Assessing the impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill: the National Status and Trends Program response; a summary report of coastal contamination

NOAA’s National Status and Trends Program (NS&T) collected oyster tissue and sediments for quantification of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and petroleum associated metals before and after the landfall of oil from the Deepwater Horizon incident of 2010. These new pre- and post- landfall measurements were put into a historical context by comparing them to data collected in the region over three decades during Mussel Watch monitoring. Overall, the levels of PAHs in both sediment and oysters both pre- and post-landfall were within the range of historically observed values for the Gulf of Mexico. Some specific sites did have elevated PAH levels. While those locations generally correspond to areas in which oil reached coastal areas, it cannot be conclusively stated that the contamination is due to oiling from the Deepwater Horizon incident at these sites due to the survey nature of these sampling efforts. Instead, our data indicate locations along the coast where intensive investigation of hydrocarbon contamination should be undertaken. Post-spill concentrations of oil-related trace metals (V, Hg, Ni) were generally within historically observed ranges for a given site, however, nickel and vanadium were elevated at some sites including areas in Mississippi Sound and Galveston, Terrebonne, Mobile, Pensacola, and Apalachicola Bays. No oyster tissue metal body burden exceeded any of the United States Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) shellfish permissible action levels for human consumption.

Porphyrin detection in denatured cnidarian tissue extracts

Porphyrin metabolic disruption from exposure to xenobiotic contaminants such as heavy metals, dioxins, and aromatic hydrocarbons can elicit overproduction of porphyrins. Measurement of porphyrin levels, when used in conjunction with other diagnostic assays, can help elucidate an organism’s physiological condition and provide evidence for exposure to certain toxicants. A sensitive microplate fluorometric assay has been optimized for detecting total porphyrin levels in detergent solubilized protein extracts from symbiotic, dinoflagellate containing cnidarian tissues. The denaturing buffer used in this modified assay contains a number of potentially interfering components (e.g., sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), dithiothreitol (DTT), protease inhibitors, and chlorophyll from the symbiotic zooxanthellae), which required examination and validation. Examination of buffer components were validated for use in this porphyrin assay; while the use of a specific spectrofluorometric filter (excitation 400 ± 15 nm; emission 600 ± 20 nm) minimized chlorophyll interference. The detection limit for this assay is 10 fmol of total porphyrin per μg of total soluble protein and linearity is maintained up to 5000 fmol. The ability to measure total porphyrins in a SDS protein extract now allows a single extract to be used in multiple assays. This is an advantage over classical methods, particularly when tissue samples are limiting, as is often the case with coral due to availability and collection permit restrictions.

National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) research highlights in the Chesapeake Bay

The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It is a unique and valuable national treasure because of its ecological, recreational, economic and cultural benefits. The problems facing the Bay are well known and extensively documented, and are largely related to human uses of the watershed and resources within the Bay. Over the past several decades as the origins of the Chesapeake’s problems became clear, citizens groups and Federal, State, and local governments have entered into agreements and worked together to restore the Bay’s productivity and ecological health. In May 2010, President Barack Obama signed Executive Order number 13508 that tasked a team of Federal agencies to develop a way forward in the protection and restoration of the Chesapeake watershed. Success of both State and Federal efforts will depend on having relevant, sound information regarding the ecology and function of the system as the basis of management and decision making. In response to the executive order, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) has compiled an overview of its research in Chesapeake Bay watershed. NCCOS has a long history of Chesapeake Bay research, investigating the causes and consequences of changes throughout the watershed’s ecosystems. This document presents a cross section of research results that have advanced the understanding of the structure and function of the Chesapeake and enabled the accurate and timely prediction of events with the potential to impact both human communities and ecosystems. There are three main focus areas: changes in land use patterns in the watershed and the related impacts on contaminant and pathogen distribution and concentrations; nutrient inputs and algal bloom events; and habitat use and life history patterns of species in the watershed. Land use changes in the Chesapeake Bay watershed have dramatically changed how the system functions. A comparison of several subsystems within the Bay drainages has shown that water quality is directly related to land use and how the land use affects ecosystem health of the rivers and streams that enter the Chesapeake Bay. Across the Chesapeake as a whole, the rivers that drain developed areas, such as the Potomac and James rivers, tend to have much more highly contaminated sediments than does the mainstem of the Bay itself. In addition to what might be considered traditional contaminants, such as hydrocarbons, new contaminants are appearing in measurable amounts. At fourteen sites studied in the Bay, thirteen different pharmaceuticals were detected. The impact of pharmaceuticals on organisms and the people who eat them is still unknown. The effects of water borne infections on people and marine life are known, however, and the exposure to certain bacteria is a significant health risk. A model is now available that predicts the likelihood of occurrence of a strain of bacteria known as Vibrio vulnificus throughout Bay waters.

Chemical contamination in southwest Puerto Rico: a survey of contaminants in the coral Porites astreoides

Coral ( Porites astreoides ) from eight sites in southwest Puerto Rico were analyzed for approximately 150 chemical contaminants, to provide a preliminary characterization of environmental contamination in the corals, and assess the relationships between chemical contamination in corals and adjacent sediments. Overall, the concentration of PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) and PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) detected in the limited number of coral samples collected were comparable to concentrations found in sediments. However, the concentration of a chemical contaminant (e.g., PAHs) in the corals at a site was often different from what was found in adjacent sediments. The level of PCBs and DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) in the corals appeared higher just outside of Guanica Bay, and there was some evidence of a downstream concentration gradient for these two contaminant classes. The trace elements copper and zinc were frequently detected in Porites astreoides , and the concentrations were usually comparable to those found in adjacent sediments. Chromium was an exception in that it was not detected in any of the coral samples analyzed, although it was detected in all of the sediment samples.

Chemical contaminants in the coral Porites astreoides from southwest Puerto Rico

This report presents an initial characterization of chemical contamination in coral tissues (Porites astreoides) from southwest Puerto Rico. It is the second technical report from a project to characterize chemical contaminants and assess linkages between contamination and coral condition. The first report quantified chemical contaminants in sediments from southwest Puerto Rico. This document summarizes the analysis of nearly 150 chemical contaminants in coral tissues. Although only eight coral samples were collected, some observations can be made on the correlations between observed tissue and sediment contaminant concentrations. The concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), typically associated with petroleum spills and the combustion of fossil fuels, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the coral tissues were comparable to concentrations found in adjacent sediments. However, the concentration of a chemical contaminant (e.g., PAHs) in the coral tissues at a particular site was not a good predictor of what was in the adjacent sediments. In addition, the types of PAHs found in the coral tissues were somewhat different (higher ratios of alkylated PAHs) than in sediments. The levels of PCBs and DDT in coral tissues appeared higher just outside of Guanica Bay, and there was evidence of a downstream concentration gradient for these two contaminant classes. The trace elements copper, zinc and nickel were frequently detected in coral tissues, and the concentration in the corals was usually comparable to that found in adjacent sediments. Chromium was an exception in that it was not detected in any of the coral tissues analyzed. Additional work is needed to assess how spatial patterns in chemical contamination affect coral condition, abundance and distribution.

Marine pollution and zooplankton: some recent trends in marine pollution studies

The presence of even very minute quantities of pollutants may become harmful either due to their direct effect on zooplankton or indirectly due to the transfer of the pollutants to other trophic levels through zooplankton. The recent trend in marine pollution studies is therefore to find out the effects of very minute quantities of these pollutants on marine zooplankton and the methods of their accumulation and transfer to the organisms of higher trophic level including man. A review of laboratory and field studies concerning the effects of pollutants such as hydrocarbons, crude oil, heavy metals, pesticides and heated waste water on the survival, breeding, movement, faecal pellet production, growth and development on marine zooplankton is presented.

Effects of natural gas pipeline condensate and crude oil spills, and comments on remediation, with emphasis on south Louisiana salt marshes: a review

This report reviews some of the natural ecological processes at work within a salt marsh as they relate to a spill of natural gas condensate - a mixture of aliphatic hydrocarbons, n-hexane, benzene, toluene, and xylene. It also reviews the environmental impacts of some of the components of natural gas condensate as well as related compounds (crude oil, higher molecular weight hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarons - PAHs, linear alkyl-benzenes - LABs, etc.) on salt marsh ecosystems in southern Louisiana and elsewhere in the world. The behavior and persistence of these compounds once they have entered the environment is also considered.

渤海湾海岸带表层沉积物中黑炭和多环芳烃的分布特征

黑碳（BC）是生物质和化石燃料不完全燃烧产生的高度聚合的碳质混合物，包括木炭 （char/charcoal）和烟炱碳（soot）等形式。黑碳产生后大部分储存在燃烧原地，而烟炱碳 由于粒径较小，易进入大气，滞留一到数周后回到地表。部分土壤黑碳随河流和大气的搬 运作用进入海洋环境，主要汇集在海岸带沉积物中。由于黑碳涉及到气候变化、碳循环、 环境危害、人体健康等诸多问题而成为当前气候与环境领域的研究热点。黑碳在环境介质 中比较稳定，因而可以较好的指示人类能源使用及其对环境质量的影响；同时黑碳具有很 强的吸附性，能显著影响周围介质中持久性有机污染物(如多环芳烃等)的赋存状态和生态 毒理效应。 多环芳烃（PAHs）是指两个或两个以上的苯环以稠环形式结合的芳香族化合物，主要 来源于含碳物质的不完全燃烧过程，在环境中广泛存在。由于PAHs 具有潜在的致癌性、 致畸性和致突变性（“三致”效应）而在环境研究领域中备受关注。另外由于具有主体的 同源性，PAHs 可以指示BC 的来源和环境过程。 海岸带沉积物是包括BC 和PAHs 在内的众多污染物在环境地球化学迁移过程中的主 要载体和归宿，由于受到陆地和海洋双重作用，海岸带对环境污染物尤其敏感。环渤海地 区是我国北方的社会经济中心，工业、农业和交通发达、人口稠密，污染严重。前人的研 究表明渤海湾的BC 和PAHs 污染程度明显高于我国其他海岸带，但受限制于采样区域和 样品数量，不能全面地反应BC 和PAHs 在渤海湾海岸带的分布状况及人类活动对海岸带 环境质量的影响。 本次研究在渤海湾海岸带潮间带、近海及主要入海河流系统布设了多条采样剖面，采 集表层沉积物样品85 个。首先，对国际上较为常用的化学热氧化法（CTO-375）处理沉积 物黑碳样品的方法进行了比对实验和优化，然后对全部样品进行黑碳分析；利用GC-MS 方法对样品中的PAHs（USEPA 的16 种优控物）进行了定量检测；对全部沉积物样品还进 行了粒度分析。 结果表明，该区域内黑碳的含量为0.09 到22.8 mg/g dw，其中，潮间带样品的BC 平 均含量为0.52 ± 0.39 mg/g dw，近海样品为0.84 ± 0.38 mg/g dw，河流样品（海河样品除外） 为1.88 ± 0.89 mg/g dw。BC占总有机碳的比例在潮间带、近海、河流区域分别为18.4 ± 8.3%、 14.5 ± 5.3%、14.2 ± 4.1%。潮间带黑碳存在明显的“北高南低”的趋势（以天津港码头和 海河为界），与近海和河流样品的BC 浓度有相似的变化趋势，反映了BC 在海岸带的运移 扩散具有一定的继承性；河流输入可能是近岸沉积物BC 的主要来源。同时，潮间带沉积 物粒度分析结果表明“北区细”(以粘土质粉砂主)而“南区粗”(以砂为主)，反映了两个区 域不同的水动力条件和沉积环境，可能是造成BC 浓度空间分异的主要原因。 摘要 II 多环芳烃的含量分布为33.1-7658.7 ng/g dw，其中，潮间带样品的PAHs 平均含量为 147.0 ng/g dw，近海样品为170.9 ng/g dw，河流样品（海河样品除外）为1228.5 ng/g dw。 主要成分均为三环和四环多环芳烃。PAHs 也呈现出了与BC 相似的“北高南低”的趋势， 多环芳烃与黑碳的相关性研究表明两者相关性较好（R2=0.59），表明多环芳烃和黑碳的同 源性和继承性。运用比值法（菲/蒽，荧蒽/芘，低环/高环等）对多环芳烃的来源解析显示， 整个研究区域内多环芳烃主要为燃烧源。

Contrasting code performances for computational aeroacoustics of jets

The numerical propagation of subcritical Tollmein-Schlichting (T-S), inviscid vortical and cut-on acoustic waves is explored. For the former case, the performances of the very different NEAT, NTS, HYDRA, FLUXp and OSMIS3D codes is studied. A modest/coarse hexahedral computational grid that starkly shows differences between the different codes and schemes used in them is employed. For the same order of discretization the five codes show similar results. The unstructured codes are found to propagate vortical and acoustic waves well on triangular cell meshes but not the T-S wave. The above code contrasting exercise is then carried out using implicit LES or Smagorinsky LES for and Ma = 0.9 plane jet on modest 0.5 million cell grids moving to circa 5 million cell grids. For this case, even on the coarse grid, for all codes results were generally encouraging. In general, the spread in computational results is less than the spread of the measurements. Interestingly, the finer grid turbulence intensity levels are slightly more under-predicted than those of the coarse grid. This difference is attributed to the numerical dispersion error having a favourable coarse grid influence. For a non-isothermal jet, HYDRA and NTS also give encouraging results. Peak turbulence values along the jet centreline are in better agreement with measurements than for the isothermal jets. Copyright © 2006 by University of Wales.

Comparison of stabilised/solidified mixes of model drill cuttings based on the North Sea and Red Sea Areas

Following the global stringent legislations regulating the wastes generated from the drilling process of oil exploration and production activities, the management of hazardous drill cuttings has become one of the pressing needs confronting the petroleum industry. Most of the prevalent treatment techniques adopted by oil companies are extremely expensive and/or the treated product has to be landfilled without any potential end-use; thereby rendering these solutions unsustainable. The technique of stabilisation/solidification is being investigated in this research to treat drill cuttings prior to landfilling or for potential re-use in construction products. Two case studies were explored namely North Sea and Red Sea. Given the known difficulties with stabilising/solidifying oils and chlorides, this research made use of model drill cutting mixes based on typical drill cutting from the two case studies, which contained 4.2% and 10.95% average concentrations of hydrocarbons; and 2.03% and 2.13% of chlorides, by weight respectively. A number of different binders, including a range of conventional viz. Portland cement (PC) as well as less-conventional viz. zeolite, or waste binders viz. cement kiln dust (CKD), fly ash and compost were tested to assess their ability to treat the North Sea and Red Sea model drill cuttings. The dry binder content by weight was 10%, 20% and 30%. In addition, raw drill cuttings from one of the North Sea offshore rigs were stabilised/solidified using 30% PC. The characteristics of the final stabilised/solidified product were finally compared to those of thermally treated cuttings. The effectiveness of the treatment using the different binder systems was compared in the light of the aforementioned two contaminants only. A set of physical tests (unconfined compressive strength (UCS)), chemical tests (NRA leachability) and micro-structural examinations (using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD)) were used to evaluate the relative performance of the different binder mixes in treating the drill cuttings. The results showed that the observed UCS covered a wide range of values indicating various feasible end-use scenarios for the treated cuttings within the construction industry. The teachability results showed the reduction of the model drill cuttings to a stable non-reactive hazardous waste, compliant with the UK acceptance criteria for non-hazardous landfills: (a) by most of the 30% and 20% binders for chloride concentrations, and (b) by the 20% and 30% of compost-PC and CKD-PC binders for the Red Sea cuttings. The 20% and 30% compost-PC and CKD-PC binders successfully reduced the leached oil concentration of the North Sea cuttings to inert levels. Copyright 2007, Society of Petroleum Engineers.

An integrated approach to national marine resources development

A review is presented of the various marine resources and their potential, concerning fishing, aquaculture, transportation, pollution, hydrocarbons and solid minerals, renewable energy and ocean thermal energy conversion. Administrative problems confronting their rational management in Sri Lanka are examined, considering coastal area management and development, management issues, and alternatives.

Hydrographical conditions and benthic assemblages in the Suez Gulf, Egypt

The coastal development and human activities along the Suez Gulf leading to sedimentation, degrade the quality of water, disturbing the natural structure and functions of aquatic communities. The Suez Gulf is a large semi-closed area with a 346 km long coastline on the western beach side. The prevailing physicochemical parameters in shallow intertidal waters were measured seasonally over the year. Benthic faunas in the sampling sites were studied indicating their regional distribution in relation to the impact of different environmental parameters in the intertidal region. The concentration of copper in seawater reached high level at St. IV (4.57 ug/1), which is exposed to sewage and petroleum hydrocarbons. The grain size of the sediment is a determining factor for the organic carbon concentration and the sandy substrate enhances organic matter degradation processes. A large number of oil fields are present along the western coast of the Suez Gulf, therefore, cadmium and organic matter appeared to be high. The values of pH did not vary greatly among the different sampling sites. It was high at EI-Ein, El-Sukhna and Ras-Shukeir due to the disposal of mainly acidic sewage and industrial effluents of the two stations Adabiya and Ras-Gharib respectively. The macrobenthos included 71 species embraced mainly from Mollusca (53.5% Gastropoda and 12.7% Bivalvia) and the other invertebrates included 7 groups namely, Rhizostoma, Polychaeta, Cirripedia, Amphipoda, Isopoda, Decapoda and Echinodermata. The distribution of benthos is affected by the temperature and salinity of seawater. The concentration of organic matter in seawater and in sediments in shallow waters shows high values in the central part of the Gulf of Suez.

Triggering in a thermoacoustic system with stochastic noise

This paper explores the mechanism of triggering in a simple thermoacoustic system, the Rijke tube. It is demonstrated that additive stochastic perturbations can cause triggering before the linear stability limit of a thermoacoustic system. When triggering from low noise amplitudes, the system is seen to evolve to self-sustained oscillations via an unstable periodic solution of the governing equations. Practical stability is introduced as a measure of the stability of a linearly stable state when finite perturbations are present. The concept of a stochastic stability map is used to demonstrate the change in practical stability limits for a system with a subcritical bifurcation, once stochastic terms are included. The practical stability limits are found to be strongly dependent on the strength of noise.

Biodiversity and production of bioactive material from cyanobacteria in Persian Gulf

In this project sampling was done from 9 stations in 3 depths during 5 seasons to separate, identify and examine the biodiversity of cyanobacteria. Another sampling also has been done to analyse all physical and physicochemical parameters, primary production and polluting agents such as heavy metals and oil hydrocarbons in water and sediments. Along with optimization of Oscillatoria to study the ability of producing natural substances, these cyanobacteria were analysed from the point of antimicrobial and mutagenic effects. To examine the relationships among analysed parameters, the regression test, analysis of varian and Post Hoc were used. As the result of this study 48 genus of cyanobacteria were pecognised among which 35.5% were croco ccales and 64.4% were Hermogonals. Oscillatoria was one of the Filamentous cyanobacteria which had antibacterial and mutagenic effects. The results of multicommunity consistency varians test, post Hoc and homogenous subsets show significant difference between biodiversity of cyanotbacteria in coral ecosystem, Mangrove and transite. The linear correlation coefficient between biodiversity of cyanobacteria and bioenvironmental agents were examined, but there was no continuous relation between these factors and biological biodiversity. In Surface layer there was a significant correlation coefficent at 0.048 and probability at 95% confidence interval. Also, the biodiversity is depended on oil pollution and heavy metals such as copper (Cu) and chromium (Cr).

Near-complete transuranic waste incineration in a thorium fuelled pressurised water reactor

The production of long-lived transuranic (TRU) waste is a major disadvantage of fission-based nuclear power. Incineration, and virtual elimination, of waste stockpiles is possible in a thorium (Th) fuelled critical or subcritical fast reactor. Fuel cycles producing a net decrease in TRUs are possible in conventional pressurised water reactors (PWRs). However, minor actinides (MAs) have a detrimental effect on reactivity and stability, ultimately limiting the quality and quantity of waste that can be incinerated. In this paper, we propose using a thorium-retained-actinides fuel cycle in PWRs, where the reactor is fuelled with a mixture of thorium and TRU waste, and after discharge all actinides are reprocessed and returned to the reactor. To investigate the feasibility and performance of this fuel cycle an assembly-level analysis for a one-batch reloading strategy was completed over 125 years of operation using WIMS 9. This one-batch analysis was performed for simplicity, but allowed an indicative assessment of the performance of a four-batch fuel management strategy. The build-up of 233U in the reactor allowed continued reactive and stable operation, until all significant actinide populations had reached pseudo-equilibrium in the reactor. It was therefore possible to achieve near-complete transuranic waste incineration, even for fuels with significant MA content. The average incineration rate was initially around 330 kg per GW th year and tended towards 250 kg per GW th year over several decades: a performance comparable to that achieved in a fast reactor. Using multiple batch fuel management, competitive or improved end-of-cycle burn-up appears achievable. The void coefficient (VC), moderator temperature coefficient (MTC) and Doppler coefficient remained negative. The quantity of soluble boron required for a fixed fuel cycle length was comparable to that for enriched uranium fuel, and acceptable amounts can be added without causing a positive VC or MTC. This analysis is limited by the consideration of a single fuel assembly, and it will be necessary to perform a full core coupled neutronic-thermal-hydraulic analysis to determine if the design in its current form is feasible. In particular, the potential for positive VCs if the core is highly or locally voided is a cause for concern. However, these results provide a compelling case for further work on concept feasibility and fuel management, which is in progress. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.