GIS & Spatial Analysis

NRDA

Spill Response & Planning

Environmental & Coastal Resources Management

Database/ Applications Development

Oiled Shoreline Survey (OSS)

In 2002, RPI was selected to undertake the Oiled Shoreline Survey (OSS) for the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The purpose of the study was to determine the impacts of the 1991 oil spill resulting from Iraq’s illegal invasion and occupation of Kuwait on the environment and public health, with funding provided by the United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC).

This study of the largest oil spill in human history was of unprecendented scope and complexity. Specially trained teams, consisting of a coastal geomorphologist, intertidal ecologist, GPS technician, and sediment sampler, conducted the field surveys spanning six months. The teams completed over 3,100 transects; dug, described, and photographed over 19,500 trenches; and collected over 25,000 samples for chemical analysis. The ecological condition of the shoreline along each transect was assessed using a rapid assessment protocol.

All field data were collected digitally, using rugged field computers, differentially corrected GPS receivers, barcode scanners, and digital cameras. Custom hardware and software allowed the rapid deployment of personnel using standardized field methodology to collect high-accuracy spatial information, while maintaining strict sample chain-of-custody requirements. The system also enabled all data to undergo a rigorous QA/QC process and be used for final analysis under an extremely tight schedule. More...

Emergency Technical Response

RPI's rapid response team is able to go anywhere in the world in the event of an oil or chemical spill emergency. RPI provides support for assessing:

• Resources at risk (Example)
• Protection strategies
• Information management
• Shoreline Cleanup Assessment Team (SCAT)
• Shoreline cleanup technologies, specializing in alternative countermeasures such as in-situ burning and shoreline washing agents
• Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA)
• Oil Spill Response Technologies publications

We currently respond to about 50 spills per year. After the spill emergency phase is over, RPI provides post-spill support in the production of reports and design and implementation of monitoring studies.

Applied Oil Spill Research and Monitoring

We are actively involved in the design and implementation of research on the operational issues of oil spill fate and effects. Our specialty is evaluating the trade-offs of oil spill response actions. Examples of on-going projects include:

• Recovery of Four Oiled Wetlands Subjected to In Situ Burning, for the American Petroleum Institute
• Managing Seafood Safety during the Emergency Phase of a Spill, for NOAA
• Dispersant-Use Guide for the Florida Keys, for NOAA
• Fate and Effects of Oil Spills publications

Oil Spill Training Courses

RPI offers a range of courses on oil spill planning and response issues, as well as natural resource damage assessment. All of our courses include field exercises (which are always cited as being the best part of the course) with emphasis on the interdisciplinary components of coastal habitats, protection strategies, and cleanup methods. We customize each course to meet the needs of the participants. (Course topics 106 KB or a typical 2-day course 100 KB)

Protection Strategies for Tidal Inlets

In conjunction with local operations groups, RPI has constructed inlet protection strategies for over 300 tidal inlets along the outer shore of Califorina, much of the coastline of Florida, in San Francisco Bay, at selected sites in North Carolina and Georgia, and all the inlets in New Jersey and Delaware.Tidal inlets are the focal point for the protection of sensitive resources from oil spills in many areas, because they represent a passageway by which the oil could reach more sensitive estuarine habitats, such as sheltered salt marshes and mangroves.

Data Elements

These protection strategies include the following elements:

• A ranking of the inlet based on the degree of difficulty required to protect it and the amount of the resources at risk;
• Listing of the principal resources at risk should oil pass through the inlet; a preliminary protection strategy that includes location of key collection points; boom configurations; types of booms, skimmers, etc. required; and potential path of the oil on a flood tide; and
• Other aspects of the inlet, including a topographic map, field sketch with protection strategy superimposed, a vertical black and white aerial photograph, oblique color aerial photographs, detailed discussions of the logistical aspect of the collection sites, any data on tidal currents and waves that might be available, and citations of pertinent scientific references.

Application of Results

By providing such a detailed understanding of the geomorphology, circulation patterns, and maximum current velocities to be anticipated in the inlet, scientifically based protection strategies can be derived that are useful during two critical stages of oil-spill response.

• The contingency planning stage, by defining equipment and personnel needs required to protect the inlets; and
• On-scene support of operations during the spill to fine-tune equipment deployment for site-specific conditions.