The Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 was one of the largest oil spills in history. For three months, oil leaked from the Macondo well at 1,500 m depth into the Gulf. As one of the spill responses, an unprecedented amount of dispersants were applied, both at the sea surface and, for the first time ever, directly inject...
Oceans and seas are among the most ecologically vital and socio-economically important systems on the planet. Despite the acknowledged pristine nature of the marine environment, there is a growing interest in exploring the sea for human use such as offshore wind production, extraction of sand, oil and gas, deep sea mining, gene mining and aquacultu...
In certain conditions, (part of) an oil spill can disappear from the water surface through a process called natural dispersion. One available oil spill response option is to enhance this process by addition of dispersants (chemical dispersion). An informed decision for such response requires insight in the oil slick size WITH and WITHOUT treatment....
As part of the permit, Rijkswaterstaat requested an ecological monitoring and evaluation framework guideline to accompany the permit-application for the activities of BOPEC (Bonaire) and Nustar (St. Eustatius), related to the activities of the loading and unloading of oil and oil-related-products. IMARES has been asked to develop a tailored guideli...
Bij calamiteiten op zee kan vrijkomende olie leiden tot ernstige ecologische effecten. De Landelijke Coördinatiecommissie Milieu (LCM) maakt bij de 24/7 advisering voor Rijkswaterstaat Zee en Delta gebruik van ecologische kwetsbaarheidskaarten bij het besluit om detergenten bij een olieverontreiniging in te zetten. De kaarten maken gebruik van vers...
Als de olie van het wateroppervlak is opgeruimd, lijkt de milieuramp in de Golf van Mexico voorbij. Maar experts waarschuwen voor de gevolgen ónder water. „Polycyclische aromaten zijn kankerverwekkend.”
Naar aanleiding van toxiciteitexperimenten zijn milieu risicogrenzen voor minerale olie afgeleid, waarbij onderscheid wordt gemaakt naar fracties op basis van kookpunt (lengte van de koolstofketens). In dit onderzoek is onderzocht in hoeverre de voorgestelde risicogrenzen overeenkomen met waargenomen toxiciteit in veldsedimenten. Het oliegehalte we...
In the Netherlands, the use of detergents in oil spill response had been banned since the 1970s. The main reasons for this change in policy are that in recent years new dispersant products have become available which are less environmentally harmful (high biodegradability, low toxicity) and more effective (less product necessary and applicable to a...
