Overview of US Minerals Management Service Activities in Deepwater Research

LaBelle, Robert P.

doi:10.1016/s0025-326x(01)00056-x

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Recent advances in technology have opened the way for the biotechnology industry to access and exploit the potential of deep-sea biochemical compounds (Synnes, 2007;Skropeta and Wei, 2014). The oil and gas industry has a long history of activity in the deep sea (LaBelle, 2001) and may soon be followed by the mining industry (Sharma, 2017). Deep-sea mining targets minerals that are often found in areas supporting high biomass, such as hydrothermal vents, and is therefore likely to cause adverse impacts on these ecosystems (Van Dover, 2011;Gollner et al, 2017;Niner et al, 2018;Van Dover et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Systematic Conservation Planning at an Ocean Basin Scale: Identifying a Viable Network of Deep-Sea Protected Areas in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean

et al. 2021

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Designing conservation networks requires a well-structured framework for achieving essential objectives such as connectivity, replication or viability, and for considering local management and socioeconomic stakes. Although systematic conservation planning (SCP) approaches are increasingly used to inform such networks, their application remains challenging in large and poorly researched areas. This is especially the case in the deep sea, where SCP has rarely been applied, although growing awareness of the vulnerability of deep-sea ecosystems urges the implementation of conservation measures from local to international levels. This study aims to structure and evaluate a framework for SCP applicable to the deep sea, focusing on the identification of conservation priority networks for vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs), such as cold-water coral reefs, sponge grounds, or hydrothermal vents, and for key demersal fish species. Based on multi-objective prioritization, different conservation scenarios were investigated, allowing the impact of key elements such as connectivity and conservation cost to be evaluated. Our results show that continental margin slopes, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and deeper areas of large and productive shelves housing fishing grounds appeared as crucial zones for preserving the deep-sea biodiversity of the North Atlantic, and within the limitations imposed by the data available, of the Mediterranean. Using biologically-informed connectivity led to a more continuous and denser conservation network, without increasing the network size. Even when minimizing the overlap with socioeconomic activities, the inclusion of exploited areas was necessary to fulfil conservation objectives. Such areas included continental shelf fishing grounds for demersal fish species, and areas covered by deep-sea mining exploration contracts for hydrothermal vent communities. Covering 17% of the study area and protecting 55% of each feature on average, the identified priority network held a high conservation potential. However, these areas still suffer from poor protection, with 30% of them benefiting from some form of recognition and 11% only from protection against trawling. Integrating them into current marine spatial planning (MSP) discussions could foster the implementation of a basin-scale conservation network for the deep sea. Overall, this work established a framework for developing large-scale systematic planning, useful for managing Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ).

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Systematic Conservation Planning at an Ocean Basin Scale: Identifying a Viable Network of Deep-Sea Protected Areas in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean

et al. 2021

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“…Though the OSRA model was designed to study the surface oil spills, it was shown to statistically capture the pattern of surface oiling from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010, as detailed in Ji et al (2011) [16]. For a deepwater oil spill trajectory model, BOEM uses the Clarkson Deepwater Oil and Gas Blowout Model [17][18][19], which was funded by BOEM in collaboration with 11 industry partners [20,21] and simulates the transport of oil and natural gas from a blowout or a pipeline rupture in deepwater.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Improved Method to Estimate the Probability of Oil Spill Contact to Environmental Resources in the Gulf of Mexico

Zhen¹,

Johnson²

2019

JMSE

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The oil spill risk analysis (OSRA) model is a tool used by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to evaluate oil spill risks to biological, physical, and socioeconomic resources that could be exposed to oil spill contact from oil and gas leasing, exploration, or development on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). Using long-term hindcast winds and ocean currents, the OSRA model generates hundreds of thousands of trajectories from hypothetical oil spill locations and derives the probability of contact to these environmental resources in the U.S. OCS. This study generates probability of oil spill contact maps by initiating trajectories from hypothetical oil spill points over the entire planning areas in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico (GOM) OCS and tabulating the contacts over the entire waters in the GOM. Therefore, a probability of oil spill contact database that stores information of the spill points and contacts can be created for a given set of wind and current data such that the probability of oil spill contact to any environmental resources from future leasing areas can be estimated without a rerun of the OSRA model. The method can be applied to other OCS regions and help improve BOEM’s decision-making process.

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“…The western and central portions of the northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM) make up one of the world's major oil-and gas-producing areas and have been a steady and reliable source of crude oil and natural gas for more than 50 years. 4 The need to balance the value of these resources against the potential for environmental damage is an important concern. 5 Understanding and managing risks caused by extreme events is one of the most demanding statistical problems.…”

Section: ■ Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Legally, the OCS comprises that part of the submerged lands, subsoil, and seabed lying between the seaward extent of the States' jurisdiction and the seaward extent of federal jurisdiction, which is generally 3 geographic miles seaward from the State's coastline to about 200−300 nautical miles offshore. 4 The majority of OCS activity occurs in the Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific Ocean, and off the coast of Alaska. The western and central portions of the northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM) make up one of the world's major oil-and gas-producing areas and have been a steady and reliable source of crude oil and natural gas for more than 50 years.…”

Section: ■ Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The term “outer continental shelf” is a legal term created by federal statute and is distinct from the geographic term “continental shelf”. Legally, the OCS comprises that part of the submerged lands, subsoil, and seabed lying between the seaward extent of the States’ jurisdiction and the seaward extent of federal jurisdiction, which is generally 3 geographic miles seaward from the State’s coastline to about 200–300 nautical miles offshore . The majority of OCS activity occurs in the Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific Ocean, and off the coast of Alaska.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Statistics of Extremes in Oil Spill Risk Analysis

Ji¹,

Johnson²,

Wikel³

2014

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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The Deepwater Horizon oil spill (DWH) in 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico is the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. After DWH, key questions were asked: What is the likelihood that a similar catastrophic oil spill (with a volume over 1 million barrels) will happen again? Is DWH an extreme event or will it happen frequently in the future? The extreme value theory (EVT) has been widely used in studying rare events, including damage from hurricanes, stock market crashes, insurance claims, flooding, and earthquakes. In this paper, the EVT is applied to analyze oil spills in the U.S. outer continental shelf (OCS). Incorporating the 49 years (1964-2012) of OCS oil spill data, the EVT is capable of describing the oil spills reasonably well. The return period of a catastrophic oil spill in OCS areas is estimated to be 165 years, with a 95% confidence interval between 41 years and more than 500 years. Sensitivity tests indicate that the EVT results are relatively stable. The results of this study are very useful for oil spill risk assessment, contingency planning, and environmental impact statements on oil exploration, development, and production.

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Overview of US Minerals Management Service Activities in Deepwater Research

Cited by 8 publications

References 3 publications

Systematic Conservation Planning at an Ocean Basin Scale: Identifying a Viable Network of Deep-Sea Protected Areas in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean

Systematic Conservation Planning at an Ocean Basin Scale: Identifying a Viable Network of Deep-Sea Protected Areas in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean

An Improved Method to Estimate the Probability of Oil Spill Contact to Environmental Resources in the Gulf of Mexico

Statistics of Extremes in Oil Spill Risk Analysis

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