Noaa Stands for National Oceanic

NOAA stands for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, where their main responsibility is to clean up mess made by oil spills in the ocean. They cover the whole world where there are spills of oil, they were the one being called to help eliminate the oil in the water and maintain its cleanliness to prevent the oil from spreading and damaging the ocean and keeping animals especially marine animals. If there are spills in the ocean, NOAA uses different kinds of procedures and techniques so that it will prevent further spreading of oil. Aside from those procedures and techniques they use the help of machines to fasten their work. There is one program under NOAA that they call DARP, which stands for Damage Assessment and Restoration Program (DARP). This program will keep the employees of NOAA to study and be an expert in assessing and restoring natural resources that were caused by an oil spill or even any hazardous substances that can damage the coastal resources. This means that after the clean up of oil spill, DARP will still monitor the ocean affected by the spill and restore the natural resources. DARP has been created after the traumatic that happen with the Exxon Valdez oil spill, which is the biggest oil spill and damaged greatly the ocean. DARP works with different kinds of teams that have an expertise in preserving the resources based on the online source, http://www.darp.noaa.gov/about/:

DARP's multidisciplinary team of biologists, economists, attorneys, and policy analysts works with co-trustees to:

Assess and quantify injuries,

Recover damages from the responsible party through negotiation or litigation,

Develop and evaluate restoration alternatives, and Implement restoration projects.

DARP professionals can be found in coastal areas so that if there is an emergency they can quickly respond to the incidents and quickly assess damages and can restore it fast. They have an easy access to coastal areas where they can run and move to the water as fast as possible. Within DARP there are three offices based on the online source, http://www.darp.noaa.gov/about/:

The Damage Assessment Center (DAC) is responsible for assessing the impact to NOAA trust resources from releases of oil and hazardous materials to achieve the goal of restoration. DAC staff determines what resources have been injured and lost to the public, and identifies resources that should be restored. DAC is located within the National Ocean Service under the Office of Response and Restoration.

The Restoration Center (RC) is responsible for conducting and coordinating restoration planning and implementation, and monitoring restoration projects. The RC is located within the National Marine Fisheries Service under the Office of Habitat Conservation.

The Office of General Counsel for Natural Resources provides legal support for the Damage Assessment and Restoration Program. Located within the NOAA Office of General Counsel, these attorneys are responsible for all legal matters associated with NOAA's natural resource trusteeship.

What is an oil spill?

An oil spill is an escape, overflow or leakage of petroleum products in the ocean from a vessel or oil tanker of. But it is not just petroleum that overflows sometimes they are also hazardous to our coastal resources that spills. Based on the online source, http://www.darp.noaa.gov/:

The kind of oil spill we usually think about is the accidental or intentional release of petroleum products into the environment as result of human activity (drilling, manufacturing, storing, transporting, waste management). Examples would be things like well blowouts, pipeline breaks, ship collisions or groundings, overfilling of gas tanks and bilge pumping from ships, leaking underground storage tanks, and oil-contaminated water runoff from streets and parking lots during rain storms.

Apart from oil spills caused by human actions, oil also is released into the environment from natural oil seeps in the ocean bottom.

Oil spreads rapidly especially when it is light and the water is wavy because it helps the oils to move faster and spreads out easily. But then when the oil is heavy such as black oil, the spread of it is so slow because they are contained together and the fluidity is sticky. The condition of the water also matters with the spread of the oil and the temperature also. When the weather is cold the oil are somewhat frozen and solid so the spread of it is slow. In terms of weather, when it is windy and there is storm, we are expecting the oil to spread quick and fast, and what is hard to clean up is they are not contained in one area, some of them can be found in different areas and can be found also in the shoreline thus damaging the corals and the animals in the water.

History of oil spills.

Oil spills can happen anywhere in the world as long as there is an import or an export of oil through water there is a possibility of an oil spill. It happens under some unavoidable circumstances and in different kind of situations. There is what we call a hot spot where oil spill happens frequently according to Etkin (1997):

the Gulf of Mexico (267 spills)

the northeastern U.S. (140 spills)

the Mediterranean Sea (127 spills)

the Persian Gulf (108 spills)

the North Sea (75 spills)

Japan (60 spills)

the Baltic Sea (52 spills)

the United Kingdom and English Channel (49 spills)

Malaysia and Singapore (39 spills)

the west coast of France and north and west coasts of Spain (33 spills)

Korea (32 spills)

This can happen with mostly tankers but then it can also happen in any kind of sea vessel as long as they transport oil and it spilled. Tankers were most of the time being accounted because they cause too much damage and oil spill is bigger, some of small ship has not been accountable because the damage is just small. During the Persian Gulf War in 1991, a tanker spilled an oil and it greatly affected the gulf environment this causes a water pollution and it was the biggest spill that ever happened in the world. Here is some of the oil spill that happened in the United States based on the online source, http://www.darp.noaa.gov/:

Oil from natural seeps was in the water before the first spills from oil production. In the early 1500s, the Portuguese-born explorer Juan Cabrillo sailed into what is now Santa Barbara, California, and remarked on the oil he saw bubbling out from a natural seep. He reported that the Chumash Indians scooped and skimmed up the oil, which they used to waterproof their boats.

The first oil well in the U.S. was drilled in 1859 in an area of natural oil seeps along Oil Creek, near Titusville, Pennsylvania. It's possible -- although we don't know for sure -- that the first oil spills from oil production may have occurred when crude oil was first transported from this well.

The U.S. Fish Commission (NOAA's precursor) steamer Albatross reported a massive oil slick extending from L.A. south to northern San Diego County around 1889 or 1890. We don't know the source of this slick.

In the late 19-teens, hopane, a chemical "signal" of spilled oil, began appearing in the sediments of Puget Sound, Washington State, indicating that oil had been spilled into the Sound. Hopane's appearance peaked during WWII and has since been slowly declining.

After passage of federal legislation in 1925, the California Fish and Game Department began a major effort to reduce spills and leakages from coastal oil drilling operations in California, which at that time were common. In 1929, for example, a 600-barrel spill covered 9 miles of Ventura County Beach. By 1930, spills from ships were considered a greater menace than shoreline leakage.

The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill was the largest oil spill that happened in the history of United States. It happened on midnight of March 24, 1989 and it quickly spread throughout Alaska. It spreads for more than 3,000 square miles and it greatly affected one of the grandest beaches in Prince William Sound. The responses of different agencies were slow and during that time equipments and facilities were quite not sufficient to control the amount of spill coming from the Exxon Valdez and the location of the spill were quite secluded that is why they had a hard time going in the place. Everything were not prepared included experts were not enough to control those kind of spills, they were not expecting such huge spill that is why the result of controlling and preventing the spread was quite a failure. With this incident, they have learned a lot and the United States focused on the development and enhancement of the equipments as well as the people involved with the protection agency. Employees were trained to become an expert and studied deeply on controlling and cleanup of the oil spills. Here is some of the study on the improvements they made based on the online source, http://www.epa.gov/history/topics/valdez/04.htm:

Prevention is the first line of defense.

Preparedness must be strengthened.

Response capabilities must be enhanced to reduce environmental risk.

Some oil spills may be inevitable.

Legislation on liability and compensation is needed.

The United States should ratify the International Maritime Organization (IMO) 1984 Protocols.

Federal planning for oil spills must be improved.

Studies of the long-term environmental and health effects must be undertaken expeditiously and carefully.

How NOAA responds to spills?

NOAA is a 24/7 service that monitors and waits for a help if there is a spill. They help protect and conserve the natural resources. As soon as they got call they go to the scene as fast as possible. They inspect the vessel, and study the spill, damage and spread in the affected area. We determine the success of their operation through the response of NOAA. NOAA Office of Response and Restoration has a mission based on the online source, http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2004/s2353.htm:

OR& R. is currently assisting with trajectory modeling, oil fate forecasting, weather, and information management and participating in over flights and resource and shoreline assessment. Trajectory modeling uses oceanographic, meteorology and hydrographic information to forecast where the spill might go and its potential effects on the coastal environment. Shoreline assessment is done by surveying affected shoreline, segment by segment, to collect information about the shoreline habitats and degree of oil contamination. This information is used to assist in both determining how cleanup resources will be used and identifying trust resources that have been impacted.

Responding is only the beginning but the hard part is the restoration of the affected area. It is hard to re-establish the damage areas because they will monitor it and try to put back what it had lost.

What kind of chemicals do they use for cleanup?

There are several ways on cleaning up the surface of the water, it is much easier to clean the water if it only resides on the surface of the water but then it m ay take too long. According to http://www.darp.noaa.gov/, there are three basic classes of absorbents to use for spill clean up:

natural organic materials like peat moss, straw, hay, and sawdust.

mineral-based materials like vermiculite, perlite, and volcanic ash.

synthetic organic sorbents like rubber, polyester foam, polystyrene, and polyurethane.

The synthetic organic were used frequently because it absorbs more oil and can be reprocessed. But then instead of reprocessing it they examine it first and recycle it because there might be other consequences t they just reprocess the oil.

There are two techniques that they clean up the spill of oil in the marine water, first is through "dispersant chemicals" and the second is through "containment and recovery." Chemical dispersants are being sprayed in the oil. This dispersants consist surfactant wherein oil will not be mix to the water and solvent wherein it will act as a carrier to the surfactant. The three main types of dispersants are, based on the online source, http://www.itopf.com/containment.html:

Type 1 dispersants are based on hydrocarbon solvents with between 15 and 25% surfactant. They are sprayed neat onto the oil as pre-dilution with seawater renders them ineffective. Typical dose rates are between 1:1 and 1:3 (dispersant:oil).

Type 2 dispersants are dilutable concentrate dispersants which are alcohol or glycol (i.e. oxygenated) solvent-based with a higher surfactant concentration. Dilution is normally 1:10 with seawater.

Type 3 dispersants are also concentrate dispersants with a similar formulation to type 2 products. However, they are designed to be used neat and typical dose rates are between 1:5 and 1:30 (neat dispersant:oil).

The containment and recovery uses booms so that oil would stick together and concentrate the floating oils thereby it will prevent from spreading all over. Booms features based on the online source, http://www.itopf.com/containment.html:

1. freeboard to prevent or reduce splash over;

2. sub-surface skirt to prevent or reduce escape of oil under the boom;

3. flotation by air or some buoyant material;

4. longitudinal tension member (chain or wire) to provide strength to withstand the effects of winds, waves and currents. This is often used to provide ballast to keep the boom upright in the water.

If the clean up were done booms should be cleaned and repaired so that it can be use to another spill. But before they use it again, test should be made to know if it is still effective and will work properly.

There are different kinds of tools for clean up of oil spills and these are being practice in different areas for quick prevention of spreading. Here are the list of tools based on the online source, http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/topic_subtopic_entry.php?RECORD_KEY%28entry_subtopic_topic%29=entry_id,subtopic_id,topic_id& entry_id (entry_subtopic_topic)=184& subtopic_id (entry_subtopic_topic)=27& topic_id (entry_subtopic_topic)=3:

booms, which are floating barriers to oil (for example, a big boom may be placed around a tanker that is leaking oil, to collect the oil).

skimmers, which are boats that skim spilled oil from the water surface.

sorbents, which are big sponges used to absorb oil.

chemical dispersants and biological agents, which break down the oil into its chemical constituents.

in-situ burning, which is a method of burning freshly-spilled oil, usually while it's floating on the water.

washing oil off beaches with either high-pressure or low-pressure hoses.

vacuum trucks, which can vacuum spilled oil off of beaches or the water surface.

shovels and road equipment, which are sometimes used to pick up oil or move oiled beach sand and gravel down to where it can be cleaned by being tumbled around in the waves.

How long clean up takes?

Clean up of oil spills depend on the amount of oil that was spilled in the water and it also depends on the type of oil that was spilled. It takes sometime to clean the oil and it may take weeks to several months. But the recovery of damage may take a long time, for about years because oil can be very damaging to the water and to marine animals. Based on the online source, http://www.darp.noaa.gov/:

The way oil behaves depends on the kind of oil, the kind of ground it has spilled onto (e.g., coarse or fine sand, rock, mudflat, and so on), the kind of environment it spills into, and the weather at the time of the spill. For example, while light oil will penetrate quickly into coarse sediment, heavy oil will penetrate more slowly or not at all. Oil may not penetrate at all into a fine-grained beach, because the sand grains are so closely packed together that there's little space between them for the oil to penetrate. In hot weather, oil is more likely to seep into the ground than in cold weather, because oil doesn't flow as easily when it's cold.

How tools being improved such as high-pressure and hot water washing?

Oil floats and does not mix to water but the removal of oil can be hard especially in open water because it goes anywhere. The hot water washing is the cleaning of beaches with high pressure of hot water. Workers uses fire hoses to spray the beaches with an attire of rain gear with hard hats. This has been a standard of cleaning the shorelines of beaches that were affected by the oil spill but then there are consequences of hot water washing, it is not good with the marine resources such as plants and animals and it destroys the formation of the beaches' shoreline. Based on the online source, http://evos.sailwhatcom.com/cleanup/methods/hot_high.htm:

Variability in the washing process between crews meant that some crews were harder on the environment than others. Some of the biggest problems in application were uncoordinated spraying, carelessness in applying the water, inconsistent scheduling and reporting of cleanup results, and poor choices in combinations of equipment.

What is done for oiled animals?

There were marine mammals that greatly affected by the oil spills especially those who frequently swim on the upper side of the water. When the Exxon Valdez spill, there were no whales found dead and no physical damage has been done with them but an abrupt decreased of whales in that area had been noticed may be because of the effect that the oil made. But then if oil were found on whales, there were veterinarians who can take care of them and try to rehabilitate them. An affected whale will be moved to a clean location so that it could be recovered and the veterinarians will continue to monitor them until they fully recovered.

Oils usually floats, therefore only animals that floats and stay in the surface of the sea are usually greatly affected by the spill. Fish can also be killed in areas where the waters are confined, they are fast runners but then if the area is almost affected by the oil, fish can be harmed. But in open water they can run away.

There are ways on how to rescue animals that are affected by the oil spill and it is just not treating them but also the monitoring and facilitating their way back home is still a responsibility in helping the wildlife because they were being harmed caused by the humans. Here are some of the ways of rescuing them according to the online source, http://www.epa.gov/oilspill/rescue.htm: