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The Coastal Response Research Center conducts
research to reduce the consequences of spills that threaten the
coast. CRRC's research targets new integrative approaches to spill
response and restoration. Projects funded in 2002-2003 are outlined
below.
 To
access the Center's on-line research database, click here
>>
A Module for NOAA's GNOME Model to Provide
Capability to Simulate Deepwater Oil and Gas Spills
Dr. Poojitha Yapa, Clarkson University
Grant for 2002-2003 [Complete]
The potential for deepwater oil and
gas spills is increasing as offshore oil and gas exploration
intensifies. A modeling program called CDOG (Clarkson University
Deepwater Oil and Gas) uses parameters specific to deepwater
spills to create three- dimensional models that can be used
in contingency planning and during a real time event. This project
enables users to run CDOG, which focuses on jet/plume and rise
though the water column, using a graphic user interface and
then transition to GNOME to predict surface trajectories. An
algorithm was formulated and incorporated into CDOG to calculate
oil droplet size.
• Project
Final Report (pdf)
Improvements to the Work on Integration
of NOAA's GNOME Model and CDOG (Clarkson Deepwater Oil and Gas)
Blowout Model
Dr. Poojitha Yapa, Clarkson University
Grant for 2003-2004
This is a continuation of the previous
project. The current work will incorporate the new version of
CDOG into GNOME. During the integration, improvements will be
made to error messages and modifications will be made to the
file structure as identified during the previous version. A
design strategy will be developed to maintain backwards compatibility
of CDOG to ensure that future CDOG versions can maintain compatible
I/O formats with present versions. This will ensure that investments
made to enhance CDOG can be incorporated into GNOME without
major efforts. Sensitivity testing is also planned for issues
such as plume height and initial droplet size distribution.
• Progress
Report - 9/30/04 (pdf)
Development of Oil Spill Response Cost
Effectiveness Analytical Tool
Dr. Dagmar Schmidt Etkin, Environmental Research Consulting
Grant for 2002-2004
In the aftermath of an oil spill, officials,
trustees and the responsible party have a concurrent concern
for deriving the largest net gain of environmental restoration
from both the response and restoration operations, often while
operating within one overall budget. The decision-making tools
proposed in this project will incorporate factors of cost effectiveness
of response/restoration operations into net environmental benefit
analysis (NEBA). The analytical tools will be used to calculate
the cost effectiveness of various response options using spill
specific factors including oil type, geographic location, shoreline
oiling, and spill size.
• Progress
Report - 6/1/04-10/31/04 (pdf)
Use of Natural Seeps for Evaluation of
NEAT SWEEP Dispersant Application Technology and Intercalibration
of NOAA SMART Protocols with Measurements of Dissolved-Phase and
Dispersed Oil Droplet Concentrations in the Water Column
Dr. James Payne, Payne Environmental Consultants, Inc.
Grant for 2002-2004 [Complete]
The intent of this project was to use
the natural oil seeps at Coal Oil Point off Santa Barbara, CA
to evaluate a recently developed oil-boom/dispersant application
technology, NeatSweep, and allow intercalibration of the NOAA
UV/Fluorescence-based Scientific Monitoring of Advanced Response
Technologies (SMART) Protocols with discrete measurements of
dissolved constituents and dispersed oil droplets. Initial tests
indicated that the seep oil was not amenable to treatment with
dispersants. The scope of the project was redirected to report
on lessons learned regarding the permitting process for field
experiments.
• Project
Final Report (pdf)
Fate and Effects of Emulsions Produced
After Oil Spill in Estuaries
Dr. Richard Lee, Skidaway Institute of Oceanography
Grant for 2002-2004
The persistence, increased density
and viscosity of emulsified oil makes cleanup difficult and
often results in leaving the emulsified oil in place. Exposure
to sunlight causes an increase in emulsion stability and the
release of water-soluble compounds, which may be toxic to marine
life and can bioaccumulate through the food chain. This project
is examining the degradation and biological effects of emulsions
of selected crude oils in estuarine sediment with and without
solar exposure.
• Progress
Report - 11/1/04 (pdf)
Acute and Chronic Effects of Crude Oil
and Dispersed Oil on Chinook Salmon Smolts (Onchorhyncus tshawytscha)
Dr. Ronald S. Tjeerdema, University of California, Davis
Grant for 2003-2005
Due to the large maritime transport
of crude oil from Alaska to California, there is significant
potential for a catastrophic spill that could seriously impact
salmon populations during key periods of their migration, e.g.,
when salmon smolts are entering the ocean from native streams
and rivers. While a significant amount of research has emphasized
the acute effects of oil on fish and invertebrates, few studies
have focused on the anadromous fishes endemic to California
rivers, and none have addressed the relative acute and long-term
impacts of oil and chemically-dispersed oil on migrating smolts.
This project will compare the toxic actions of the water-accommodated
fraction (WAF) and chemically dispersed fraction (a chemically
enhanced water-accommodated fraction; CEWAF) of Prudhoe Bay
Crude Oil (PBCO) to smolts of chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus
tshawytscha).
• Progress
Report - 9/04 (pdf)
Utility of Meiobenthos for Risk Assessment
of Low-Level Crude Oil WSF's: Rapid Copepod-Based Approaches for
Evaluating Long-Term Endocrine and Reproductive Toxicity
Dr. G. Thomas Chandler, University of South Carolina
Grant for 2003-2004
Oil spills on beaches, mudflats, and
in salt marshes threaten flora and fauna via mechanical fouling,
contact toxicity, and especially water-soluble hydrocarbon fraction
(WSF) in surface and pore waters. If crude oil becomes buried,
it may serve as a diffusion source of WSF to pore and surface
waters for months to years. There are multiple useful technologies
for oil spill clean-up/remediation, but one of the major challenges
to remediation is determining "how clean is clean enough"
to ensure acceptable chronic risk reduction to sediment-dependent
communities. Currently, crude-oil risk assessment cannot say
what the highest concentration of WSF constituents is that will
cause minimal acceptable risk to benthos. This project will
address this challenge by testing the utility of a novel crude-oil
WSF toxicity testing approach using meiobenthic copepods; multiple
single individuals will be cultured through their full life
cycles for two generations over a range of low-level WSF concentrations
more typical of post-remediation sediment or beach pore waters.
This rapid copepod-based culturing approach can determine statistically
those useful thresholds of WSF toxicity where one would expect
to see (not see) population-level impacts.
• Progress
Report - 1/1/04-10/15/04 (pdf)
Dispersants as an Oil Spill Countermeasure
for Remediation and Restoration in Sensitive Coastal Habitats
Dr. Qianxin Lin, Louisiana State University
Grant for 2003-2005
Dispersants have received considerable
attention for offshore, deep water oil spills. However, dispersants
may also have significant potential for minimizing the impact
of oil spills in near shore and estuarine water, where the oil
may eventually be transported to sensitive coastal habitats,
such as salt marshes. The ability to use dispersants in this
fashion, however, is impaired by an absence of experimental
evidence documenting the effects, if any, of dispersed oil on
tidal salt marshes, as well as on the remediation and biodegradability
of dispersed oil in these habitats. This work will quantitatively
compare the effect and behavior of oils with and without dispersants
in different soil substrates and the effect of the dispersed
oils as a function of plant growing seasons, as well as determining
the effect of dispersants on oil adsorption and penetration
to marsh sediment.
• Progress
Report - 7/1/04-12/31/04 (pdf)
Impacts of Low Level Residual Oils on
Toxicity Assessment and Improving the Predictive Modeling of Environmental
Fate of Oil Spills
Joy McGrath, HydroQual, Inc. and Dominic Di Toro, University of
Delaware
Grant for 2003-2005
Oils are mixtures of complex hydrocarbons
and other compounds including monoaromatic and polyaromatic
hydrocarbons which are Type I narcotic chemicals. The toxicity
of such compounds is additive and therefore a methodology is
needed that accounts for exposure to a mixture of hydrocarbons.
The target lipid model (TLM) and the notion of toxic units will
be used to assess the toxicity of oil-related narcotic chemicals.
Although the focus will be on obtaining toxicity data for mixtures
of chemicals resulting from exposure to oil, toxicity data from
exposure to single chemicals will also be investigated.
• Progress
Report - 7/1/04-12/31-04 (pdf)
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