Oil Spill Detection Pelagic Impact

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Oil Spill Detection/Pelagic Impact

• Callie Anderson
• Lauren Beddia
• Brian Ott
• Brendan Rohr

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Oil Detection Methods

• SPACE
• Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)
• AIR
• Synthetic Aperture Sonar (SAS)
• Side-Looking Airborne Radar (SLAR)
• IR/UV
• Thermal Infrared Imagers
• SURFACE
• SHIps RAdar (SHIRA)

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Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)

• BENEFITS
• Quick detection
• Independent of cloud cover
• Ability to scan large areas
• 24-hour coverage

• LIMITATIONS
• Costly
• Dependant on wind speed
• Cannot distinguish look-alike
• Surface oil only

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SAR
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Side-Looking Airborne Radar (SLAR)

• BENEFITS
• Focus on small area
• Cost effective

• LIMITATIONS
• Inefficient without support of SAR
• Man-power

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Synthetic Aperture Sonar (SAS)

• BENEFITS
• Ability to detect underwater
• Images are not affected by weather
• Focus efforts on small area

• LIMITATIONS
• Costly
• Must navigate straight course
• Timely
• Operation affected by weather
• Restricted spatial coverage

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SAS
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Ultraviolet (UV)

• BENEFITS
• Easily installed on boats, planes, or land
• Detects through fog, darkness, rain, and snow

• LIMITATIONS
• Costly
• Man-power

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UV Oil Detection
Crude Oil
Diesel Oil
Hydraulic Oil
Vacuum Gas Oil
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Thermal Infrared Imagers

• BENEFITS
• Map aerial extent of oil spill
• Distinction between oil and sea surface
• Determination of thickness

• LIMITATIONS
• Costly
• Complex

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SHIRA
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SHIps RAdar (SHIRA)

• BENEFITS
• Low Cost
• Continuous surveillance
• Versatile
• Operated from ship, platform, or coast

• LIMITATIONS
• Man-power
• Small hardware and storage capabilities
• Timely

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SHIRA
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Pelagic Impact
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Union Oil Co. Spill 28 Jan, 1969 - Subsurface
oil well casing blows out on Union Oil
Company Platform A, 6.5 miles southeast of Santa
Barbara, CA - For next several months,
anywhere from 4,500- 11,000 tons of oil
spilled - Oil flows unchecked through April
into Santa Barbara channel - Aerial
monitoring by National Marine Fisheries
Service before, during, and after spill - NOAA
research vessel David Starr Jordan samples
area
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(No Transcript)
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Northern Anchovy
Absent in February 1969, the month following
the spill Observed in May, June, and July 1969
in numbers far greater than previous year
Sharp decline in 1971 Numbers rebounded in
1972
Jack Mackeral
Numbers decreased in February 1969, the month
following the spill Numbers in March 1969
greater than any month the previous year
Pacific Bonito
Absent in February 1969, the month following
the spill By July and August 1969, numbers
comparable to July and August 1968 Numbers in
1970 comparable to those of previous years
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Overall Analysis

Flight information indicated immediate
negative effects on all three species Numbers
returned to normal quickly in each case Pilot
statement In normal geographic areas of
distributiontheir behavior below the oil slick
was normal relative to depth, movement, and
school shape David Starr Jordan found no oil
adhering to fish eggs, nor any other
abnormalities. Fish larvae found in normal
amounts
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Tsesis Oil Spill26 Oct., 1977 Soviet tanker
Tsesis grounds in Swedish Archipelago
1000 tons of No. 5 fuel oil spilled For
next four weeks, researchers sample between 2
reference sites and 4 affected sites
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Phytoplankton Analysis
2-3 weeks following the spill, phytoplankton
biomass in most heavily affected areas averaged
over double that in the reference stations
Observations indicate no difference in
phytoplankton composition
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Phytoplankton Analysis
2-3 weeks following the spill, phytoplankton
biomass in most heavily affected areas averaged
over double that in the reference stations
Observations indicate no difference in
phytoplankton composition
Bacteria Analysis
5 days following the spill, abundance in
affected area three times that of the reference
areas 2-3 weeks following spill, excess
bacteria still present, but not as many
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Zooplankton Analysis
Immediately following spill, drastic decrease
in biomass near tanker After several days
biomass returns to normal levels Observations
indicate no change in composition or age
structure in copepod population
During first week, 50 net zooplankton found
contaminated in some way. After three weeks,
20 still contaminated
Oil droplet ingested in Rotifera (Johannsson 1980)
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Overall Analysis
Previous studies show that some zooplankton
forms actively avoid oil contaminated water
(Gyllenberg Lundquist, 1976) Increased
biomass of phytoplankton most likely due to
decreased grazing of zooplankton Primary
productivity due to increased phytoplankton
One month following spill, biomass levels
return to normal
Graphs comparing levels of primary productivity,
plankton, and bacteria levels between reference
and affected areas (Johansson 1980)
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Other Spills
1976 - Argo Merchant tanker spill

• Very few fish showed traces of oil in stomach
  contents or muscle tissue
• Some zooplankton and fish eggs fouled with oil
• Prey-predator relationships remained normal

1989 - Exxon Valdez tanker spill

• Herring larvae experienced genetic damage
• Measurements showed a significant reduction in
  larval production (52.3)
• Damage to larvae progressively decreased in the
  weeks following the spill

1993 - Pipeline rupture in Murud

• Few phytoplankton damaged with oil coating
• Zooplankton in general not affected
• No evidence of damage to fish