Coastal Response Research Center and Center for Spills and Environmental Hazards

CEMM Researchers Use Remote Sensing Tools to Study Oil Spills and Fires

On April 23, ORD completed a research campaign with NOAA, U.S. Coast Guard Research and Development Center, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Cold Regions Research Engineering Laboratory in Hanover, NH. The team studied how remote sensing tools can detect and characterize surface oil from spills on water and ice, and how they can help measure emission factors from burning the oil. The team deployed CEMM’s Kolibri emission sampler on an unmanned aircraft system (UAS, i.e., a drone) contracted by NOAA to fly into the burning oil plume and make measurements. This effort was part of ORD’s oil spill research program led by CESER’s Robyn Conmy. The research is led by CEMM’s Brian Gullett, principal investigator for efforts related to characterizing emissions from in situ burns. CEMM’s Bill Mitchell, Amara Holder, and Dale Greenwell and University of Dayton Research Institute’s Johanna Aurell and Filimon Kiros contributed to the Kolibri development.

Core Area 2 - Fate of Oil and Weathering, November 16-20, 2020.

On March 17th, the White House informed USARC Commissioners and staff that President Biden designated David Kennedy as Chair of the USARC effective March 3, 2021. Kennedy succeeds Jon Harrison as Chair, and both continue to serve on the commission. David M. Kennedy’s bio

There is a greater probability of more frequent and/or larger oil spills in the Arctic region due to increased maritime shipping and natural resource development. Accordingly, there is an increasing need for effective spilled-oil computer modeling to help emergency oil spill response decision makers, especially in waters where sea ice is present.  Read more via the publication in the Journal of Marine Science and Engineering 2021, 9, 201.