scholarly journals EVOS and the Prince William Sound Long Term Environmental Monitoring Program

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
James R. Payne ◽  
William B. Driskell ◽  
David Janka ◽  
Lisa Ka'aihue ◽  
Joe Banta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Monitoring ◽  
Ballast Water ◽  
Monitoring Program ◽  
Gulf Of Alaska ◽  
Advisory Council ◽  
Prince William Sound ◽  
Mussel Tissue ◽  
Weathered Oil ◽  
Diesel Spill

ABSTRACT Following the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill (EVOS), the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens' Advisory Council began the Long-Term Environmental Monitoring Program (LTEMP) in 1993 to track oil hydrocarbon chemistry of recovering sediments and mussel tissues along the path of the spill in Prince William Sound (PWS) and across the Northern Gulf of Alaska (NGOA) region. The program also samples sites near the Alyeska Marine Terminal (AMT) within Port Valdez, primarily to monitor tanker operations and the resulting treatment and discharge of oil-contaminated tanker ballast water. Over the last 28 years, the program has documented EVOS oil's disappearance at the spill-impacted sites (albeit buried oil still exists at a few unique sheltered locations in PWS). Within the Port, a few tanker- and diesel-spill incidents have been documented over the years, but all were minor and with recovery times of < 1 yr. Of highest concern has been the permitted chronic release of weathered oil from tankers' ballast-water that is treated and discharged at the Alyeska Marine Terminal (AMT). In earlier years (1980s–90s), with discharge volumes reaching 17–18 MGD, up to a barrel of finely dispersed weathered oil would be released into the fjord daily. Over the last two decades, total petrogenic inputs (TPAH43) into the Port have declined as measured in the monitored mussels and sediments. This trend reflects a combination of decreased Alaska North Slope (ANS) oil production and thus, less tanker traffic, plus less ballast from the transition to double-hulled tankers with segregated ballast tanks, and improved treatment-facility efficiency in removing PAH. From the 2018 collections, mussel-tissue hydrocarbon concentrations from all eleven LTEMP stations (within Port Valdez as well as PWS and NGOA regions) were below method detection limits and similar to laboratory blanks (TPAH43 < 44 ng/g dry wt.). At these low background levels, elevated TPAH values from a minor 2020 spill incident at the Terminal were easily detected at all three Port Valdez stations.

scholarly journals The discontinuity of environmental effects monitoring in the Lower Athabasca region of Alberta, Canada: institutional challenges to long-term monitoring and cumulative effects management

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua G. Cronmiller ◽  
Bram F. Noble
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Environmental Monitoring ◽  
Environmental Effects ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Monitoring Program ◽  
Institutional Arrangements ◽  
Cumulative Effects ◽  
Regulatory Decision ◽  
Monitoring Programs

Long-term regional environmental monitoring, coupled with shorter-term and more localized monitoring carried out under regulatory permitting processes, is foundational to identifying, understanding, and effectively managing cumulative environmental effects. However, monitoring programs that emerge to support cumulative effects science are often short-lived initiatives or disconnected from land use planning and regulatory decision making. This paper examines the history and evolution of environmental monitoring in the Lower Athabasca region of Alberta, Canada, and the enabling and constraining influences of institutional arrangements. Methods involved a review of regional-scale monitoring programs based on an analysis of monitoring agency mandates, performance reports, and external program reviews, supplemented by discussions with monitoring program or agency key informants to triangulate results. Results show that monitoring to support cumulative effects understanding in the Lower Athabasca has advanced considerably, especially since the mid-1990s, but its relevance to, and impact on, cumulative effects management and decision making has been stifled by institutional arrangements. Monitoring has been episodic, reflecting shifting priorities and competing mandates; criticized by stakeholders based on concerns about transparency, credibility, influence over decision making; and characterized by short-lived commitments by the agencies involved. This has generated significant uncertainty about the stability of institutional arrangements to support long-term environmental monitoring, and tensions between the need for scientific autonomy for credible science whilst ensuring the pursuit of monitoring questions that are relevant to the day-to-day needs of regulatory decision makers. Regional monitoring programs require, at a minimum, clear vision and agreed-upon monitoring questions that are of scientific and management value, meaningful and balanced stakeholder engagement, and a clear governance process to ensure credibility and influence of monitoring results on decision making.

Time series of long-term annual fluxes in the streamwater of nine forest catchments from the Swedish environmental monitoring program (PMK 5)

2003 ◽  
Vol 310 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 113-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens Fölster ◽  
Kevin Bishop ◽  
Pavel Krám ◽  
Hans Kvarnäs ◽  
Anders Wilander
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Environmental Monitoring ◽  
Monitoring Program

NOAA'S EXXON VALDEZ LONG-TERM SHORELINE ECOSYSTEM MONITORING PROGRAM—1990–1994 TRENDS

1995 ◽  
Vol 1995 (1) ◽  
pp. 977-978
Author(s):  
Alan J. Mearns
Keyword(s):  
Plant Cover ◽  
Monitoring Program ◽  
Prince William Sound ◽  
Exxon Valdez ◽  
Ecosystem Monitoring ◽  
Physical Profile

ABSTRACT Halfway through a 10-year monitoring program, NOAA continues to track biological, chemical, and shoreline profile recovery at nearly three dozen sites in Prince William Sound, Alaska. By simple measures (percent visible oil, percent plant cover) all but three or four sites recovered in two to three years. However, by a more integrated biological, chemical, and physical profile, most previously oiled and treated sites are still recovering.

WORLD-CLASS OIL SPILL PREVENTION AND RESPONSE FOR THE ALASKAN: TRANS-ALASKA PIPELINE SYSTEM TANKER TRADE

1995 ◽  
Vol 1995 (1) ◽  
pp. 287-291
Author(s):  
Sharon O. Hillman ◽  
James E. McHale ◽  
Steve D. Hood ◽  
Richard C. Long ◽  
John C. Klepper ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spill ◽  
Community Involvement ◽  
Gulf Of Alaska ◽  
Primary Response ◽  
Advisory Council ◽  
Pipeline System ◽  
Prince William Sound ◽  
Fishing Vessels ◽  
Response Organization ◽  
World Class

ABSTRACT Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, Ship Escort Response Vessel System (SERVS) is the primary response action contractor for Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) laden tankers within Prince William Sound and an oil spill removal organization for the Gulf of Alaska. During the past five years, SERVS has implemented a world-class spill prevention and response organization for this region. The activities of the SERVS prevention and response organization include escort prevention service, spill prevention activities, response equipment, contingency planning, nearshore response, community involvement, fishing vessels program, citizen oversight, and training. Plans have been made for dispersant use, in-situ burning, waste management, coastal resource and sensitive environment inventory, wildlife protection and rehabilitation, and other response strategies. Response equipment and strategy updates are closely coordinated with ship operators/charters (planholders), agencies, and the public, including the Prince William Sound Regional Citizen Advisory Council.

scholarly journals Colony and Population Dynamics of Black-Legged Kittiwakes in a Heterogeneous Environment

The Auk ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 118 (3) ◽  
pp. 636-649 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert M. Suryan ◽  
David B. Irons
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Habitat Quality ◽  
Ideal Free Distribution ◽  
Gulf Of Alaska ◽  
Breeding Birds ◽  
Prince William Sound ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
Favorable Conditions

Abstract Black-legged Kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla) nest at 25 distinct colonies located throughout Prince William Sound that range in size from <20 to >7,000 pairs. Dramatic changes have occurred in the distribution of breeding birds among those colonies during the past few decades (1972–1997). Reproductive success data collected since 1985 confirm that individual colonies are habitat patches of varying quality in space and time. Even with such variation, predictability of habitat quality did occur in short- and long-term (≥3 year) intervals as indicated by significant (P < 0.05) relationships between current (t) and previous year's (t−1, t−2, etc.) reproductive success. Those circumstances provided suitable conditions for testing hypotheses concerning dispersal and recruitment strategies of a long-lived species. Breeding birds responded to both short- and long-term cues and, in general, recruited to the most successful colonies. An apparently lower dispersal propensity and the importance of long-term cues was in contrast to a similar study of kittiwake colonies in France (Danchin et al. 1998). Differences between these studies may be attributed to primary factors controlling habitat quality in Prince William Sound operating in the long-term versus the short-term and the magnitude of scale. Colonies in our study covered a much larger geographic area and therefore, factors such as foraging-site faithfulness, mate retention, and natal philopatry may also have influenced dispersal decisions. Nonetheless, recruitment of kittiwakes in Prince William Sound supported the performance-based conspecific attraction hypothesis, which, in turn, led to an ideal free distribution of breeding birds. Those short-term mechanisms for dispersal and recruitment manifested in a long-term redistribution of nesting kittiwakes from poor breeding conditions in southern Prince William Sound to favorable conditions in northern Prince William Sound. Favorable conditions in northern Prince William Sound were apparently supported by stable or increasing populations of juvenile herring. In contrast, reproductive failures and population declines in southern Prince William Sound were concordant with colonies in the Gulf of Alaska where diets were similar, consisting of primarily capelin (Mallotus villosus) and Pacific sand lance (Ammodytes hexapterus). Those trends corresponded with the influence of Gulf of Alaska waters in southern Prince William Sound and may have been associated with a reported decline in the abundance of key forage species related to a late 1970s regime shift in the Gulf of Alaska.

To the 70th anniversary of World Meteorological Organization. Scientific and technical cooperation of Hydrometeorological Center of the USSR/Russia in the Programs of World Meteorological Organization

2020 ◽  
pp. 117-138
Author(s):  
S.V. Borshch ◽  
◽  
R.M. Vil’fand ◽  
D.B. Kiktev ◽  
V.M. Khan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Monitoring ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
World Meteorological Organization ◽  
70Th Anniversary ◽  
Technical Level ◽  
Technical Cooperation ◽  
Wide Range

The paper presents the summary and results of long-term and multi-faceted experience of international scientific and technical cooperation of Hydrometeorological Center of Russia in the field of hydrometeorology and environmental monitoring within the framework of WMO programs, which indicates its high efficiency in performing a wide range of works at a high scientific and technical level. Keywords: World Meteorological Organization, major WMO programs, representatives of Hydrometeorological Center of Russia in WMO

Opioid Consumption Patterns and Prolonged Opioid Use Among Opioid-Naïve Ankle Fracture Patients

2021 ◽  
pp. 193864002199292
Author(s):  
Hope Skibicki ◽  
Sundeep Saini ◽  
Ryan Rogero ◽  
Kristen Nicholson ◽  
Rachel J. Shakked ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ankle Fracture ◽  
Monitoring Program ◽  
Opioid Consumption ◽  
Consumption Patterns ◽  
Utilization Rate ◽  
Opioid Use ◽  
Index Procedure ◽  
Postoperative Visit ◽  
Fracture Surgery

Introduction Previous literature has demonstrated an association between acute opioid exposure and the risk of long-term opioid use. Here, the investigators assess immediate postoperative opioid consumption patterns as well as the incidence of prolonged opioid use among opioid-naïve patients following ankle fracture surgery. Methods Included patients underwent outpatient open reduction and internal fixation of an ankle or tibial plafond fracture over a 1-year period. At patients’ first postoperative visit, opioid pills were counted and standardized to the equivalent number of 5-mg oxycodone pills. Prolonged use was defined as filling a prescription for a controlled substance more than 90 days after the index procedure, tracked by the New Jersey Prescription Drug Monitoring Program up to 1 year postoperatively. Results At the first postoperative visit, 173 patients consumed a median of 24 out of 40 pills prescribed. The initial utilization rate was 60%, and 2736 pills were left unused. In all, 32 (18.7%) patients required a narcotic prescription 90 days after the index procedure. Patients with a self-reported history of depression (P = .11) or diabetes (P = .07) demonstrated marginal correlation with prolonged narcotic use. Conclusion Our study demonstrated that, on average, patients utilize significantly fewer opioid pills than prescribed and that many patient demographics are not significant predictors of continued long-term use following outpatient ankle fracture surgery. Large variations in consumption rates make it difficult for physicians to accurately prescribe and predict prolonged narcotic use. Level of Evidence: Level III

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document