Assessing the suitability of OSPAR EcoQOs for eutrophication vs ICES criteria for England and Wales

This paper provides a preliminary evaluation of the suitability of OSPAR Ecological Quality objectives for eutrophication for coastal and offshore waters of England and Wales on the basis of ICES criteria. In principle, EcoQOs are easy to understand, but responses to nutrient enrichment are complex. Few studies provide unequivocal evidence of links between inputs and response. Monitoring is generally feasible and in place, but needs to be improved. The best EcoQO is winter nutrient concentrations. Chlorophyll concentrations are a good indicator in environments susceptible to nutrient enrichment. The EcoQO for zoobenthos/fish kills potentially meets all criteria for a good indicator; EcoQOs for phytoplankton indicator species, oxygen concentrations and zoobenthos changes do not. Greater emphasis needs to be placed on seasonal effects of nutrient inputs and phytoplankton response, natural susceptibility of different water bodies, differences between coastal and offshore environments, and developing longer time series of data.     

Water column monitoring near oil installations in the North Sea 2001-2004

Fisheries have been vital to coastal communities around the North Sea for centuries, but this semi-enclosed sea also receives large amounts of waste. It is therefore important to monitor and control inputs of contaminants into the North Sea. Inputs of effluents from offshore oil and gas production platforms (produced water) in the Norwegian sector have been monitored through an integrated chemical and biological effects programme since 2001. The programme has used caged Atlantic cod and blue mussels. PAH tissue residues in blue mussels and PAH bile metabolites in cod have confirmed exposure to effluents, but there was variation between years. Results for a range of biological effects methods reflected exposure gradients and indicated that exposure levels were low and caused minor environmental impact at the deployment locations. There is a need to develop methods that are sufficiently sensitive to components in produced water at levels found in marine ecosystems.     

Effects of sheens associated with offshore oil and gas development on the feather microstructure of pelagic seabirds

Operational discharges of hydrocarbons from maritime activities can have major cumulative impacts on marine ecosystems. Small quantities of oil (i.e., 10 ml) results in often lethally reduced thermoregulation in seabirds. Thin sheens of oil and drilling fluids form around offshore petroleum production structures from currently permissible operational discharges of hydrocarbons. Methodology was developed to measure feather microstructure impacts (amalgamation index or AI) associated with sheen exposure. We collected feather samples from two common North Atlantic species of seabirds; Common Murres (Uria aalge) and Dovekies (Alle alle). Impacts were compared after feather exposure to crude oil and synthetic lubricant sheens of varying thicknesses. Feather weight and microstructure changed significantly for both species after exposure to thin sheens of crude oil and synthetic drilling fluids. Thus, seabirds may be impacted by thin sheens forming around offshore petroleum production facilities from discharged produced water containing currently admissible concentrations of hydrocarbons.     

Fate of drilling waste discharges and ecological risk assessment in the Egyptian Red Sea: an aquivalence-based fuzzy analysis

Egypt is located in the Northeast of Africa where oil and gas (O&G) are produced offshore from the Gulf of Suez and the Southeast part of the Mediterranean. The O&G production in Egypt is distributed as follows: 70% from Gulf of Suez, 16% from Western desert, 8% from the Sinai Peninsula and 6% from Eastern desert. Past O&G activities, refining and transport have resulted in chronic pollution in Egyptian offshore and numerous environmental programs have been initiated to protect new development areas from the environmental impacts. The offshore drilling process uses drilling fluids (mud) and generates waste fluids and cuttings, which could be the largest discharges going into the receiving water bodies. There are several options to manage offshore drilling wastes: offshore discharge, offshore down-hole injection and onshore disposal. Water-based drilling fluids (WBF) are commonly employed for drilling in Egyptian offshore because of their expected environmental benign behavior. The main objective of this paper is to develop a methodology to determine the fate of heavy metals associated with WBF drilling waste in the marine environment and estimate the associated ecological risks. Proposed contaminant fate model is based on an aquivalence approach, which has been integrated with fuzzy-based analysis to study the uncertainties. This research concluded that the impacts of heavy metals associated with the drilling waste discharges in the receiving waters are minimal.     

美国API RP2A-WSD规范对我国海洋石油平台抗震设防的启示

我国尚未制定海洋石油平台的抗震设计规范,目前世界海洋油气行业的抗震标准主要执行的是美国RP2A—WSD规范,该规范是基于是美国近海岸地震危险性区划结果而制定．本文介绍了RP2A-WSD规范及美国近海岸地震区划研究结果,论述了我国渤海海域地震活动性特性与地震动参数的研究内容,渤海海域是我国海洋石油开发的主要场所,且地震活动性较高,与美国南加利福尼亚近海岸具有可比性,然后对两者进行对比分析,并依据两者之间的对比结果,以及海洋石油平台的重要性和使用特征,对我国海洋石油平台的抗震设防标准和设防水准提出建议。     

Declines in oil-rates of stranded birds in the North Sea highlight spatial patterns in reductions of chronic oil pollution

Strandings of oiled seabirds are used to signal the problem of chronic oil pollution. Species-specific oil rates reflect the risk for marine birds to become oiled at sea. High oil rates were characteristic for seabirds common in areas with frequent oil spills; low oil rates for birds wintering away from the busiest shipping lanes. Declining trends in oil-rates were found, reflecting a reduction in the amount of oil intentionally discharged over the past 50 years. Spatial patterns in the risk to become oiled could be identified, when the winter distribution patterns of the affected birds were incorporated in the analysis. Declines in oil rates were most pronounced in coastal birds. These trends were consistent with tendencies to police nearshore waters more effectively than offshore waters. While levels of chronic oil pollution are much reduced, future emphasis should be to reduce chronic oiling more effectively in offshore waters.     

Vessel-related contamination of Southern California harbours by copper and other metals

A number of trace contaminants appear to be introduced to nearshore marine waters as a result of vessel-related activities. Such inputs are clearly reflected by elevated concentrations of these constituents in several tissues of the bay mussel Mytilus edulis. Comparative studies using this bioindicator suggest that harbour-related activities can be as important a source as coastal wastewater discharges in the contamination of nearshore marine ecosystems.     

Onset of the Iberian upwelling along the Galician coast

Through a set of observations including satellite, cruise and mooring data during May-July 1997 the transition between the downwelling and upwelling regimes off Galicia has been characterized. The poleward flow, typical of downwelling, was associated with a series of mesoscale eddies and interacted with coastal freshwater inputs. The poleward flow along the continental slope was separated into an offshore branch and a nearshore branch by a well-defined equatorward flow and both associated with a prominent salinity maximum. With the onset of upwelling-favorable winds, equatorward flow was established over the entire shelf. At the same time, a buoyant, warm surface layer spread out over the shelf from the Rías as water previously forced in by southerly winds was flushed out by the upwelling winds. The completed transition to summertime coastal upwelling took place after the cruise but was evident in satellite images. A conceptual model is used to demonstrate that the coastal orientation with respect to the upwelling winds enhances offshore flow outside the Rías and displaces the poleward flow offshore after several days of upwelling.     

Simulated oil spills at two offshore fields in the Arabian gulf

A computer simulation program of oil spills in the Arabian Gulf, GULFSLIK II, is developed and applied to two offshore fields. The results of the simulation are examined to ascertain the risks to the neighboring coastal areas.     

Impact of oil on the marine environment: Policy of the Paris commission on operational discharges from the offshore industry

Environmental impacts occur at all stages of oil and gas production. They are the result of prospecting activities, of the physical impact due to the installation of rigs, of the operational discharges when production starts and of accidental spills. The input of oil to the North Sea due to the offshore industry has been estimated at 29% of the total input of oil. The operational discharges consist of production water and drilling cuttings. An overview of statistics collected over the last 10 years shows that although the amount of oil discharged via production water is increasing as platforms are getting older, cuttings still account for 75% of the oil entering the sea as a result of normal operations. Spills represent a relatively small source of oil. The effects on the marine environment of discharges of production water and of discarded oily cuttings have been extensively studied, by national authorities as well as by the industry. Although it has not always been possible to reach consensus about the significance of the observed effects, a number of ‘agreed facts’ have led to establishment of regulations in the framework of the Paris Commission. The ‘decisions’ and ‘recommendations’ adopted by the Commission are regularly reviewed in the light of new developments.     

Effect of coastal waves on sea level in Óbidos Lagoon,Portugal

This study reports the role of waves, tide, wind and freshwater discharges over the sea level in Óbidos Lagoon, a coastal system connected to the sea through a narrow and shallow mobile inlet. To address the hydrodynamic features of this coastal system, the relative importance of different physical forcings were evaluated. For this purpose, observations together with realistic and idealized numerical modeling were used. Both model and measurements show that the lagoon sea level remains above offshore sea level during storm wave periods. Hence, a simplified inlet-lagoon idealized model was described through mathematical expressions, to understand and highlight the physical processes responsible for sea-level elevation.     

A risk assessment model for produced water discharge from offshore petroleum platforms-development and validation

Produced water discharge accounts for the greater portion of wastes arising from offshore oil and gas production operations. Development and expansion of Canada’s offshore oil and gas reserves has led to concerns over the potential long-term impacts of produced water discharges to the ocean. To examine this emerging environmental issue at a regional scale, an integrated risk assessment approach was developed in this study based on the princeton ocean model (POM), a random walk (RW) and Monte Carlo simulation. The use of water quality standards arrayed in a Monte Carlo design in the developed approach has served to reflect uncertainties and quantify environmental risks associated with produced water discharge. The model was validated against field data from a platform operating off Canada’s east coast, demonstrating its usefulness in supporting effective management of future produced water discharge.     

Modelling discharge from a coastal watershed in southeast Sweden using an integrated framework

The field hydrology model DRAINMOD integrated with Arc Hydro in geographical information system (GIS) framework (Arc Hydro–DRAINMOD) was used to simulate the hydrological response of a coastal watershed in southeast Sweden. Arc Hydro–DRAINMOD uses a distributed approach to route water from each field edge to the watershed outlet. In the framework the Arc Hydro data model was used to describe the stream network in the watershed and to connect the individual simulated DRAINMOD‐field outflow time series from each plot using Arc Hydro schema‐links features, which were summed at Arc Hydro schema‐nodes features along the stream network to generate the stream network flow. Hydrology data collected during six periods between 2003 and 2008 were used to test Arc Hydro–DRAINMOD and its performance was evaluated by considering uncertainties in model inputs using generalized likelihood uncertainty estimation (GLUE). The GLUE estimates obtained (uncertainty bands 5% and 95%) agreed satisfactorily with measured monthly discharges. The percentage of time in which the observed discharges were bracketed by the uncertainty bands was 88% in calibration periods and 75% in validation periods. Although monthly time step simulations showed good agreement with observed discharges during the two main discharge events in spring, the contradictory daily time step results indicate that the watershed response simulations on a daily basis need to be improved. The uncertainty analysis showed that in periods of higher discharge, such as spring periods, the uncertainty in prediction was higher. It is important to note that these uncertainty estimations using the GLUE procedure include the uncertainties in measured discharge values, model inputs, boundary conditions and model structures. It was estimated that stream baseflow represented 42% of the total watershed discharge, but further research is needed to confirm this. These results show that the new Arc Hydro–DRAINMOD framework is applicable for predicting discharge from artificially drained watersheds in southeast Sweden. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Trace metals in a tidal Mediterranean embayment

The Euvoikos gulf, and the strait of Euripos therein, is a restricted embayment on the eastern coast of Greece having a significant, unusual tidal phenomenon and receiving some domestic, trade and industrial wastes from the town of Chalkis and several coastal industries. The purpose of the present work was to study the influence of the tidal current and the anthropogenic inputs on the distributions of several trace elements (namely, Pb, Cu, Zn, Cr, Fe, Mn and Ni) in the seawaters (as dissolved and particulate species) and the sea-bottom sediments. Thorough mixing, resuspension and transport of fine particles and direct discharges are the major mechanisms affecting the distribution patterns.     

海洋石油平台的工程地震问题

对于海洋石油平台,结构抗震设计要求提供地震动峰值、反应谱、持续时间以及速度时程等参数,由于海洋石油平台的结构和形式的特殊性,以及海域地震环境特征,考虑海洋石油平台地震动作用时要有不同的方法及侧重点,本文对海洋石油平台地震作用分析中涉及的一些工程地震问题研究进行了讨论,包括设防地震动水准、设定地震、地震动衰减关系、长周期地震动及其相关问题。     

Korean East Coast wave predictions by means of ensemble Kalman filter data assimilation

To respond to the need for preventing offshore and coastal accidents, damage and flooding, a state-of-the-art coastal wave forecast system for the East Coast of Korea waters is being developed. Given that the quality of the input wind has been identified as the main factor influencing the quality of the wave results, the effectiveness of adjusting the wind fields by means of data assimilation using the ensemble Kalman filter technique has been explored. In this article the model setup, the data assimilation parameters and the validation of the predictions during stormy periods is described. The validation shows that the model is able to provide predictions of coastal waves fulfilling available benchmarks; especially, the data assimilation analysis and forecast predictions are judged to be of high quality.     

Concentration,composition and sources of PAHs in the coastal sediments of the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of Qatar,Arabian Gulf

Surface sediments were collected from sixteen locations in order to assess levels and sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in sediments of Qatar exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Samples were analyzed for 16 parent PAHs, 18 alkyl homologs and for dibenzothiophenes. Total PAHs concentration (∑PAHs) ranged from 2.6 ng g⁻¹ to 1025 ng g⁻¹. The highest PAHs concentrations were in sediments in and adjacent to harbors. Alkylated PAHs predominated most of the sampling locations reaching up to 80% in offshore locations. Parent PAHs and parent high molecular weight PAHs dominated location adjacent to industrial activities and urban areas. The origin of PAHs sources to the sediments was elucidated using ternary plot, indices, and molecular ratios of specific compounds such as (Ant/Phe + Ant), (Flt/Flt + Pyr). PAHs inputs to most coastal sites consisted of mixture of petroleum and combustion derived sources. However, inputs to the offshore sediments were mainly of petroleum origin.     

Reconstruction of pollution history of organic contaminants in the upper Gulf of Thailand by using sediment cores: first report from Tropical Asia Core (TACO) project

This paper reports the first reconstruction of a pollution history in tropical Asia from sediment cores. Four sediment core samples were collected from an offshore transect in the upper Gulf of Thailand and were analyzed for organic micropollutants. The cores were dated by measurement of (137)Cs and geochronometric molecular markers (linear alkylbenzenes, LABs; and tetrapropylene-type alkylbenzenes, TABs). Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) concentrations showed a subsurface maximum in layers corresponding to the 1970s, indicating the effectiveness of regulation of PCBs in Thailand. LAB concentrations increased over time, indicating the increase in input of sewage into the Gulf during the last 30 years. Hopanes, biomarkers of petroleum pollution, also increased over time, indicating that the inputs of automobile-derived hydrocarbons to the coastal zone has been increasing owing to the increased number of cars in Thailand since the 1950s. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) increased in the layers corresponding to the 1950s and 1960s, probably because of the increased inputs of automobile-derived PAHs. PAH concentrations in the upper layers corresponding to the 1970s and later remained constant or increased. The absence of a subsurface maximum of PAHs contrasts with results observed in industrialized countries. This can be explained by the facts that the Thai economy did not depend on coal as an energy source in the 1960s and that economic growth has continued since the 1970s to the present. The deposition flux of PAHs and hopanes showed a dramatic offshore decrease, whereas that of LABs was uniform.     

Scientific management of Mediterranean coastal zone: a hybrid ocean forecasting system for oil spill and search and rescue operations

The oil spill from Prestige tanker showed the importance of scientifically based protocols to minimize the impacts on the environment. In this work, we describe a new forecasting system to predict oil spill trajectories and their potential impacts on the coastal zone. The system is formed of three main interconnected modules that address different capabilities: (1) an operational circulation sub-system that includes nested models at different scales, data collection with near-real time assimilation, new tools for initialization or assimilation based on genetic algorithms and feature-oriented strategic sampling; (2) an oil spill coastal sub-system that allows simulation of the trajectories and fate of spilled oil together with evaluation of coastal zone vulnerability using environmental sensitivity indexes; (3) a risk management sub-system for decision support based on GIS technology. The system is applied to the Mediterranean Sea where surface currents are highly variable in space and time, and interactions between local, sub-basin and basin scale increase the non-linear interactions effects which need to be adequately resolved at each one of the intervening scales. Besides the Mediterranean Sea is a complex reduced scale ocean representing a real scientific and technological challenge for operational oceanography and particularly for oil spill response and search and rescue operations.     

Preliminary model of nitrogen loads from southern bluefin tuna aquaculture

Farming of wild tuna in coastal areas is a relatively new aquaculture industry and little is known about the magnitude of nutrient discharges to the environment. In this work we present a preliminary model of nitrogen loads from southern bluefin tuna (Thunnus maccoyii) aquaculture in lower Spencer Gulf, South Australia. The model was developed based on feed inputs, estimates of fish metabolism and environmental data. Two pens were monitored over a full grow-out season to determine nitrogen sedimentation fluxes, remineralization at the sediment-water interface and accumulation in the sediments. The model suggests that the high metabolic rates of tuna lead to low retention of nitrogen in fish tissues (7-12% of feed inputs) and high environmental losses (260-502kg Ntonne(-1) growth). Considering Australian annual production of 4380tonnes over initial stocked biomass, total loads can reach 1137tonnes N per year, 86-92% lost as dissolved wastes. The nature of wastes suggests low localized impacts at current stocking densities and holding periods.