ADVANCE PLANNING FOR DISPERSANT USE/NON-USE

1985 ◽  
Vol 1985 (1) ◽  
pp. 429-432 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. P. Fraser

ABSTRACT Guidelines are suggested for advance planning for the use or non-use of dispersants to combat oil spills. These guidelines are intended to expedite the decision to use dispersants in the event of an oil spill, where that will minimize environmental damage. These guidelines can be applied readily to any geographical area to answer the following questions: (1) Are there locations where dispersant application should normally be allowed? (2) In these locations, what rate of dispersant application should be allowed? (3) Are there locations where dispersant application should normally be avoided? The logic behind these guidelines is explained so that exceptions can be identified and so that changes in the guidelines can be made as advances are made in the state of the art. These guidelines provide for control over dispersant usage while allowing application (in most instances) at rates which can disperse floating oil effectively.

1996 ◽  
Vol 34 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 203-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Al-Muzaini ◽  
P. G. Jacob

A field study was carried out involving seven fixed sampling stations. The sampling locations were selected to cover the distribution of pollutants in the Shuaiba Industrial Area (SIA), which was contaminated with oil released from oil wells and broken pipelines and with a vast amount of burnt and unburnt crude oil from the burning and gushing oil wells. The samples were collected biweekly between July 1993 and July 1994. The concentrations of V, Ni, Cr, Cd and Pb were determined and compared with the previously collected baseline data to assess the degree of environmental damage caused due to the oil spills during the Gulf war. The average concentrations (mg/kg) of various elements in the marine sediment were 17.3 for V, 30.8 for Ni, 55.5 for Cr, 0.02 for Cd and 1.95 for Pb. Our results show that even after the heavy spillage of oil, associated metal concentrations were not very high compared with previously reported base line values.


2023 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-39
Author(s):  
Thanh Tuan Nguyen ◽  
Thanh Phuong Nguyen

Representing dynamic textures (DTs) plays an important role in many real implementations in the computer vision community. Due to the turbulent and non-directional motions of DTs along with the negative impacts of different factors (e.g., environmental changes, noise, illumination, etc.), efficiently analyzing DTs has raised considerable challenges for the state-of-the-art approaches. For 20 years, many different techniques have been introduced to handle the above well-known issues for enhancing the performance. Those methods have shown valuable contributions, but the problems have been incompletely dealt with, particularly recognizing DTs on large-scale datasets. In this article, we present a comprehensive taxonomy of DT representation in order to purposefully give a thorough overview of the existing methods along with overall evaluations of their obtained performances. Accordingly, we arrange the methods into six canonical categories. Each of them is then taken in a brief presentation of its principal methodology stream and various related variants. The effectiveness levels of the state-of-the-art methods are then investigated and thoroughly discussed with respect to quantitative and qualitative evaluations in classifying DTs on benchmark datasets. Finally, we point out several potential applications and the remaining challenges that should be addressed in further directions. In comparison with two existing shallow DT surveys (i.e., the first one is out of date as it was made in 2005, while the newer one (published in 2016) is an inadequate overview), we believe that our proposed comprehensive taxonomy not only provides a better view of DT representation for the target readers but also stimulates future research activities.


1971 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 430-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Howard J. Sloane

This paper in a tabulated summary format discusses the state-of-the-art of Raman spectroscopy for commercially available instrumentation. A comparison to infrared is made in terms of (I) instrumentation, (II) sample handling, and (III) applications. Although the two techniques yield similar and often complementary information, they are quite different from the point of view of instrumentation and sampling procedures. This leads to various advantages and disadvantages or limitations for each. These are discussed as well as the future outlook.


1999 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Fiocco ◽  
Alun Lewis

Introduction: The purpose of any oil spill response is to minimise the damage that could be caused by the spill. Dispersants are one of the limited number of practical responses that are available to respond to oil spills at sea.When oil is spilled at sea, a small proportion will be naturally dispersed by the mixing action caused by waves. This process can be slow and proceed to only a limited extent for most situations. Dispersants are used to accelerate the removal of oil from the surface of the sea by greatly enhancing the rate of natural dispersion of oil and thus prevent it from coming ashore. Dispersed oil will also be more rapidly biodegraded by naturally occurring microorganisms. The rationale for dispersant use is that dispersed oil is likely to have less overall environmental impact than oil that persists on the surface of the sea, drifts and eventually contaminates the shoreline. The development of modern dispersants began after the Torrey Canyon oil spill in 1967. Many lessons have been learned since that spill, and consequently the modern dispersants and application techniques in use today have become an effective way of responding to an oil spill. For example, the dispersant response to the Sea Empress spill in 1996 demonstrated that dispersants can be very effective and prevent a much greater amount of environmental damage from being caused (6). This chapter describes the chemistry and physics of dispersants, planning and decision-making considerations, and finally their practical application and operational use in oil spill response.


1999 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Reed ◽  
Øistein Johansen ◽  
Per Johan Brandvik ◽  
Per Daling ◽  
Alun Lewis ◽  
...  

Baltica ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (special) ◽  
pp. 15-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Kileso ◽  
Boris Chubarenko ◽  
Petras Zemlys ◽  
Igor Kuzmenko

The state-of-art in oil spill modelling methods is summarized, focusing on development since 2000. Some recommendations for possible application of these methods to the south–eastern part of the Baltic Sea are prepared. Particular attention is paid on the methods of parameterization of volume of oil spill and calculation of advection of the oil spills. Consideration is also given to methods used in oil weathering models.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guy A Prochilo ◽  
Winnifred R Louis ◽  
Stefan Bode ◽  
Hannes Zacher ◽  
Pascal Molenberghs

Note: this manuscript has been peer reviewed and is published in Meta-Psychology. Please cite as: Prochilo, G. A., Louis, W. R., Bode, S., Zacher, H., & Molenberghs, P. (2019). An Extended Commentary on Post-publication Peer Review in Organizational Neuroscience. Meta-Psychology, 3. https://doi.org/10.15626/MP.2018.935 | While considerable progress has been made in organizational neuroscience over the past decade, we argue that critical evaluations of published empirical works are not being conducted carefully and consistently. In this extended commentary we take as an example Waldman and colleagues (2017): a major review work that evaluates the state-of-the-art of organizational neuroscience. In what should be an evaluation of the field’s empirical work, the authors uncritically summarize a series of studies that: (1) provide insufficient transparency to be clearly understood, evaluated, or replicated, and/or (2) which misuse inferential tests that lead to misleading conclusions, among other concerns. These concerns have been ignored across multiple major reviews and citing articles. We therefore provide a post-publication review (in two parts) of one-third of all studies evaluated in Waldman and colleague’s major review work. In Part I, we systematically evaluate the field’s two seminal works with respect to their methods, analytic strategy, results, and interpretation of findings. And in Part II, we provide focused reviews of secondary works that each center on a specific concern we suggest should be a point of discussion as the field moves forward. In doing so, we identify a series of practices we recommend will improve the state of the literature. This includes: (1) evaluating the transparency and completeness of an empirical article before accepting its claims, (2) becoming familiar with common misuses or misconceptions of statistical testing, and (3) interpreting results with an explicit reference to effect size magnitude, precision, and accuracy, among other recommendations. We suggest that adopting these practices will motivate the development of a more replicable, reliable, and trustworthy field of organizational neuroscience moving forward.


1992 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
David G. Shaw

Major oil-spills, such as occurred following the grounding of the tanker Exxon Valdez in March 1989 in Prince William Sound, Alaska, account for only a small fraction of the total anthropogenic input of petroleum to the marine environment. Yet major spills can result in significant and even acute impacts, trigger ecological changes requiring decades for recovery, and command considerable public attention. Thus catastrophic oil-spills in general, and the Exxon Valdez spill in particular, differ from other chronic human alterations of coastal marine systems.Estimates of the fate of the 38,000 metric tons of crude oil lost by the Exxon Valdez are imprecise, but perhaps 30–40% evaporated, 10–25% was recovered, and the rest remains in the marine environment. Roughly 1,500 km of coastline were oiled in varying degrees. Much of this coastline consists of gravel beaches into which oil penetrated to depths as great as 1 m.The ecological effects of the spill on the marine environments of Prince William Sound and adjacent coastal areas of the Gulf of Alaska were extensive, but natural recovery, aided by clean-up efforts, is expected. Judging by the consequences of other oil-spills affecting rocky shorelines, as well as previous natural and anthropogenic disturbances to Prince William Sound, it appears likely that most affected biotic communities and ecosystems will recover to approximately their pre-spill functional and structural characteristic within from five to twenty-five years.This oil-spill had major social effects. Many individuals, whether personally present or viewing the spill around the world on television, were saddened by the environmental damage, and felt that an important public trust had been broken. These feelings, together with dissatisfaction with the results of early clean-up efforts, gave rise to popular sentiment in favour of every possible clean-up and mitigation effort — regardless of cost, effectiveness, or possible negative consequences.The response to the Exxon Valdez oil-spill by government and the oil industry revealed serious inadequacies in the plans and institutions for dealing with major marine oilspills in the United States. Attempts to recover spilled oil, and to respond to the spill's environmental consequences, were hampered by a low level of preparedness and lack of clear agreement about the goals of response efforts. Attempts are under way to improve oil-spill prevention and response capabilities in Alaska and the rest of the United States. However, these efforts are not yet complete, and it remains to be seen whether an improved response will be made to the next major oil-spill.


1991 ◽  
Vol 1991 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Craik

ABSTRACT The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority is charged with conservation of the Great Barrier Reef while allowing reasonable use to continue. One of the major challenges facing the authority is the risk of a major oil spill in the Great Barrier Reef region. An oil spill contingency plan, Reefplan, developed for the Great Barrier Reef region and part of Torres Strait, is a component of the Australian National Plan to Combat Pollution of the Sea by Oil. The authority provides scientific advice to the on-scene coordinator, who is in charge of responding to any spill. This paper reviews the history of oil spills in the Great Barrier Reef and discusses the authority's role in prevention and preparation for oil spills. The difficulty of coping with a large spill and the issue of environmental damage are highlighted, given the relatively remote nature of the region, the sparse population, and the logistic difficulties of working in such an area.


2005 ◽  
Vol 2005 (1) ◽  
pp. 949-952 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard H. Hobbie ◽  
Andrew J. Garger

ABSTRACT The Water Quality Insurance Syndicate has offices in lower Manhattan in New York City, and the events of September 11th remain vivid. However, in its aftermath it was difficult to envision the broad reaching ripple effects resulting from the event. Among the effects is the clash of two major issues: the increasing use of criminal sanctions in reaction to spills of oil and hazardous substances, and the practical and emotional consequences of both possible and actual terrorist events. For the past several years, the responsible party and its insurer have faced the use of criminal sanctions when a spill occurs. Criminal sanctions are typically used to combat intentional environmental misconduct. In the realm of oil spills, common actions may include the deliberate dumping of oil and negligence or unintentional conduct leading to a spill. In the post 9–11 United States, the first question presented at an oil spill is not how much oil has been spilled, but rather was the spill caused by an act of terrorism?. Government officials may treat the location of an oil spill as a crime scene, which will transform and complicate a pollution event. A recent explosion on a gasoline barge at an oil and gas storage facility in Staten Island, New York illustrates the point. A leading national newspaper devoted the first five paragraphs of its lead story on the explosion to a discussion of whether or not there was a terrorist attack Was the clean up of that spill hampered because of the terrorism investigation? We will probably never know, because the gasoline that escaped from the barge quickly evaporated so the cleanup was minimal. The next spill, however, might be a crude oil spill where every minute in response time counts. While the shipowner is trying to minimize the spill, the F.B.I, might have already taken control of the spill scene to conduct an investigation and effectively locked out the spill responders and their equipment, greatly increasing the cost and complexity of the cleanup, the environmental damage that is done, and the possibility that the shipowner's actions are found to be insufficient, increasing the possibility of criminal sanctions. The threat of terrorism is real. But we must now work to integrate our response to the terrorism threat to our existing spill response infrastructure that has been developed under OPA, and not unnecessarily increase a shipowner's exposure to criminal liability.


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