Response Oil Assay Working Groups

Post workshop (2020), working groups were formed to continue to address these needs.  Please click to learn more about each group and their outcomes:

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As NOAA works to build up a database of oil records to support response, we need to know what information should be in each record. This working group will seek to define the properties that should be included in the “Response Oil Assay”.

Proposed Activity

Definite “tiers” of records, something along the lines of:

  • Minimal: least amount of data required to put it in the database
  • Responding: Core information required to inform response. E.g. the information required to populate a Responder’s Data Sheet (Working Group 3)
  • Modeling: Minimal Data required to feed oil weathering models
  • Environmental Impact Assessment: Required data for doing impact assessments ahead of time
  • Complete: everything we might need to know
  • Define which kinds of data are required and recommended for each tier of record.

Expected Outcome

The result will be a definition of what data needs to be collected / measured for each tier of data record. This can be used to both define what data needs to be collected for a given use case, and allow us to “score” the records for their intended use, e.g. if the user wants to use an oil record for an oil weathering model run, they will know if it has the required data.

Final Outcome for Working Group 1

 Participants in Working Group 1

  • Robert Jones, NOAA OR&R ERD, Project Lead
  • Nancy Kinner, Coastal Response Research Center/UNH
  • Julie Adams, Queen's University
  • Benadette Adewale, USCG R&D Center
  • Chris Barker, NOAA OR&R ERD
  • Laura Basirico, LSU
  • Adriana Bejarano, Shell Oil Company
  • Amanda Bess, Chevron
  • Victoria Broje, Shell Oil Company
  • John Caplis, BSEE
  • Robyn Conmy, US EPA
  • David Cooper, SL Ross Environmental Research Ltd.
  • Heather Dettman, Natural Resources Canada
  • Anusha Dissanayake, SINTEF
  • Paige Doelling, NOAA OR&R ERD SSC
  • Faith Fitzpatrick, U.S. Geological Survey
  • Deborah French McCay, RPS
  • Lindsey Gilman, Exponent
  • Jonas Gros, GEOMAR
  • Greg Hall, USCG Academy
  • Bruce Hollebone, Environment and Climate Change Canada
  • Manoj Kamalanathan, Texas A&M University at Glaveston
  • Bill Lehr, NOAA OR&R ERD
  • Guillaume Marcotte, Environment and Climate Change Canada
  • Rachael Mueller, University of British Columbia
  • Paul Panetta, Applied Resaerch Associates
  • Julie Pilon, National Environmental Emergencies Canada
  • Steve Tuttle, Navy NRL
  • Marlea Wagelmans, (Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, the Netherlands)
  • Ed Wirth, NOAA NCCOS

This group will be focused on assessing how existing methods for measuring basic oil properties vary between labs, and how this variation makes a difference for emergency response decision-making and response modeling. 

Proposed Activities

  • Compare methods that different labs use to measure each physico-chemical property they wish to examine, and see how qualitatively similar they are. If the methods are fairly similar then the group could compare how each method performs in terms of various QA/QC measures. 
  • If labs have already conducted analyses of similar materials (such as Alaska North Slope crude or MC252), then an interlaboratory comparison could be done by evaluating the existing data. If extra funding or materials are obtained in the future, then a new interlaboratory comparison could be done by sending the same material to each interested lab to perform a round-robin test.
  • We would like to examine methods to measure properties that are important for first responders and modelers to know within the first day after an oil is spilled (e.g. those included in the Responder’s Data Sheet), as well as methods for artificially weathering oil and for measuring the behavior of oil in the environment. 

Expected Outcomes

  • A report or series of reports presenting the results of the property-by-property methods comparison, written in a way that will be useful to oil spill responders and those supporting their work such as hazard assessment teams and response modelers. 

  • An ideal outcome would be to identify a “best” method for each property that the response community wishes to include in the Responder’s Data Sheet (Working Group 3) and possibly other properties, and to promote this set of methods as the Response Oil Assay.

Final outcome documents

Participants in Working Group 2:

  • Dalina Thrift-Viveros, NOAA OR&R ERD, Project Lead
  • Nancy Kinner, Coastal Response Research Center
  • Benedette Adewale, USCG R&D Center
  • David Cooper, SL Ross Environmental Research Ltd
  • Tom Coolbaugh, (ExxonMobil) Ohmsett
  • Per Daling, SINTEF
  • Heather Dettman, Natural Resources Canada
  • Faith Fitzpatrick, U.S. Geological Survey
  • Julien Guyomarch, Cedre
  • Ajae Hall, Natural Resources Canada
  • Robert Jones, NOAA OR&R ERD
  • Manoj Kamalanathan, Texas A&M University at Galveston
  • John Kucklick, National Institute of Standards and Technology
  • Fatemah Mirnaghi, Environment and Climate Change Canada
  • Tim Nedwed, ExxonMobil
  • Ed Overton, LSU
  • Paul Panetta, Applied Research Associates
  • Emily Pisarski, NOAA, NCCOS
  • Karen Stone, BSEE
  • Lyman Young, Chevron

Proposed Activities

A “Responder’s Data Sheet” is a document that describes the properties and behavior of a given oil that responders need to know in order to direct a spill response. It can be thought of as an oil spill response equivalent to an SDS, but specifically designed for oil spill response. It will  be designed to be handed directly to and distributed by the Incident Command. It should contain information, and be written in a way that responders without expertise in petroleum chemistry or oil’s environmental behavior will be able to read it.

Expected Outcomes

A design for a Responder’s Data Sheet for an oil that can be automatically generated from the data in a Response Oil Assay.

Final outcome documents

Participants in Working Group 3

  • Doug Helton, NOAA OR&R ERD, Project Lead
  • Nancy Kinner, Coastal Response Research Center
  • Chris Barker, NOAA OR&R ERD
  • Victoria Broje, Shell
  • Carl Childs, NOAA OR&R
  • David Cooper, SL Ross Environmental Research Ltd
  • Robyn Conmy, U.S. EPA
  • Tom Coolbaugh, (ExxonMobil) Ohmsett
  • Richard Davi, ExxonMobil
  • Lisa DiPinto, NOAA OR&R
  • Paige Doelling, NOAA OR&R ERD SSC
  • Derek Eggert, Chevron
  • Greg Hall, USCG Academy
  • Matt Horn, RPS
  • Morgan Johnson, Kirby Corp
  • Fatemah Mirnaghi, Environment and Climate Change Canada
  • Ed Overton, LSU
  • Uta Passow, Memorial University Newfoundland
  • Julie Pilon, Environment and Climate Change Canada
  • Paul Schuler, OSRL
  • Marieke Zeinstra, Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, the Netherlands

Proposed Activities

Guided by the data defined by Working Group 1 (Defining the Response oIl Assay), this group will work to define the data model for an oil record: “A data model is an abstract model that organizes elements of data and standardizes how they relate to one another and to the properties of real-world entities”. In this case, the data model will define what information is required for each property measured for an oil, and what metadata is required for the record as a whole. The data model is distinct from the format used to manage the data; one of the reasons for defining a data model is to allow interoperability: the same information can be stored (or exchanged) in CSV files, XML, JSON, etc - as long as the information required by the data model is included, then a record in any format should be exchangeable with any other format.

Expected Outcomes

A document that outlines the data model for the Response OIl Assay, including examples in the JSON format (and maybe others). With this document, a lab or data provider should be able to provide the full information required to provide a Response Oil Assay Record.

Final outcome documents

 Pending

 Participants in Working Group 4

  • Chris Barker NOAA OR&R ERD, Project Lead
  • Nancy Kinner, Coastal Response Research Center
  • Carl Childs, NOAA OR&R ERD
  • David Cooper, SL Ross Environmental Research Ltd
  • Anusha Dissanayake, SINTEF
  • Bruce Hollebone, Environment and Climate Change Canada
  • Deborah French McCay, RPS
  • Aurelien Hospital, Tetra Tech Canada
  • Lindsey Gilman, Exponent
  • Guillaume Marcotte, Environment and  Climate Change Canada
  • Haibo Niu, Dalhousie University
  • Alexander Sousa, RPS
  • Ben Shorr, NOAA OR&R SDB
  • Baiyu (Helen) Zhang, Memorial University