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Myers plans UAF Arctic oil spill center New center will promote and coordinated research and development of technologies for Arctic oil spill prevention and response By Alan Bailey Petroleum News
The University of Alaska Fairbanks is planning the formation of a science and technology center for oil spill prevention and preparedness in the Arctic, Mark Myers, vice chancellor for research at UAF, told Petroleum News June 15. While the various challenges associated with oil spill risks present the biggest single hurdle to moving forward with oil and gas development in the Arctic offshore, UAF is in a unique position to research, develop and coordinate a wide range of state-of-the-art technologies for addressing the particular challenges that the Arctic presents, Myers said.
“This is something where the university can really contribute. … This can only be a good thing,” Myers said.
Arctic challenges With challenges that include severe winter weather; sea ice; a scarcity of ice-capable ships; the lack of a deepwater port; a lack of a logistical support infrastructure; and a shortage of environmental information, the Arctic offshore would present a very different oil spill response situation from a region such as the Gulf of Mexico, Myers said. There is also a need to understand how the impacts of climate change on the Arctic environment affect oil spill response strategies, he said.
Myers was the director of Alaska’s Division of Oil and Gas in the Knowles and Murkowski administrations, and he led the U.S. Geological Survey between mid-2006 and early 2009.
The new center would work with stakeholders and experts in Arctic oil spill prevention and research, to monitor oil spill technologies being researched, developed and implemented, and to identify gaps in Arctic oil spill knowledge. The center would help fill those gaps by sponsoring research into Arctic oil spill related technologies, and by fulfilling a facilitating role, integrating information from multiple organizations and spearheading a coordinated approach to Arctic oil spill research and development.
The center could assemble and feed information to organizations responsible for oil spill response operations, said Nettie LaBelle-Hamer, UAF associate vice chancellor of research, who will be the director of the new center.
Many partnerships UAF is in the process of negotiating potential partnerships with several organizations that have major roles in Arctic oil spill research, including oil companies; NOAA; the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement; the U.S. Bureau of Land Management; and the North Slope Borough. The university has also been talking to North Slope oil spill response co-op, Alaska Clean Seas, to the Sound Oil Spill Recovery Institute in Cordova, and to SINTEF, the Norway-based consortium of companies involved in offshore Arctic oil spill response research, Myers said.
“We have really stepped out to make sure that we aren’t doing this on our own, that we’re doing this with partners,” Myers said.
UAF is making a pre-proposal to the National Science Foundation, seeking funding of $5 million per year to support the new center, and will also seek funding from other partners.
New technologies Rather than duplicating research already in progress on traditional oil spill response technologies such as oil skimmers and booms, the new center will particularly focus on new, small-scale technologies that have the potential to transform people’s abilities to deal with Arctic oil spill challenges, Myers said. Example technologies include unmanned aerial vehicles with optical, infra-red, radar and other sensing systems; unmanned underwater vehicles; surface radar systems with portable power supplies; and the remote sensing of ice conditions through cloud cover using radar technology.
Research could target issues such as gaining an understanding of water currents under sea ice, and questions about the potential impacts of spilled oil on the Arctic ecology.
Being located in Alaska, just south of the Arctic Circle, with a track record of Arctic research, established communications with Arctic communities and an understanding of the value of local knowledge, UAF is in a unique position to take on a leading role in developing new Arctic oil spill-related technologies, Myers said.
Existing experience In fact, UAF has already gained experience in several areas of research relevant to Arctic oil spill prevention and response, including research into the structure of the Arctic Ocean and sea-ice movement; the use of unmanned aerial vehicles; the use of radar-based sensor systems; and the monitoring and processing of satellite-based remote sensing data. The university is set to launch its new ice-capable research vessel, the Sikuliaq, in 2013, Myers said. That vessel will have a variety of sensor system, as well as on-board research laboratories, he said.
UAF has also been involved in research into the potential fate of oil spilled in Arctic waters.
The university has a super computer center, capable of the high-resolution computer modeling that could prove vital in predicting weather and ice conditions in the area of a spill, and in running models for the prediction of oil slick movements. The new oil spill prevention and preparedness center could provide a framework for the computer-based integration of observational and other data from a variety of sources, in support of both oil spill research and oil spill operational needs.
And on the spill prevention front, the university’s expertise in Arctic engineering can provide invaluable support in the design of oil and gas facilities capable of withstanding the onslaughts of the harsh Arctic environment, Myers said.
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