AFTER I WAS CALLED UPON IN 2010, AS DIRECTOR OF THE U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, TO HELP WITH well control and fl ow estimation for the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill, I reviewed what had been learned from the Exxon Valdez (EV) oil spill. Although EV and DWH differed in their spill characteristics and impacts, I suspected that insight gained in the decades since EV could help guide how to best in...

The Deepwater Horizon (DWH) explosion in 2010 is the largest oil spill (Macondo) in U.S. HISTORY We focused on gaining an understanding of the physical health and mental health effects attributable to the Macondo oil spill. This is a report of a cross-sectional cohort study (wave 1) to establish 'baseline' findings and meant to provide descriptive information to be used for a multi-wave, long...

O n 20 April 2010, the BP-owned, Transoceanoperated Deepwater Horizon oil-drilling rig exploded, killing 11 workers and injuring 17, and sending massive quantities of crude oil riddled with lethal toxins from the sea floor into the Gulf of Mexico. Geophysicists, Earth-space scientists, and policymakers continue to debate the cause of the explosion, how much oil has been released, how best to co...

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill impacted the northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM) during the spring spawning season of Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT). Overlap between BFT spawning habitat and surface oil in the northern GOM was examined using satellite-derived estimates of oil coverage, and spawning habitat models. Results suggested that although eggs and larvae were likely impacted by oil-contamina...

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images from satellite missions provide a significant support to oil spill detection applications. On the other hands recent studies have demonstrated the potentialities of artificial neural networks for discrimination, starting from SAR imagery, between oil spills and objects which resemble oil spills (called “look-alikes”). The oil spill detection algorithm basic...

The distribution coefficient of oil residuals between water and the soil under equilibrium conditions is, in the case of Patagonian soils, strongly dependent on the clay contents and humidity of the soil. Other variables such as, the soil salinity and the environmental exposure conditions, also affect the interactions between the phases. The oil residuals are generally accompanied by water spil...

We have applied the SIPE system (a classical planning tool, see [1] ) to the Coast Guard’s problem of oil spill response. The Coast Guard has final responsibility for cleanup actions when an oil spill occurs in coastal waters. Oil spill actions fall into two types, "deploying" clean up equipment from the site near the coast where it is stored, and once deployment is complete, "employing" the eq...

this paper presents results analyses of specific potential blowout scenarios for subsea oilpipelines between the coast of mainland of iran and khark island in the persian gulf. the analyses have been carried out with the sintef oil spill contingency and response (oscar) 3-dimensional model system.some hypothetical three-day blowout scenarios with light and heavy iranian oil have been investigat...

M arbled murrelets, Brachyramphus marmoratus marmoratus, are small seabirds of the Alcid Family. Alcids are diving seabirds inhabiting the north Pacific and include murres, puffins, auklets, murrelets, and guillemots. Marbled murrelets occur in nearshore marine environments from California to Alaska, nesting primarily in old-growth forests. A larger subspecies, B. m. perdix, is found along the ...

The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill caused significant injury to wildlife populations in Prince William Sound, Alaska, USA. Harlequin Ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus) were particularly vulnerable to the spill and have been studied extensively since, leading to one of the most thorough considerations of the consequences of a major oil spill ever undertaken. We compiled demographic and survey data c...