• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.322-331
• /
• 2016

Oil budget calculator identifies the removal pathways of spilled oil by both natural and response methods, and estimates the remaining oil required response activities. A oil budget calculator was newly developed as a response tool for Deepwater Horizon oil spill incident in Gulf of Mexico in 2010 to inform clean up decisions for Incident Comment System, which was also successfully utilized to media and general public promotion of oil spill response activities. This study analyzed the theoretical background of the oil budget calculator and explored its future application to Korea. The oil budge calculation of four catastrophic marine pollution incidents indicates that 3~8% of spilled oil was removed mechanically by skimmers, 1~5% by in-situ burning, 4.8~16% by chemical dispersion due to dispersant operation, and 37~56% by weathering processes such as evaporation, dissolution, and natural dispersion. The results show that in-situ burning and chemical dispersion effectively remove spilled oil more than the mechanical removal by skimming, and natural weathering processes are also very effective to remove spilled oil. To apply the oil budget calculator in Korea, its parameters need to be optimized in response to the seasonal characteristics of marine environment, the characteristics of spilled oil and response technologies. A new algorithm also needs to be developed to estimate the oil budget due to shoreline cleanup activities. An oil budget calculator optimized in Korea can play a critical role in informing decisions for oil spill response activities and communicating spill prevention and response activities with the media and general public.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.11-23
• /
• 2016

An ecological study on subtidal macrobenthic fauna was conducted off the Namhaedo Island, south coast of Korea from July 2012 to April 2013. A total of 247 species of macrobenthos occurred with a mean density of $1,027ind./m^2$ and a mean biomass of $148.7g/m^2$. Polychaetes was the richest and most abundant faunal group that comprised 37% in both total species number and density whereas echinoderms were biomass-dominant faunal group that accounted for 44% of the mean biomass. There was a seasonal variation in the species richness and abundance of macrobenthos with more species in winter and higher density in spring. Mean faunal density was relatively high at the stations near Namhaedo Island, but gradually decreased toward offshore stations. The most dominant species in terms of density was an amphipod species, Eriopisella sechellensis which occurred as a top ranker during three seasons except spring recorded the fourth rank. E. sechellensis showed its high density at the near shore stations of Namhaedo Island, but this species did not occur around the entrance of Gwangyang and Saryang Bays where Theora fragilis and Lumbrineris longifolia showed high densities. In particular, Tharyx sp., recorded high density between Gwangyang Bay entrance and offshore after Sea Prince oil spill, did not occur in the same area during this study period. The bottom temperature and sorting value of the surface sediments were highly correlated to the spatial distribution of macrobenthic fauna from the Bio-Env analysis. From the cluster analysis, the study area has five station groups with more similar faunal affinities from inner area toward offshore area. Based on the SIMPER analysis T. fragilis, Magelona japonica, E. sechellensis, L. longifolia and Paraprionospio cordifolia were mainly contributed to the classification of station groups. From the BPI, benthic communities in the entrance of Gwangyang Bay and Saryang Bay were considered to be in a slightly polluted condition in contrast to the normal healthy community at the offshore of Namhaedo Island. These results suggested that the benthic community of this area should be regularly monitored to assess the health status of this benthic ecosystem.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
• /
• v.26 no.6
• /
• pp.689-697
• /
• 2020

Hazardous and noxious substances (HNS) may cause maritime incidents during marine transportation, which are liable to lead to a large amount of spillage or discharge into the sea. The damage to the marine environment caused by the HNS spill or discharge is known to be much greater than the damage caused by oil spill. Particularly dangerous is HNS, which is deposited or buried in the seabed, as it can damage the organisms that live on, in, and near the bottom of the sea, the so-called "benthos," forming the benthic ecosystem. Therefore, it is vital that the HNS deposited on the seabed be recovered. In order to do so, procedures and equipment are required for accurate detection, stabilization treatment, and recovery of HNS in subsea sediment. Thus, when developing a mechanical recovery system, the performance requirements should be selected using performance indices, and the conceptual design of the mechanical recovery system should be based on performance requirements decided upon and selected in advance. Therefore, this study was conducted to arrive at a conceptual design for a mechanical recovery system for the recovery of HNS deposited on the seabed. In the design of the system, based on the fundamental scenario, the method of suction foundation with the function of self enclosing was adopted for recovering the HNS sediment in the subsea sediment. The mechanical recovery system comprises the suction foundation, pollution prevention, a pump system, control system, monitoring device, location information device, transfer device, and tanks. This conceptual design is expected to be reflected and used in the basic design of the components and shapes of the mechanical recovery system.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.26 no.6
• /
• pp.519-528
• /
• 1993

The biodegradation experiment, the TOD analysis and the element analysis for dispersant, Bunker-C and dispersant/Bunker-C oil mixtures were conducted for the purposes of evaluating the biodegradability of dispersnat/Bunker-C oil mixtures and studying the consumption of dissolved oxygen with relation to biodegradation in the seawater. The results of biodegradation experiment showed the mixtures with $1:10{\sim}5:10$ mix ratios of dispersant to 4mg/l of Bunker-C oil to be $0.34{\sim}2.06mg/l$ of $BOD_5$ and to be $1.05{\sim}5.47mg/l$ of $BOD_{20}$ in natural seawater. The results of TOD analysis showed 1mg of Bunker-C oil to be 3.16mg of TOD. The results of element analysis showed the contents of carbon and hydrogen to be $87.3\%\;and\;11.5\%$ for Bunker-C oil, respectively, but nitrogen element was not detected in Bunker-C oil. The biodegradability of dispersant/Bunker-C oil mixture shown as the ratio of $BOD_5$/TOD was increased from $3\%\;to\;11\%$ as a mix ratio of dispersant to 4mg/l of Bunker-C oil changed from 1:10 to 5:10, and the mixtures were found to belong in the organic matter group of low-biodegradability. The deoxygenation rates($K_1$) and ultimate oxygen demands($L_o$) obtained through the biodegration experiment and Thomas slope method were found to be $0.072{\sim}0.097/day$ and $1.113{\sim}6.746mg/l$ for the mixtures with $1:10{\sim}5:10$ mix ratios of dispersant to 4mg/l of Bunker-C oil, respectively. The ultimate oxygen demand of mixture was increased as a mix ratio of dispersant to Bunker-C oil changed from 1:10 to 10:5. This means that the more dispersants are applied to the sea for Bunker-C oil cleanup, the more decreases the dissolved oxygen level in the seawater.