2015 Oil Observing Tools: A Workshop Report

Since 2010, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have provided satellite-based pollution surveillance in United States waters to regulatory agencies such as the United States Coast Guard (USCG). These technologies provide agencies with useful information regarding possible oil discharges. Unfortunately, there has been confusion as to how to interpret the images collected by these satellites and other aerial platforms, which can generate misunderstandings during spill events. Remote sensor packages on aircraft and satellites have advantages and disadvantages vis-à-vis human observers, because they do not “see” features or surface oil the same way. In order to improve observation capabilities during oil spills, applicable technologies must be identified, and then evaluated with respect to their advantages and disadvantages for the incident. In addition, differences between sensors (e.g., visual, IR, multispectral sensors, radar) and platform packages (e.g., manned/unmanned aircraft, satellites) must be understood so that reasonable approaches can be made if applicable and then any data must be correctly interpreted for decision support. NOAA convened an Oil Observing Tools Workshop to focus on the above actions and identify training gaps for oil spill observers and remote sensing interpretation to improve future oil surveillance, observation, and mapping during spills. The Coastal Response Research Center (CRRC) assisted NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration (ORR) with this effort. The workshop was held on October 20-22, 2015 at NOAA’s Gulf of Mexico Disaster Response Center in Mobile, AL. The expected outcome of the workshop was an improved understanding, and greater use of technology to map and assess oil slicks during actual spill events. Specific workshop objectives included: •Identify new developments in oil observing technologies useful for real-time (or near real-time) mapping of spilled oil during emergency events. •Identify merits and limitations of current technologies and their usefulness to emergency response mapping of oil and reliable prediction of oil surface transport and trajectory forecasts.Current technologies include: the traditional human aerial observer, unmanned aircraft surveillance systems, aircraft with specialized senor packages, and satellite earth observing systems. •Assess training needs for visual observation (human observers with cameras) and sensor technologies (including satellites) to build skills and enhance proper interpretation for decision support during actual events

Validation of Oil Trajectory and Fate Modeling of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Trajectory and fate modeling of the oil released during the Deepwater Horizon blowout was performed for April to September of 2010 using a variety of input data sets, including combinations of seven hydrodynamic and four wind models, to determine the inputs leading to the best agreement with observations and to evaluate their reliability for quantifying exposure of marine resources to floating and subsurface oil. Remote sensing (satellite imagery) data were used to estimate the amount and distribution of floating oil over time for comparison with the model’s predictions. The model-predicted locations and amounts of shoreline oiling were compared to documentation of stranded oil by shoreline assessment teams. Surface floating oil trajectory and distribution was largely wind driven. However, trajectories varied with the hydrodynamic model used as input, and was closest to observations when using specific implementations of the HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model modeled currents that accounted for both offshore and nearshore currents. Shoreline oiling distributions reflected the paths of the surface oil trajectories and were more accurate when westward flows near the Mississippi Delta were simulated. The modeled movements and amounts of oil floating over time were in good agreement with estimates from interpretation of remote sensing data, indicating initial oil droplet distributions and oil transport and fate processes produced oil distribution results reliable for evaluating environmental exposures in the water column and from floating oil at water surface. The model-estimated daily average water surface area affected by floating oil \u3e1.0 g/m2 was 6,720 km2, within the range of uncertainty for the 11,200 km2 estimate based on remote sensing. Modeled shoreline oiling extended over 2,600 km from the Apalachicola Bay area of Florida to Terrebonne Bay area of Louisiana, comparing well to the estimated 2,100 km oiled based on incomplete shoreline surveys

Comparing Recent Advances in Estimating and Measuring Oil Slick Thickness: An MPRI Technical Report

Characterization of the degree and extent of surface oil during and after an oil spill is a critical part of emergency response and Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) activities. More specifically, understanding floating oil thickness in real-time can guide response efforts by directing limited assets to priority cleanup areas; aid in ‘volume released’ estimates; enhance fate, transport and effects modeling capabilities; and support natural resource injury determinations. An international workshop brought researchers from agencies, academia and industry who were advancing in situ and remote oil characterization tools and methods together with stake holders and end users who rely on information about floating oil thickness for mission critical assignments (e.g., regulatory, assessment, cleanup, research). In total, over a dozen researchers presented and discussed their findings from tests using various different sensors and sensor platforms. The workshop resulted in discussions and recommendations for better ways to leverage limited resources and opportunities for advancing research and developing tools and methods for oil spill thickness measurements and estimates that could be applied during spill responses. One of the primary research gaps identified by the workshop participants was the need for side-by-side testing and validation of these different methods, to better understand their respective strengths, weaknesses and technical readiness levels, so that responders would be better able to make decisions about what methods are appropriate to use under what conditions, and to answer the various questions associated with response actions. Approach: 1) Convene a more in-depth multi day researcher workshop to discuss and develop specific workplan to conduct side-by-side validation and verification experiments for testing oil thickness measurements. 2) Conduct the validation and verification experiments in controlled environments: the Coastal Response Research Center (CRRC) highbay at the University of New Hampshire (UNH); and the Ohmsett National Oil Spill Response Research & Renewable Energy Test Facility

Offshore oil seepage visible from space : a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) based automatic detection, mapping and quantification system

Offshore oil seepage is believed to be the largest source of marine oil, yet very few of their locations and seepage fluxes have been discovered and reported. Natural oil seep sites are important as they serve as potential energy sources and because they are hosts to a very varied marine ecosystem. These seeps can also be associated with gas hydrates and methane emissions and hence, locating natural oil seeps can provide locations where the sources of greenhouse gases could be studied and quantified. A quantification of the amount of crude oil released from natural oil seeps is important as it can be used to set a background against which the excess anthropogenic sources of marine oil can be checked. This will provide an estimate of the 'contamination' of marine waters from anthropogenic sources. Until the onset of remote sensing techniques, field measurements and techniques like hydroacoustic measurements or piston core analysis were used to obtain knowledge about the geological settings of the seeps. The remote sensing techniques either involved manual or semi-automatic image analysis. An automatic algorithm that could quantitatively and qualitatively estimate the locations of oil seeps around the world would reduce the time and costs involved by a considerable margin. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) sensors provide an illumination and weather independent source of ocean images that can be used to detect offshore oil seeps. Oil slicks on the ocean surface dampen the small wind driven waves present on the ocean surface and appear darker against the brighter ocean surface. They can, hence, be detected in SAR image. With the launch of the latest Sentinel-1 satellite aimed at providing free SAR data, an algorithm that detects oil slicks and estimates seep location is very beneficial. The global data coverage and the reduction of processing times for the large amounts of SAR data would be unmatchable. The aim of this thesis was to create such an algorithm that could automatically detect oil slicks in SAR images, map the location of the estimated oil seeps and quantify their seepage fluxes. The thesis consists of three studies that are compiled into one of more manuscripts that are published, accepted for publication or ready for submission. The first study of this thesis involves the creation of the Automatic Seep Location Estimator (ASLE) which detects oil slicks in marine SAR images and estimates offshore oil seepage sites. This, the first fully automatic oil seep location estimation algorithm, has been implemented in the programming language Python and has been tested and validated on ENVISAT images of the Black Sea. The second study reported in this thesis focuses on the optimisation of the created ASLE and comparison of the ASLE with other existing algorithms. It also describes the efficiency of the ASLE with respect to other existing algorithms and the results show that the ASLE can successfully detect seeps of active seepages. The third study aimed to provide the status of the offshore seepage in the southern Gulf of Mexico estimated from the ASLE using SAR images from ENVISAT and RADARSAT-1. The ASLE was used to detect natural oil slicks from SAR images and estimate the locations of feeding seeps. The estimated seep locations and the slicks contributing to these estimations were then analysed to quantify their seepage fluxes and rates. The three case studies illustrate that an automatic offshore seepage detection and estimation system such as the Automatic Seep Location Estimator (ASLE) is very beneficial in order to locate global oil seeps and estimate global seepage fluxes. It provides a technique to detect offshore seeps and their seepage fluxes in a fast and highly efficient manner by using Synthetic Aperture Radar images. This allows global accessibility of offshore oil seepage sites. The availability of large amounts of historic SAR datasets, the presence of 5 active SAR satellites and the latest launch of the European Space Agency satellite Sentinel-1, which provides free data, shows that there is no shortage in the availability of SAR data. The result of the work done in this thesis provides a means to utilise this large SAR dataset for the purpose of offshore oil seepage detection and offshore seepage related geophysical applications. The created system will be an important tool in the future not just to estimate offshore seepage in local seas but in global oceans that are otherwise challenging for field analysis

Monitoring oil spill in Norilsk, Russia using satellite data.

This paper studies the oil spill, which occurred in the Norilsk and Taimyr region of Russia due to the collapse of the fuel tank at the power station on May 29, 2020. We monitored the snow, ice, water, vegetation and wetland of the region using data from the Multi-Spectral Instruments (MSI) of Sentinel-2 satellite. We analyzed the spectral band absorptions of Sentinel-2 data acquired before, during and after the incident, developed true and false-color composites (FCC), decorrelated spectral bands and used the indices, i.e. Snow Water Index (SWI), Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). The results of decorrelated spectral bands 3, 8, and 11 of Sentinel-2 well confirmed the results of SWI, NDWI, NDVI, and FCC images showing the intensive snow and ice melt between May 21 and 31, 2020. We used Sentinel-2 results, field photographs, analysis of the 1980-2020 daily air temperature and precipitation data, permafrost observations and modeling to explore the hypothesis that either the long-term dynamics of the frozen ground, changing climate and environmental factors, or abnormal weather conditions may have caused or contributed to the collapse of the oil tank.Open access funding provided by the Qatar National Library

OIL SPILL ALONG THE TURKISH STRAITS SEA AREA; ACCIDENTS, ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION, SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACTS AND PROTECTION

The Turkish Straits Sea Area (TSSA) is a long water passage that is consisted of the Sea of Marmara, an inland sea within Turkey's borders, and two narrow straits connected to neighboring seas. With a strategic location between the Balkans and Anatolia, the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, and dominated by the continental climate, the region hosted many civilizations throughout the centuries. This makes the region among the busiest routes in the world, with sea traffic three times higher than that in the Suez Canal. The straits are the most difficult waterways to navigate and witnessed many hazardous and important collisions and accidents throughout history. In addition, this area has vital roles as a biological corridor and barrier among three distinctive marine realms. Therefore, the region is rather sensitive to damages of national and international maritime activities, which may cause severe environmental problems. This book addresses several key questions on a chapter basis, including historical accidents, background information on main dynamic restrictions, oil pollution, oil spill detection, and clean-up recoveries, its impacts on biological communities, socioeconomic aspects, and subjects with international agreements. This book will help readers, public, local and governmental authorities gain a deeper understanding of the status of the oil spill, mostly due to shipping accidents, and their related impacts along the TSSA, which needs precautionary measures to be protected.CONTENTS INTRODUCTION CHAPTER I - HISTORY OF ACCIDENTS AND REGULATIONS Remarkable Accidents at the Istanbul Strait Hasan Bora USLUER and Saim OĞUZÜLGEN …………………………………...... 3 History of Regulations before Republican Era along the Turkish Straits Sea Area Ali Umut ÜNAL …………………………………………………………………….. 16 Transition Regime in the Turkish Straits during the Republican Era Osman ARSLAN ……….……………………………………………………….……26 26 The Montreux Convention and Effects at Turkish Straits Oktay ÇETİN ………………………………………………………………….…….. 33 Evaluation of the Montreux Convention in the Light of Recent Problems Ayşenur TÜTÜNCÜ ………………………………………………………………… 44 A Historical View on Technical Developments on Ships and Effects of Turkish Straits Murat YAPICI ………………………………………………………………………. 55 CHAPTER II - GEOGRAPHY, BATHYMETRY AND HYDRO-METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS Geographic and Bathymetric Restrictions along the Turkish Straits Sea Area Bedri ALPAR, Hasan Bora USLUER and Şenol AYDIN ……………………..…… 61 Hydrodynamics and Modeling of Turkish Straits Serdar BEJİ and Tarkan ERDİK ………………………………………………….… 79 Wave Climate in the Turkish Sea of Marmara Tarkan ERDİK and Serdar BEJİ …………………………………………………..… 91 CHAPTER III - OIL POLLUTION, DETECTION AND RECOVERY Oil Pollution at Sea and Coast Following Major Accidents Selma ÜNLÜ ……………………………………………………………………….101 Forensic Fingerprinting in Oil-spill Source Identification at the Turkish Straits Sea Area Özlem ATEŞ DURU ……………………………………………………………… 121 xi Oil Spill Detection Using Remote Sensing Technologies-Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) İbrahim PAPİLA, Elif SERTEL, Şinasi KAYA and Cem GAZİOĞLU ……..……. 140 The Role of SAR Remote Sensing to Detect Oil Pollution and Emergency Intervention Saygın ABDIKAN, Çağlar BAYIK and Füsun BALIK ŞANLI ……….….……….. 157 Oil Spill Recovery and Clean-Up Techniques Emra KIZILAY, Mehtap AKBAŞ and Tahir Yavuz GEZBELİ …………………… 176 Turkish Strait Sea Area, Contingency Planning, Regulations and Case Studies Emra KIZILAY, Mehtap AKBAŞ and Tahir Yavuz GEZBELİ …………………... 188 Dispersant Response Method to Incidental Oil Pollution Dilek EDİGER, Leyla TOLUN and Fatma TELLİ KARAKOÇ ………………….... 205 CHAPTER IV - THE EFFECTS / IMPACTS OF OIL SPILL ON BIOLOGICAL COMMUNITIES – INCLUDING SAMPLING AND MONITORING Marine Microorganisms and Oil Spill Sibel ZEKİ and Pelin S. ÇİFTÇİ TÜRETKEN …………...………………………… 219 Estimated Effects of Oil Spill on the Phytoplankton Following “Volgoneft-248” Accident (Sea of Marmara) Seyfettin TAŞ ………………………………..…………………………………….... 229 Interactions between Zooplankton and Oil Spills: Lessons Learned from Global Accidents and a Proposal for Zooplankton Monitoring İ. Noyan YILMAZ and Melek İŞİNİBİLİR ……………………………………..….. 238 The Effects of Oil Spill on the Macrophytobenthic Communities Ergün TAŞKIN and Barış AKÇALI …………………………….…………….……. 244 Potential Impacts of Oil Spills on Macrozoobenthos in the Turkish Straits System Güley KURT-ŞAHİN …………………………………………………………….… 253 The Anticipated Effects of Oil Spill on Fish Populations in Case of an Accident along the Turkish Straits System – A review of Studies after Several Incidents from the World M. İdil ÖZ and Nazlı DEMİREL …………………………………………………….261 Estimated Impacts of an Oil Spill on Bird Populations along the Turkish Straits System Itri Levent ERKOL …………………………………………………………….…… 272 The Effect of Oil Spills on Cetaceans in the Turkish Straits System (TSS) Ayaka Amaha ÖZTÜRK ………………………………………………………….. 277 Changes in the Ichthyoplankton and Benthos Assemblages following Volgoneft-248 Oil Spill: Case Study Ahsen YÜKSEK and Yaprak GÜRKAN …………………………………….……. 280 Assessing the Initial and Temporal Effects of a Heavy Fuel Oil Spill on Benthic Fauna Yaprak GÜRKAN, Ahsen YÜKSEK ………………………………………..…….. 287 CHAPTER V - SOCIO-ECONOMIC ASPECTS Socio-economic Aspects of Oil Spill Özlem ATEŞ DURU and Serap İNCAZ ……………………………………….…… 301 Effects of Oil Spill on Human Health Türkan YURDUN ………………………………………………………………..…. 313 Crisis Management of Oil Spill, A Case Study: BP Gulf Mexico Oil Disaster Serap İNCAZ and Özlem ATEŞ DURU …………………………….………….……324 CHAPTER VI - CONVENTIONS RELATING TO PREVENTION OF OIL SPILL International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Oil (OILPOL), 1954 and its Situation Related with Turkey Emre AKYÜZ, Metin ÇELİK and Ömer SÖNER …………………………...……... 334 International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973, as Modified by the Protocol of 1978 Relating Thereto and by the Protocol of 1997 (MARPOL) Özcan ARSLAN, Esma UFLAZ and Serap İNCAZ ………………………….……. 342 Applications of MARPOL Related with Oil Spill in Turkey Emre AKYÜZ, Özcan ASLAN and Serap İNCAZ ………………………………… 356 Ship Born Oil Pollution at the Turkish Straits Sea Area and MARPOL 73/78 Duygu ÜLKER and Sencer BALTAOĞLU………………………….…………….. 363 International Convention Relating to Intervention on the High Seas in Cases of Oil Pollution Casualties (INTERVENTION 1969) and its Applications Related with Oil Spill in Turkey Şebnem ERKEBAY ……………………………….……………………………….. 371 International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation (OPRC) 1990 and its Applications Related with Oil Spill in Turkey Kadir ÇİÇEK ………………………………………………………………………. 381 Protocol on Preparedness, Response and Co-operation to Pollution Incidents by Hazardous and Noxious Substances, 2000 (OPRC-HNS Protocol) and its Effects in Turkey Aydın ŞIHMANTEPE and Cihat AŞAN ……………….…………………………. 392 The International Convention on Salvage (SALVAGE) 1989 Related with Oil Spill in Turkey İrşad BAYIRHAN ……………………………………….………………..……….. 408 CHAPTER VII - CONVENTIONS COVERING LIABILITY AND COMPENSATION RELATED WITH OIL SPILL International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage (CLC), 1969 and its Applications Serap İNCAZ and Pınar ÖZDEMİR ……………………………………..………… 416 1992 Protocol to the International Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage (FUND 1992) and its Applications Related with Oil Spill in Turkey Ali Umut ÜNAL and Hasan Bora USLUER …………………………….………… 424 International Convention on Liability and Compensation for Damage in Connection with the Carriage of Hazardous and Noxious Substances by Sea (HNS), 1996 (and its 2010 Protocol) and its Applications Related with Oil Spill in Turkey Bilun ELMACIOĞLU ……………………………………………………………… 437 Bunkering Incidents and Safety Practices in Turkey Fırat BOLAT, Pelin BOLAT and Serap İNCAZ …………………………………... 447 "Nairobi International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks 2007" and its Effects on Turkey Şafak Ümit DENİZ and Serap İNCAZ ……………………….……………………. 457

An Evaluation of the Effects of Marine Oil-spills, Remediation Strategies, and Shipwrecks on Microbial Community Structure and Succession

The evaluation of how Bacteria respond to oil-contamination, and the application of dispersants and biosurfactants, in North Sea seawater microcosms is the focus of Chapter Two. Analysis revealed that dispersants and biosurfactants, which significantly reduced the interfacial tension between oil and water, significantly increased growth of obligate hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria (OHCB) in 24 hours, translating into significantly enhanced alkane-biodegradation. Early sampling of microcosms revealed how the OHCB Oleispira, hitherto considered a psychrophile, can dominate bacterial communities at the relatively high temperature of 16ºC. Bacterial response to oil-pollution is examined further in Chapter Three, where an in situ oil-slick is compared to a chemically dispersed oil-slick in the North Sea. Results suggest a lack of hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria (HCB) growth, even in samples with measurable hydrocarbons, could potentially be attributed to phosphorous limitation. Whilst the Ecological Index of Hydrocarbon Exposure, which quantifies the proportion of a bacterial community with hydrocarbon-biodegradation potential, revealed an extremely low score, highlighting a limited capacity for the environment, at the time of sampling, to naturally attenuate oil. Analysis of sediments contaminated by the Agia Zoni II oil-spill (Greece, 2017), in Chapter Four, demonstrated significant growth of HCB five-days post-oil-spill. Whilst the relative abundance of HCB declined as oil was removed, a legacy effect was observed, with the OHCB Alcanivorax and Cycloclasticus persisting for several months after the oil-spill. Finally, analysis of sediments around a North Sea shipwreck (HMS Royal Oak), in Chapter Five, revealed low levels of pyrogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and little evidence of HCB, indicating sediments showed no long-term impact by previous oil-pollution from the shipwreck. This thesis not only advances our understanding of microbial response to oil-spills, remediation strategies, and shipwrecks, in a range of marine environments, but also highlights the importance of harnessing such knowledge and data to advance post-incident monitoring guidelines and models

Topics in environmental and physical geodesy

A compilation of mathematical techniques and physical basic knowledge in order to prepare the post graduate students of the subjects of physical geodesy, environmental physics and the visiting students of Erasmus-Socrates projects of the Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography of Toulon and the Campus Universitari de la Mediterrania in Vilanova i la Geltru, Barcelona.Postprint (published version

NASA's surface biology and geology designated observable: A perspective on surface imaging algorithms

The 2017–2027 National Academies' Decadal Survey, Thriving on Our Changing Planet, recommended Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) as a “Designated Targeted Observable” (DO). The SBG DO is based on the need for capabilities to acquire global, high spatial resolution, visible to shortwave infrared (VSWIR; 380–2500 nm; ~30 m pixel resolution) hyperspectral (imaging spectroscopy) and multispectral midwave and thermal infrared (MWIR: 3–5 μm; TIR: 8–12 μm; ~60 m pixel resolution) measurements with sub-monthly temporal revisits over terrestrial, freshwater, and coastal marine habitats. To address the various mission design needs, an SBG Algorithms Working Group of multidisciplinary researchers has been formed to review and evaluate the algorithms applicable to the SBG DO across a wide range of Earth science disciplines, including terrestrial and aquatic ecology, atmospheric science, geology, and hydrology. Here, we summarize current state-of-the-practice VSWIR and TIR algorithms that use airborne or orbital spectral imaging observations to address the SBG DO priorities identified by the Decadal Survey: (i) terrestrial vegetation physiology, functional traits, and health; (ii) inland and coastal aquatic ecosystems physiology, functional traits, and health; (iii) snow and ice accumulation, melting, and albedo; (iv) active surface composition (eruptions, landslides, evolving landscapes, hazard risks); (v) effects of changing land use on surface energy, water, momentum, and carbon fluxes; and (vi) managing agriculture, natural habitats, water use/quality, and urban development. We review existing algorithms in the following categories: snow/ice, aquatic environments, geology, and terrestrial vegetation, and summarize the community-state-of-practice in each category. This effort synthesizes the findings of more than 130 scientists