Oil Spill In Gulf Of Mexico Research Articles

The Impact Path of the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill on Fisheries A Case of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Oil spills not only affect the Marine ecosystem, but also affect the economic benefits of human beings. Therefore, this paper studies the impact of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (DWH) events on fisheries from the perspectives of demand and supply, which is helpful to understand the harm of oil spills, improve public awareness of environmental protection, and formulate effective prevention and control measures. On the supply side, oil spills have reduced fish numbers, polluted seawater, and reduced biodiversity. To clean up the spill, the government changed the water quality, which may have further killed some Marine life. On the demand side, consumers are concerned about fish pollution, which will have an impact on the health of consumers. Consumer demand is reduced, which in turn leads to a reduction in the income of local fishermen, and the demand of local fishermen is also reduced. Finally, this paper proposes to strengthen the management of the U.S. oil exploration access system, protect marine life, and install more guardrails.

Multiscale Feature Fusion for Hyperspectral Marine Oil Spill Image Segmentation

Oil spills have always been a threat to the marine ecological environment; thus, it is important to identify and divide oil spill areas on the ocean surface into segments after an oil spill accident occurs to protect the marine ecological environment. However, oil spill area segmentation using ordinary optical images is greatly interfered with by the absorption of light by the deep sea and the distribution of algal organisms on the ocean surface, and it is difficult to improve segmentation accuracy. To address the above problems, a hyperspectral ocean oil spill image segmentation model with multiscale feature fusion (MFFHOSS-Net) is proposed. Specifically, the oil spill segmentation dataset was created using hyperspectral image data from NASA for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, small-size images after the waveband filtering of the hyperspectral images were generated and the oil spill images were annotated. The model makes full use of having different layers with different characteristics by fusing feature maps of different scales. In addition, an attention mechanism was used to effectively fuse these features to improve the oil spill region segmentation accuracy. A case study, ablation experiments and model evaluation were also carried out in this work. Compared with other models, our proposed method achieved good results according to various evaluation metrics.

Monitoring Marine Oil Spills in Hyperspectral and Multispectral Remote Sensing Data by the Spectral Gene Extraction (SGE) Method

Oil spill incidents threaten the marine ecological environment. Detecting sea surface oil slicks by remote sensing images provides support for the efficient treatment of oil spills. This is important for sustainable marine development. However, traditional methods based on field analysis are time-consuming. Spectral indices lack applicability. In addition, traditional machine learning methods strictly rely on training and testing samples which are in short supply in oil spill images. Inspired by the spectral DNA encoding method, a spectral gene extraction (SGE) method was proposed to detect oil spills in hyperspectral images (HSI) and multispectral images (MSI). The SGE method contained a parameter and two strategies. The parameter of elimination was designed based on the population genetic frequency. It was used to control the number of spectral genes. The spectral gene extraction strategies, named largest in-class similarity (LIS) strategy and largest inter-class difference (LID) strategy, were proposed to mine the spectral genes by oil spill samples. The oil spills would be determined by calculating the similarity of the extracted spectral genes to the DNA encoded images. In this research, the SGE method was validated by two AVIRIS images of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, one MODIS image of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and one Landsat 8 image of a Persian Gulf oil spill. The oil spills in different remote sensing images could be detected accurately by the proposed method in a small set of samples. Experimental results indicated that the proposed method was suitable for detecting marine oil spills in AVIRIS, MODIS, and Landsat 8 images. In addition, the SGE method with the LIS strategy was more suitable for detecting oil spills in HSI. Its proper elimination rates were 0.8~1.0. The SGE method with the LID strategy was more suitable for detecting oil spills in MSI. Its proper elimination rates were 0.5~0.7.

What difference does a letter make? - Exploring Incident Management System with respect to the Incident Command System

ABSTRACT How can a process be flexible enough for use in any incident, yet rigid enough to provide the structure required in times where stress is high, and time is short? In 2014 the IPIECA-IOGP Joint Industry Project (JIP; an outcome of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill) recommended the implementation of a structured Incident Management System (IMS) in their publication of a Good Practice Guide (GPG): Incident Management System for the Oil and Gas Industry. Now, half a decade on from this publication, many oil companies have, or are in the process of implementing some form of IMS across their global operations. The GPG describes IMS as a “set of proven organizational and management principles.” It also states that it is based on ICS as it “is a version of IMS that is widely used by Industry”. As multiple IMS's exist globally, this paper explores whether the blanket adoption of a single existing system can be used when so many considerations, are required. Through observing and assisting their members in introducing (and maintaining) an IMS across various business units, Oil Spill Response Limited (OSRL) has seen how systems can be tailored that are flexible enough to meet the specific needs of the company concerned. Examples include introducing initial assessment procedures and customisation of documentation. Potential limitations of ICS possible evolutions of IMS are discussed. Incorporation of the organisational and management principles described by the JIP provides guidance when modifying/tailoring a system that can be used by businesses facing different scenarios in different environments and with differing levels of resources. The change in terminology from the Incident Command System to the Incident Management System allows for customisation of a proven system and increased flexibility whilst being based on tried and trusted foundations.

The 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill: a modeling study

This study modeled the oil spill of April 22 to May 8, 2010, in the northern Gulf of Mexico. The model reproduced the hydrodynamics, waves, weather conditions, and oil spill. In the hydrodynamic model, the domain was implemented as two levels of nested meshes; the first level was barotropic, and the second was three-dimensional baroclinic. The model forcings included for modeling were the tidal, waves, atmospheric, and oceanic conditions. The wave model was forced by the wind and calculated for the dates of the spill. For the oil model, the transport (path) and destination (weathering) processes were computed using the oceanic and atmospheric conditions calculated from the results of the hydrodynamic and wind–wave model. The location of the oil spill predicted by the simulation was validated by comparison with the NOAA 24-h forecast location shapefile. The model estimated results like real scenarios, which shows a high level of reliability and suitability for forecasting future oil spills in other marine areas.

Sustainability governance and legitimisation processes: Gulf of Mexico oil spill

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the emergence of sustainability governance through the unfolding hybridisation process between corporate governance and corporate social responsibility and the implications of this for understanding patterns in sustainability reporting over time. Design/methodology/approach The Gulf of Mexico oil spill incident is an extreme case study undertaken to examine its implications on the organisational legitimacy of British Petroleum (BP) and the latter’s response to the incident and beyond. The paper draws on Suchman’s legitimacy framework (1995) to understand sustainability governance as an organisational practice that evolved post the Gulf of Mexico oil spill to manage BP’s legitimacy. It draws on archival records and documentation from 2008 to 2017, as key sources for data collection, using interrogation by NVivo software. Findings Sustainability governance is a sound practice that was socially constructed to manage the re-legitimatisation process following the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. It is characterised by broadness (the interplay between the corporate governance and corporate social responsibility disciplines), dynamic (developing the tactics to repair and maintain legitimacy), agility (conforming to the accountability for socially responsible investment and ensuring steps towards geopolitically responsible investment) and interdependence (reflecting composition and interactions). Practical implications This paper has practical implications for organisations, in terms of sustainability governance’s constitution, mechanism and characteristics. Social implications This paper has implications not only for organisations, in terms of sustainability governance’s characteristics, but also for policy-makers, regulators and accounting education. However, the present paper’s insights are achieved through an in-depth and longitudinal case study. Originality/value This paper has problematized the concept of sustainability governance and elaborated its evolution (the emergence, enactment, deployment and interplay) process. The sustainability governance showed an otherwise organisational response that moves our understanding of the deployment of disclosure for complex organisational change as a way to discredit events.

How to Develop and Present a Concept Apparatus to British Petroleum as a Template to be Structured and Mechanized in Stopping the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill in the Year 2010

How to Develop and Present a Concept Apparatus to British Petroleum as a Template to be Structured and Mechanized in Stopping the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill in the Year 2010

Self-Reported Oil Spill Exposure and Birth Outcomes: The Growh Study

Background: The chemical, economic, and social effects of a major oil spill might affect pregnancy health. Methods: Between 2012 and 2016, 1444 women reported their involvement with the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, as well at least one livebirth. Indicators of oil spill exposure included financial consequences, direct contact with oil, traumatic experiences, loss of use of the coast, and involvement in litigation. Birth outcomes studied were low birthweight (LBW; birthweight <2500 g) and preterm birth (PTB; >3 weeks early), either obtained as self-reported information or abstracted from medical records if the woman was still pregnant at the time of the interview. All pregnancies prior to the oil spill were considered unexposed; those after the oil spill were considered exposed or unexposed depending on interview responses. Generalized estimating equations with a logit link and adjustment for confounders were used to assess the relationship between oil spill exposure and these outcomes.Results: 370 (13.2%) of pregnancies were reported as ending in LBW, while 273 (9.7%) as ending in PTB. Births after the oil spill were not more likely to end in either outcome (adjusted odd ratio, 0.96, 95% CI 0.73-1.24 and 0.98, 0.72-1.33). Financial consequences, trauma, use of coast, and litigation were not associated with worse birth outcomes (ORs between 0.8 and 1.2). Risk of preterm birth was raised in the group with most contact with oil (aOR 2.30, 1.16-4.59), although sensitivity analyses did not indicate this result was robust to other assumptions.Conclusions: Self-reported exposure to most aspects of the Gulf oil spill were not associated with adverse birth outcomes. The raised risk for PTB among those in contact with oil warrants examination in studies with more detailed assessment of exposure.

Improving Safety for Gulf Oil Spill Responders: Individual and Organizational Factors Impacting the Effectiveness of Health and Safety Training

ABSTRACT ID: 2017-197In response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster and resulting Gulf of Mexico oil spill (GOS), the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) facilitated the conduct of health and safety training and development of training materials for over 147,000 cleanup workers (e.g., on-shore and off-shore volunteers, technical specialists) across four Gulf States. Of the approximately 47,000 trained workers who engaged in cleanup activities, 507 workers participated in a training evaluation effort (facilitated by community-based organizations) by completing the GOS Training Evaluation Survey. Survey respondents were primarily male from six racial/ethnic groups: Black, White, Asian (Vietnamese), Isleno, Hispanic, and Native American.The evaluation results demonstrate that, overall, the GOS training was very effective in enhancing trainee knowledge and environmental cleanup behaviors, and it had a meaningful impact on responder safety. Notably, when considering results stratified by workers' ethnicity/race, responders from sub-populations most vulnerable to the effects of the oil spill were not as positively affected by the training. Related, the results also indicated that the social and organizational aspects of the worksite, such as safety climate/culture, supported or inhibited the exhibition of safety behaviors learned during training. Results will be discussed with respect to making quality improvements to responder safety training, identifying best practices, and making better use of available resources and strategies.

Oil plume simulations: Tracking oil droplet size distribution and fluorescence within high-pressure release jets

ABSTRACT Optical measurements have been used during oil spill response for more than three decades to determine oil presence in slicks and plumes. Oil surveillance approaches range from simple (human eyeball) to the sophisticated (sensors on AUVs, aircraft, satellites). In situ fluorometers and particle size analyzers were deployed during the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) Gulf of Mexico oil spill to track shallow and deep subsea plumes. Uncertainties regarding instrument specifications and capabilities during DWH necessitated performance testing of sensors exposed to simulated, dispersed oil plumes. Seventy-two wave tank experiments were conducted at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography. Simulated were oil releases with varying parameters such as oil release rate, oil temperature (reservoir temp ~ 80 °C), water temperature (<8 °C and >15 °C), oil type, dispersant type (Corexit 9500 and Finasol OSR52) and dispersant to oil ratio (DOR). Plumes of Alaskan North Slope Crude (ANS), South Louisiana Crude (SLC) and IFO-120 oils were tracked using in situ fluorescence, droplet size distribution (DSD), total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) and benzene-toluene-ethylbenzene-xylene (BTEX). For the lighter SLC, bimodal droplet size with mean diameter < 70 μm was achieved for 1:20 and 1:100 DOR, regardless of water temperature. Similarly, the medium ANS crude exhibited mean droplet diameter <70 μm, but was bimodal only for the 1:20 treatment. Bimodal distribution was not achieved with the heavy IFO, but droplet < 70 μm were observed for 1:20 warm waters, indicating poor dispersibility of the high viscosity oil even for jet releases. Results offer valuable information on the behavior and dispersibility of oils over a range of viscosity, DOR and environmental conditions. Findings have implications for fate and transport models, where DSD, chemistry and fluorescence are all impacted by release variables. This research was supported by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.

A multi-year study of hepatic biomarkers in coastal fishes from the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Following the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, concerns were raised regarding exposure of fish to crude oil components, particularly polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). This three year study examined hepatic enzymes in post-mitochondrial supernatant fractions from red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) and gray triggerfish (Balistes capriscus) collected in the north central Gulf of Mexico between 2011 and 2014. Biomarker activities evaluated included benzo(a)pyrene hydroxylase (AHH), ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase (EROD), glutathione transferase (GST), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx). Mean EROD activity was higher in gray triggerfish (12.97 ± 7.15 pmol/min/mg protein [mean ± SD], n = 115) than red snapper (2.75 ± 1.92 pmol/min/mg protein, n = 194), p < 0.0001. In both species, EROD declined over time between 2011 and 2014. Declines in GST and GPx activities were also noted over this time period for both species. Gray triggerfish liver was fatty, and heptane extracts of the liver fat contained fluorescent substances with properties similar to known PAHs, however the origin of these PAHs is unknown.

Social Media Affordances for Connective Action: An Examination of Microblogging Use During the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

This research questions how social media use affords new forms of organizing and collective engagement. The concept of connective action has been introduced to characterize such new forms of collective engagement in which actors coproduce and circulate content based upon an issue of mutual interest. Yet, how the use of social media actually affords connective action still needed to be investigated. Mixed methods analyses of microblogging use during the Gulf of Mexico oil spill bring insights onto this question and reveal in particular how multiple actors enacted emerging and interdependent roles with their distinct patterns of feature use. The findings allow us to elaborate upon the concept of connective affordances as collective level affordances actualized by actors in team interdependent roles. Connective affordances extend research on affordances as a relational concept by considering not only the relationships between technology and users but also the interdependence type among users and the effects of this interdependence onto what users can do with the technology. This study contributes to research on social media use by paying close attention to how distinct patterns of feature use enact emerging roles. Adding to IS scholarship on the collective use of technology, it considers how the patterns of feature use for emerging groups of actors are intricately and mutually related to each other.

SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING GUIDELINES—SAFETY ISSUES FOR OIL COMPANIES

There is a growing interest in sustainability reporting and its practices. Worldwide, this interest is especially urgent in hazardous industries where serious accidents have grave economic, social, and ecological impacts. The Gulf of Mexico oil spill triggered discussions of regulation and safety issues in oil companies which highlighted the complexity and risks of operations in the oil industry. Oil companies are called on to be transparent and accountable to the public regarding their corporate social responsibility; they are expected to disclose information regarding oil operations safety, including spill prevention and response plans. Existing sustainability reporting standards suggest a way for presenting sustainability performance information for stakeholders. Research literature focuses on industrial challenges and criticizes the current sustainability reporting initiatives for providing guidance of too generic a character. This article focuses on the question of how sustainability reporting represents oil operation safety issues. The study provides an overview of the current global sustainability reporting guidelines and analyzes how they recommend focusing on safety issues and response plans. The study discusses whether sustainability reporting frameworks are a useful platform for providing information about the oil companies’ safety. Key words: sustainable development, sustainability reporting guidelines, oil and gas companies, production safety

The BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill: Exploring the link between social and environmental disclosures and reputation risk management

The aim of this study is to explore how social and environmental disclosures are used to manage reputation during a major incident, through the use of British Petroleum Plc's (BP) Gulf of Mexico crisis as a case study. It is argued that reputation is distinct from legitimacy and that the immediate actions undertaken by an organisation during a crisis are related to reputation management. Using a qualitative case study approach, a thematic analysis of BP's social and environmental disclosures on its website during the time period of this incident (April 21 – September 19, 2010) was undertaken to enable an understanding of the reputation risk management activities of BP. The key findings of this research revealed that BP used social and environmental disclosures on its website extensively to manage its reputation risk arising from the Gulf of Mexico crisis. The company was engrossed in providing accounts of its world class facilities and superior quality of management, diverting attention away from the severe environmental damage caused by the massive oil spill. It was observed that BP consistently used the corrective actions strategy by disclosing extensive information about its plans to solve the problem, and not its actual social and environmental actions during the disaster. The predominant reputation managing strategy used was the bolstering strategy, whereby BP stressed on its good traits when disclosing its social and environmental actions during the crisis.

Five Years Later: An Update on the Status of Collections of Endemic Gulf of Mexico Fishes Put at Risk by the 2010 Oil Spill.

BackgroundThe 2010 Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill took place over 180,000 square kilometers during a 12-week period over five years ago; however, this event continues to influence the development and distribution of organisms in and around the region of the disaster. Here we examine fish species that may have been most affected by noting their past distribution in the region of the spill and examining data of known collecting events over the last 10 years (five years prior to the spill, five years post spill).New informationWe found that more than half of the endemic fish species of the Gulf (45 of 77)

Development of Occupational Health Measures for the National Health Security Preparedness Index.

Development of Occupational Health Measures for the National Health Security Preparedness Index.

The Boardds Responsibility for Crisis Governance

A clear strategy and implementation plan for reasonably foreseeable industry disasters--- before they take place, helps to prevent mistakes made under conditions of severe stress. Survival-threatening disasters such as the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill or natural disasters such as hurricanes, fires, or the March 11, 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami, constitute any board’s worse nightmare. I have attempted to draw upon lessons from each of these disasters and explore how they may be applied more generally across all industries when crisis strikes. While effective risk management is perhaps the topic highest on every board's agenda, it is imperative that thought be given to crisis management and what a board might expect to confront when a corporate disaster strikes. This paper proceeds as follows. First, a few thoughts about contemporary threats are offered. Second, is an examination of the board of director’s responsibility in crisis. Third, is a discussion of the necessity of commitment at the top of every enterprise if progress is to be made toward crisis preparation, mitigation, and response. Fourth, an examination of several major corporate disasters is presented: the Japanese earthquake and tsunami of 2011; Deepwater Horizon drilling rig debacle; and General Motors ignition switch crisis. Fifth, a framework for analysis is offered, followed by some thoughts about what to do when crisis hits. Sixth, I discuss what to do in those situations where management is implicated, use of special committees of the board, and emergence of the role for special counsel. Workplace and data security issues are then discussed with emphasis on Toyota’s 2010 social media recall strategy, and the Target, Sony, and U.S. Office of Personnel Management data breaches. Next, the following enterprise nightmare scenarios are presented: supply chain disruptions; Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) violations; internet failure, or data loss from virus or hacker attack; nationalization of assets; natural disasters; adverse political developments; pandemics such as the 2014-15 ebola scare; prolonged power disruption; strikes and labor actions; and war. Succession planning is the next topic discussed having corporate crisis implications. And last, I conclude.

Identifying evaluation considerations for the recovery and restoration from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill: An initial appraisal of stakeholder concerns and values.

Understanding what can be achieved and what should be avoided by environmental management decisions requires an understanding of values, or what is cared about in a decision. Decision analysis provides tools and processes for constructing objectives that transparently reflect the values being considered in environmental management decisions. The present study demonstrates parts of the initial decision analysis steps for identifying a decision context and constructing objectives for the recovery and long-term restoration of the Gulf of Mexico following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. From a review of multiple reports, including those developed by policy makers and nongovernmental organizations, a preliminary structuring of concerns and considerations into objectives was derived to highlight features of importance in the recovery from the spill and long-term restoration. The fundamental objectives constructed for the long-term restoration context reflect broader concerns regarding well-being and quality of life. When developed through stakeholder engagement processes, clarifying objectives can potentially 1) lend insight into the values that can be affected, 2) meaningfully include stakeholders in the decision-making process, 3) enhance transparency and communication, and 4) develop high-impact management strategies reflecting broad public interests. This article is a US government work and is in the public domain in the United States of America.

Words analysis of online Chinese news headlines about trending events: a complex network perspective.

Because the volume of information available online is growing at breakneck speed, keeping up with meaning and information communicated by the media and netizens is a new challenge both for scholars and for companies who must address public relations crises. Most current theories and tools are directed at identifying one website or one piece of online news and do not attempt to develop a rapid understanding of all websites and all news covering one topic. This paper represents an effort to integrate statistics, word segmentation, complex networks and visualization to analyze headlines’ keywords and words relationships in online Chinese news using two samples: the 2011 Bohai Bay oil spill and the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. We gathered all the news headlines concerning the two trending events in the search results from Baidu, the most popular Chinese search engine. We used Simple Chinese Word Segmentation to segment all the headlines into words and then took words as nodes and considered adjacent relations as edges to construct word networks both using the whole sample and at the monthly level. Finally, we develop an integrated mechanism to analyze the features of words’ networks based on news headlines that can account for all the keywords in the news about a particular event and therefore track the evolution of news deeply and rapidly.

Toward an Ethical Model of Effective Crisis Communication

AbstractThe goal of this study was to develop and demonstrate a new ethical model for crisis communication. This article examined the crisis communication practices as well as literature and found essential elements—what, how, and when—for ethical and effective crisis communication. Based on these three variables, a new three‐part model, the TTR Test, was proposed, utilizing three principles: Transparency (what), Two‐way symmetrical communication (how), and Right time (when). To investigate how the test can be applied to the real world, this article examined BP's crisis communication during the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.