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Branch of
Environmental Sciences
Oil-Spill Research Efforts
Objective:
To conduct research
that will improve MMS’s estimates of oil-spill transport, fate, and
impacts to the environment.
 Enactment of the Oil
Pollution Act of 1990 has led to an increased emphasis on oil-spill
research. Oil spills are one of the major areas of public concern with
regard to offshore oil and natural gas development.
Meeting the
Need: The studies to
be funded under the Environmental Studies Program (ESP) will improve the
understanding of physical oceanography, oil-spill fates, and
ecological impact processes.
 New
studies of currents on the Gulf of Mexico continental slope in deep
water will be undertaken to provide information for oil-spill risk
analysis and model validation.
Studies
of the fate, behavior, and cleanup of oil spills in the presence of sea
ice in Alaskan waters will be needed.
Additional
modeling and field studies will be conducted to properly describe the
fates and effects of well-stream materials discharged near the seafloor.
Future oil-spill research conducted
under the ESP will include the following categories:
Ocean
Transport
(physical oceanography) — observations of
coastal and continental shelf currents acquired as part of field
programs using current meters, drifting buoys, satellite images, and
shipboard surveys. Data from these field programs will be used to
validate computer models of ocean circulation.
Oil-Spill
Fates — laboratory
analyses of various types of oil and computer modeling of the oil-spill
behavior in the environment. Results of these analyses will be
incorporated into oil weathering models.
Oil-Spill
Impacts on Environmental Resources
— studies of the effects of oil on animal
and plant resources. The ESP will conduct ecological monitoring to
determine the effects of oil spills on marine communities.
Oil Spill
Research Reports
Review of the State of the Art on Modeling
Interactions Between Spilled Oil and Shorelines for the Development of
Algorithms for Oil Spill Risk Analysis Modeling.
Prepared by Environmental Research Consulting. Available from MMS
Environmental Division, Branch of Environmental Sciences. OCS Study MMS
2007-063. 161 p. |
