on marine environment. The main waste source is the ship based operational discharges. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) can be effectively used for the detection and classification of oil spills. Oil spills appear as dark spots in SAR images. One major advantage of SAR is that it can generate imagery under all weather conditions. However, similar dark spots may arise from a range of unrelated meteorological and oceanographic phenomena, resulting in misidentification. A major focus of research in this area is the development of algorithms to distinguish ‘oil spills’ from ‘look-alikes’. The features of detected dark spot are then extracted and classified to discriminate oil spills from look-alikes. This paper describes the development of a new approach to SAR oil spill detection using Segmentation method and Artificial Neural Networks (ANN). A SAR-based oil-spill detection process consists of three stages: image segmentation, feature extraction and object recognition (classification) of the segmented objects as oil spills or look-alikes. The image segmentation was performed with Otsu method. Classification has been done using Back Propagation Network and this network classifies objects into oil spills or look-alikes according to their feature parameters. Improved results have been achieved for the discrimination of oil spills and look-alikes.


1995 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 830
Author(s):  
D.J. Blackmore

It is vital that there is a credible and well organised arrangement to deal with oil spills in Australia.The National Plan to Combat Pollution of the Sea by Oil, the umbrella oil spill response plan for Australia, is a combined effort by the Commonwealth and State Governments, the oil industry and the shipping industry.The Australian Marine Oil Spill Centre (AMOSC), formed in 1991, is an industry centre set up for rapid response with equipment and resources, together with a training and industry coordination role.A review of the National Plan in 1992, identified, amongst a number of issues, that the National Plan needed to be re-focussed, to ensure full integration of all government and industry activities for the first time. This has led to greatly improved understanding between government and industry and significant improvements to Australia's oil spill response preparedness. The National Plan review has also resulted in a clearer definition of the responsibilities for operational control, together with the organisational structure to deliver a successful response.The current state of Australia's National Plan is such that it does provide confidence that there is the capacity to deliver an effective response to oil spills in the marine environment. Nevertheless, there is more to be done, particularly in the areas of planning and exercises.


1993 ◽  
Vol 1993 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-133
Author(s):  
Mac W. McCarthy ◽  
John McGrath

ABSTRACT On July 22, 1991, the Tuo Hai, a 46,500 ton Chinese grain carrier, collided with the Tenyo Maru, a 4,800 ton Japanese fish processing ship, off the coast of Washington State. The Tenyo Maru sank, creating an oil spill that cost upwards of $4 million (U.S.) to clean up. The incident initiated a joint response from the U.S. and Canadian governments. As part of this response, the Canadian Coast Guard mobilized an SRN-6 hovercraft. This air cushioned vehicle (ACV) provided logistical support to responders on both sides of the international boundary. The response operation along the Pacific Coast was extensive. Dense fog and the remote location of the impacted area provided formidable challenges to the cleanup effort. It was the mission scenario of the Canadian SRN-6 hovercraft to provide logistical support—as an experiment in ACV utility—to the organizations responding to this incident. Based on this experience, it can be argued that the hovercraft offers great potential value in responding to marine oil spills. Appropriate application of ACV technology can enhance oil spill response work, spill waste management, and incident surveillance. This paper discusses the contribution of the SRN-6 hovercraft to the Tenyo Maru response, briefly examines the use of another, very different hovercraft, during a response in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and reviews a new hovercraft design and discusses its potential contributions.


1995 ◽  
Vol 1995 (1) ◽  
pp. 503-508
Author(s):  
Hussein Bin Rahmat ◽  
Mohd Radzuan Bin Yusof

ABSTRACT The increasing incidence of oil spills in the Strait of Malacca and the South China Sea has resulted in growing concern about Malaysia's capability to respond to oil spills in its waters. This concern is compounded by the ever-growing number of oil tankers plying the Strait of Malacca and the South China Sea, as well as the intensifying exploration and development of offshore petroleum resources. Various measures were taken by the government to deal with the problem, including a review of its National Oil Spill Contingency Plan (NOSCP) and incorporating a coordinated and a cost-effective response mechanism among the various government agencies. The incorporation of the Petroleum Industry of Malaysia Mutual Aid Group (PIMMAG), which enables the oil industry to pool its oil spill response resources, reflects the industry's commitment to strengthen the NOSCP. Since the mid 1970s, a number of regional plans have been instituted including the Traffic Separation Scheme for the Strait of Malacca, the Strait of Malacca and Singapore Revolving Fund, the Lombok-Macassar Oil Spill Contingency Plan, the Brunei Bay Oil Spill Contingency Plan, the ASEAN Oil Spill Response Plan, and the proposed ASCOPE Oil Spill Contingency Plan.


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