Oil Spill Studies

Healing the Ocean, Biomarking and the Law

Frederic Muttin

• Publisher: ISTE Press - Elsevier
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781785483103
• eBook ISBN: 9780081029299
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Oceanography
• Index: Social Sciences

The containment of pollution by physical defenses is the first step in restoring the ocean to its natural state. The first two chapters of Oil Spill Studies: Healing the Ocean, Biomarking and the Law describes the feedback on seven experiments made on the East Atlantic Ocean. The first chapter concerns semi-open sites while the second focuses on open environment directly linked to the ocean. The third chapter examines pollution from a French harbor marina and its effects on the local biodiversity. The book provides a methodology to quantify biological contamination coming from heavy metal releases into the environment. Chapter four provides the state-of-the-art in the science of a mid-depth-living fish species affected by the treatment of oil pollution by chemical dispersion. In a similar way, the fifth chapter addresses new explored and exploited ocean with extreme environments such as the Arctic and deep sea. The sixth and final chapter provides a lawyer's analysis on the subject.- Talks about the healing of the ocean through the containment of the population by physical defenses- Describes the seven experiments conducted on the Atlantic Ocean- Provides a methodology to quantify biological contamination- Presents a species of fish affected by the treatment of oil pollution by chemical dispersion- Address the oceans explored and exploited with extreme environments such as the Arctic and the deep seabed

1

Oil Spill Containment in Semi-open Areas: Experiments in French Atlantic and Alpine Waters

Frédéric Muttin; Rose Campbell

Abstract

In this chapter, experiments conducted on the mechanical containment of oil pollutants in semi-open areas are presented. Located on the French Atlantic coast of the Charente-Maritime district and the Maurienne valley in the Alps, the experiments demonstrate original contingency plans with different geometries and methods to control oil release. These coastal and inland sites are subject to specific environmental constraints and significant damage if oil containment fails.

Keywords

Chef-de-Baie Harbor; Gazole-Peche; Hydraulic plant; Hydrocarbon pollution; Hydroelectric power plant; Isère rivers; Marine environments; Maurienne Hermillon Lake; Rochefort Harbor; Tonnay-Charente

In this chapter, experiments conducted on the mechanical containment of oil pollutants in semi-open areas are presented. Located on the French Atlantic coast of the Charente-Maritime district and the Maurienne valley in the Alps, the experiments demonstrate original contingency plans with different geometries and methods to control oil release. These coastal and inland sites are subject to specific environmental constraints and significant damage if oil containment fails.

1.1 Introduction

Many strategies are available to combat oil spills using floating barriers [FIN 16]. Located in Rochefort, La Rochelle and Hermillon, France, the following three studies used oil spill booms in different hydrographic and marine environments. Table 1.1 presents the details of the strategies used in the experiments. Different shapes of boom deployment are considered as follows: a line with moored end-points, a closed line such as a triangle and a chevron. The head of the chevron can be positioned upstream to deviate oil on each side or downstream to accumulate oil.

Table 1.1

Summary of three boom installations in the semi-open areas of France

Experiment location	Boom geometry	Intervention strategy	Environment	Working objectives
Rochefort Harbor	Line	Static at quay Dynamic	Estuarine harbor	Sweeping Concentration
Chef-de-Baie Harbor	Triangle	Static	Oceanic harbor	Containment Absorption
Maurienne Lake	Chevron Double-head	Static	Freshwater lake	Exclusion Diversion

The position of anchor points can be time dependent due to forcings such as currents and wind or due to an intervention strategy. A static intervention means that a boom part is generally immobile. On the contrary, a dynamic intervention involves displacing a boom end-point generally using a ship.

The objectives of the floating barriers used are to collect, deviate and displace floating pollutants, which vary between the sites. For each site, modeling has been implemented to carry out re-analysis of real scenarios.

1.2 Rochefort Harbor

Different responses to small-scale pollution can be adapted to the requirements of harbors [KRE 07]. This experimental scenario is based on a real accident where a shipwreck was dismantled inside the basin of the river port of Rochefort, leading to a small discharge of oil. At that time, responders used oil-absorbent materials which were directly disposed on the surface of the basin. No efforts were made to contain or concentrate the slick. Responders considered closing the gates between the basin and the river in order to confine the pollution. The drawback of this action is that the commercial shipping activity of the harbor would be interrupted until the pollution was resorbed.

The experimental method used a 50 m curtain boom as a sweeping device on the polluted water surface. A small boat was used to sweep one end-point of the boom in a semicircle, in order to concentrate the hypothetical pollutant near a mooring bollard on the quay. The other end-point of the boom was moored on a quay ladder and equipped with a dynamometer and tension recorder to prevent boom and mooring failure. This scenario considers less than 1 ton of oil pollutants following an accidental release during bunkering from a truck or the breakdown of an old ship.

The towing velocity of the dynamic boom end-point remained in the order of one knot, taking 3 to 4 minutes to complete one arc (Figure 1.1). This method concentrates the pollutant along the quay, where an absorbent material or a skimmer can be used to absorb the oil.

Figure 1.1 Rochefort basin and sweeping boom, December 5th, 2014

A total of 13 people took part in this experiment: local responders, researchers, students and port authorities. The participant organizations were the Engineering School of La Rochelle, the port of Rochefort and Tonnay-Charente, the Charente-Maritime council and the port of Falmouth.

The boom position was recorded using complementary instruments. A GPS device recorded the position of the end-point located near the boat. Two video cameras filmed the sweeping process from two boundary points on the quay. An overhead view of the boom was obtained using image transformation and georectification. Finally, a flag was mounted on the boom, and three observers tracked the flag throughout the experiment and noted its azimuth relative to the quay using a large protractor for every 20 seconds. The position of the flag was deduced using triangulation, in order to confirm and calibrate the georectified image results. The positions of all of the scientific observers relative to the boat and the boom are shown in Figure 1.2.

Figure 1.2 Semi-dynamic sweeping boom for oiled water in the harbor

The time taken to prepare and deploy the boom and the boat was 30 minutes. A total of 14 sweeps were carrie...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Dedication
• Copyright
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Author Biographies and Organization Presentations
• 1: Oil Spill Containment in Semi-open Areas: Experiments in French Atlantic and Alpine Waters
• 2: Oil Spill Containment in Open Areas: Four Atlantic and Mediterranean Experiments
• 3: Polymetallic Pollution in Sentinel Bivalves Across a Semi-open Area: La Rochelle Harbor, France
• 4: Oil Spill Dispersant Use: Toxicity on Marine Teleost Fish
• 5: Extreme Environments: The New Exploration/Production Oil Area Problem
• 6: Law Review on Accidental Marine Pollution
• List of Authors
• Index