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Environmental Studies Program Direction:
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 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.
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| Studies of the fate, behavior, and cleanup of oil spills in the presence of sea ice in
Alaskan waters will be needed.
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| Additional modeling and field studies will be conducted to properly describe the fates
and effects of well-stream materials discharged near the seafloor.
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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.
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| 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.
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| 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 Modeling Program
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, Environmental Sciences Branch. OCS Study
MMS 2007-063. 161 p.
For more information, contact Walter Johnson.
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