A Contingency Response Multi-agent System for Oil Spills

This paper presents CROS, a contingency response multi-agent system for oil spills situations. The system makes use of a Case-Based Reasoning system which generates predictions to determine the probability of finding oil slicks in certain areas of the ocean. CBR uses past information to generate new solutions to the current problem. The system employs a distributed multi-agent architecture so that the main components of the system can be accessed remotely. Therefore, all functionalities can communicate in a distributed way, even from mobile devices. The core of the system is a group of deliberative agents acting as controllers and administrators for all functionalities. The system has been used to predict real oil spill situations. Results have demonstrated that the system can accurately predict the presence of oil slicks in determined zones. It has been demonstrated that using a distributed architecture can enhance the overall performance of the system

CROS: A Contingency Response multi-agent system for Oil Spills situations

This paper presents CROS, a Contingency Response multi-agent system for Oil Spill situations. The system uses the Case-Based Reasoning methodology to generate predictions to determine the probability of finding oil slicks in certain areas of the ocean. CBR uses past information to generate new solutions to the current problem. The system employs a SOA-based multi-agent architecture so that the main components of the system can be remotely accessed. Therefore, all functionalities (applications and services) can communicate in a distributed way, even from mobile devices. The core of the system is a group of deliberative agents acting as controllers and administrators for all applications and services. CROS manages information such as sea salinity, sea temperature, wind speed, ocean currents and atmosphere pressure, obtained from several sources, including satellite images. The system has been trained using historical data obtained after the Prestige accident on the Galician west coast of Spain. Results have demonstrated that the system can accurately predict the presence of oil slicks in determined zones after an oil spill. The use of a distributed multi-agent architecture has been shown to enhance the overall performance of the system

Development of emergency response systems by intelligent and integrated approaches for marine oil spill accidents

Oil products play a pervasive role in modern society as one of the dominant energy fuel sources. Marine activities related to oil extraction and transportation play a vital role in resource supply. However, marine oil spills occur due to such human activities or harsh environmental factors. The emergency accidents of spills cause negative impacts on the marine environment, human health, and economic loss. The responses to marine oil spills, especially large-scale spills, are relatively challenging and inefficient due to changing environmental conditions, limited response resources, various unknown or uncertain factors and complex resource allocation processes. The development of previous research mainly focused on single process simulation, prediction, or optimization (e.g., oil trajectory, weathering, or cleanup optimization). There is still a lack of research on comprehensive and integrated emergency responses considering multiple types of simulations, types of resource allocations, stages of accident occurrence to response, and criteria for system optimizations. Optimization algorithms are an important part of system optimization and decision-making. Their performance directly affacts the quality of emergency response systems and operations. Thus, how to improve efficiency of emergency response systems becomes urgent and essential for marine oil spill management. The power and potential of integrating intelligent-based modeling of dynamic processes and system optimization have been recognized to better support oil spill responders with more efficient response decisions and planning tools. Meanwhile, response decision-making combined with human factor analysis can help quantitatively evaluate the impacts of multiple causal factors on the overall processes and operational performance after an accident. To address the challenges and gaps, this dissertation research focused on the development and improvement of new emergency response systems and their applications for marine oil spill response in the following aspects: 1) Realization of coupling dynamic simulation and system optimization for marine oil spill responses - The developed Simulation-Based Multi-Agent Particle Swarm Optimization (SA-PSO) modeling investigated the capacity of agent-based modeling on dynamic simulation of spill fate and response, particle swarm optimization on response allocation with minimal time and multi-agent system on information sharing. 2) Investigation of multi-type resource allocation under a complex simulation condition and improvement of optimization performance - The improved emergency response system was achieved by dynamic resource transportation, oil weathering and response simulations and resource allocation optimization. The enhanced particle swarm optimization (ME-PSO) algorithm performed outstanding convergence performance and low computation cost characteristics integrating multi-agent theory (MA) and evolutionary population dynamics (EPD). 3) Analysis and evaluation of influencing factors of multiple stages of spill accidents based on human factors/errors and multi-criteria decision making - The developed human factors analysis and classification system for marine oil spill accidents (HFACS-OS) framework qualitatively evaluated the influence of various factors and errors associated with the multiple operational stages considered for oil spill preparedness and response (e.g., oil spill occurrence, spill monitoring, decision making/contingency planning, and spill response). The framework was further coupled with quantitative data analysis by Fuzzy-based Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Idea Solution (Fuzzy-TOPSIS) to enhance decision-making during response operations under multiple criteria. 4) Development of a multi-criteria emergency response system with the enhanced optimization algorithm, multi-mode resource transportation and allocation and a more complex and realistic simulation modelling - The developed multi-criteria emergency response system (MC-ERS) system integrated dynamic process simulations and weighted multi-criteria system optimization. Total response time, response cost and environmental impacts were regarded as multiple optimization goals. An improved weighted sum optimization function was developed to unify the scaling and proportion of different goals. A comparative PSO was also developed with various algorithm-improving methods and the best-performing inertia weight function. The proposed emergency response approaches in studies were examined by oil spill case studies related to the North Atlantic Ocean and Canada circumstances to analyze the modelling performance and evaluate their practicality and applicability. The developed optimization algorithms were tested by benchmarked functions, other optimization algorithms, and an oil spill case. The developed emergency response systems and the contained simulation and optimization algorithms showed the strong capability for decision-making and emergency responses by recommending optimal resource management or evaluations of essential factors. This research was expected to provide time-efficient, and cost-saving emergency response management approaches for handling and managing marine oil spills. The research also improved our knowledge of the significance of human factors/errors to oil spill accidents and response operations and provided improved support tools for decision making. The dissertation research helped fill some important gaps in emergency response research and management practice, especially in marine oil spill response, through an innovative integration of dynamic simulation, resource optimization, human factor analysis, and artificial intelligence methods. The research outcomes can also provide methodological support and valuable references for other fields that require timely and effective decisions, system optimizations, process controls, planning and designs under complicated conditions, uncertainties, and interactions

Effecting a framework for a national oil spill contingency plan for the Kingdom of Cambodia

Constant increase in an annual oil consumption world-wide from 880,632 million gallons in 1983 to 1,004,268 million gallons in 1993 demonstrates the grgmng v \u27 mr 1 n n iilii iltn in \u27 ‘ of 0j]_SQl_USinto the coastal and marine .....\u27 ‘ The most catastrophic oil spills reportedly took place in 1979 when about 193 million gallons ofoilweredischargedintotheseas.Withnoexception, \u27.I A threats of oil nnllntinn \u27 since the nation araduallv involves with ma_u\u271imetransnort and oil and gas ‘ ‘ ‘ When introduced into the seas, an oil spill presents two kinds of negative impacts: ecological impact, including impact on biological processes, marine plankton, fish and shellfish, marine mammals, birds communities and ecosystems, human health, and on shore vegetation, and economic impact, including impact on fishing industry, tourism industry, shipping sectors and on other industrial uses. Toprevent,mitigateandminimisethreatsofoil pollutioninCambodia, C . Plan(NCPlis Jtoensureatimelyand effective response to oil pollution incidents by pre-designating the responsible organisation and providing adequate resources. The plan addresses issues, including emergency notification, incident evaluation and plan activation, response strategies, sensitive area identification, and communication system. To be effective, the plan should be supported by legislation. Various levels of emergency response should be provided beginning with local plans and expanding to national and regional plans

Degradation of Dispersants and Dispersed Oil

Chemical oil dispersants are proprietary mixtures of surfactants and solvents which are directly applied to a spill in order to reduce the natural attractive forces of the oil. When oil treated with dispersants is exposed to mixing energy, typically from wind and wave action, it is broken up into small droplets which may then become entrained in the water column (Li et al., 2009a; Li et al., 2009b; Li, 2008; Lunel, 1995). Many of these droplets are small enough to be neutrally buoyant, and therefore, advection and diffusion forces dilute the plume and transport the droplets far from the site of the original spill. As compared to a surface oil slick or larger and more buoyant physically dispersed oil droplets, these chemically dispersed droplets are much easier for oil-degrading bacteria to colonize and break down (Venosa and Holder, 2007; Venosa and Zhu, 2003). In addition, small droplets enhance dissolution of soluble and semi-volatile compounds into surrounding waters, wherein biodegradation is carried out by aqueous phase microbes. Under these conditions, oil concentration are effectively reduced below toxicity threshold limits, and biodegradation becomes the most important process in reducing the total mass of petroleum hydrocarbons in the environment. By enabling rapid dispersion and biodegradation of surface oil slicks at sea, the use of chemical oil dispersants can be effective in preventing heavy oiling of sensitive coastal environments such as beaches and wetlands, and consequently mitigates risk associated with marine and terrestrial wildlife coming into direct contact with a slick

Dispersants: The Lesser Of Two Evils Or A Cure Worse Than The Disease?

The April 20, 2010, BP oil spill is widely regarded as the nation’s worst environmental disaster. The explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig resulted in the death of eleven crewmen, and thousands of fish, sea turtles, birds, and marine mammals. The federal government estimates that 4.9 million barrels (or 205.8 million gallons) of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico from the rogue well. In addition to the direct effect on wildlife from the spilled oil, which includes reduced ability to regulate temperature, forage, and nest, the unprecedented application of dispersants also likely impacted wildlife. During the oil spill, BP released roughly 1.84 million gallons of dispersants into the Gulf, 1.07 million gallons to the surface and 771,000 subsea. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved these measures despite its admission that no one fully knew the environmental effects of the dispersants, particularly at such great depths or volumes. Lisa Jackson, EPA administrator, called her decision to approve BP’s subsea dispersant use the hardest decision she ever made. As days turned to weeks and the oil continued to spill, it became obvious that both BP and the government were woefully unprepared to respond to a spill of this magnitude. The horror and chaos of the oil spill put the government in the awkward position of leading the efforts to respond to the spill while relying on industry resources and expertise. This also resulted in a tug-of-war within the Obama Administration between its enforcement and regulation roles and its need to cooperate with BP in order to stop the flow of oil and recover from the spill. The use of subsea dispersants most clearly exemplified this conflict as the government’s lack of knowledge about the effects of dispersants made it almost impossible for it to fulfill its legal duty to protect the nation’s waters and wildlife from pollutants. Two U.S. federal laws, the Clean Water Act (CWA) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA), contain provisions that specifically ensure that dispersant approval and use will not jeopardize imperiled wildlife and the resources on which they depend. In light of the general lack of knowledge regarding the effects of dispersants used in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the harm they may have caused, it has become evident that these two environmental laws, their implementation, or both, were inadequate to safeguard the environment and wildlife from the disaster response. This Article examines the use of dispersants in response to the BP oil spill. The authors describe the ways in which the CWA and the ESA authorize the EPA to regulate the use of dispersants and suggest how the regulation of dispersants could be strengthened. Part II discusses the development of contingency plans for oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico and the pre-spill consultation process for dispersants’ effects on wildlife. Part III describes BP’s dispersant use in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and recent scientific research identifying potential effects on the ocean and marine wildlife. Part IV discusses lessons learned from the oil spill and concludes that future preparedness will require better agency implementation or even legislative action

Contingency planning for dangerous goods in port area : Tanjung Perak Surabaya

The dissertation is a study of the present situation in the Port of Surabaya in relation to its probable capability in establishing a reliable and feasible contingency planning for dangerous goods accidents in the port and its surrounding area for its sustainable development. An overview of international, national, and local regulations, dealing with dangerous goods is given in brief. This establishes the range and extent of regulations that a contingency plan for dangerous goods for a port area should be detennined by. An analysis of the impact of dangerous goods discharges are given in order to show the importance to have a sufficient system of prevention and response to dangerous goods accident as parts of total port environmental management. Accidents, their preventions , responses and clean up of dangerous goods discharges are described in order to give a general understanding of basic technical information on the equipment and resources which should exist, now they should be properly managed, and up dated for a contingency planning for dangerous goods. The existing situation and condition in ports of Surabaya are reviewed to lcnow the actual management practices and facilities with regard to the extent that they may inhibit or promote the establishment of a contingency planning for dangerous goods. Particular attention is given to the management of activities for dealing with dangerous goods in the port. Based on the previous discussion, a proposed contingency plan for dangerous goods in port of Surabaya is put forward. Conclusions and recommendations for action planning toward the achievement of the proposed contingency plan is given

Protection of Bangladesh waters against accidental oil pollution from ships

Bangladesh, as being a flag, coastal and port state, has a genuine concern about the threat of oil pollution from marine transportation in its waters. However, her concern for accidental oil pollution from ships is not adequately matched by appropriate preventive and remedial measures. As a result, the country continues to be in an absolutely vulnerable position with respect to the dangers of oil pollution. This dissertation is a study of the need for and the ways of protecting the marine environment of Bangladesh from oil pollution incidents. The threats of accidental spills in Bangladesh waters are discussed and the present marine environment protection framework and oil spill response arrangements are briefly examined. A critical appraisal of the response to a past oil spill incident is given and major areas of concern and tasks to be undertaken are identified. Finally, conclusions are drawn on the basis of the study and a number of recommendations are made for enhancing the effectiveness of the existing marine environment protection framework and national arrangements for oil spill response