Preparedness

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Preparedness Class - Research that supports the activities, programs, and systems developed prior to an oil spill to improve the planning, decision-making and management processes needed for responding to and recovering from oil spills.

Using the OPRTP framework as a guide, member organizations of the Interagency Committee managed and funded a number of new and on-going research projects. Catalogued below are Preparedness Class research projects under taken by the member agencies of the Interagency Committee during Fiscal Years 2016 - 2017. Please note that in many instances, research is being conducted by other entities such as federal agencies not currently represented on the Interagency Committee, or by state, local, academic and industry researchers which are not captured below. Interagency Committee members closely monitor these efforts, and coordinate with these entities.

Pre-spill Baseline Studies
- Projects 1-10
  - 1. A Critical Real-Time Louisiana Coastal Ocean Observing Station
  - 2. A Demonstration Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (BON) for Ecosystem Monitoring
  - 3. Abundance Estimates of Ice Associated Seals: Bering Sea Populations that Inhabit the Chukchi Sea during Open-Water Period
  - 4. Aerial Surveys of Arctic Marine Mammals
  - 5. An Analysis of Marine Environmental Conditions to Improve Understanding of Ecological Processes in Lower Cook Inlet and Kachemak Bay Alaska
  - 6. Analysis of Benthic Communities on Weathervane Scallop Beds in Shelikof Strait
  - 7. ANIMIDA III: Arctic Kelp Communities in the Beaufort Sea: Sentinels of Long-Term Change
  - 8. Arctic Ecosystem Integrated Survey, Phase II: Seabirds
  - 9. Arctic Ecosystem Integrated Survey, Phase II: Distribution, Abundance, and Condition of Demersal Fish
  - 10. Arctic Whale Ecology Study: Use of the Chukchi Sea by Endangered Baleen and Other Whales
- Projects 11-20
  - 11. Assessing the Impact of Oil Spills to Subsurface Biota using Three-Dimensional Oil Spill Modeling
  - 12. Atlantic Deepwater Ecosystem Observatory Network—An Integrated System for Long-Term Monitoring of Ecological and Human Factors on the OCS
  - 13. Beaufort Sea Marine Fish Monitoring: Pilot Survey in the Central Beaufort Sea
  - 14. Benthic Habitat Mapping in Eastern Cook Inlet
  - 15. Biophysical and Chemical Observations II
  - 16. Changes in Beaufort-Chukchi Seas Intense Storm Activity and Impacts on Surface Climate and Ocean Properties
  - 17. Characterization of Hydraulic Fracturing Processed Waste Waters
  - 18. Characterization of the Circulation on the Continental Shelf Areas of the Northeast Chukchi and Western Beaufort Seas
  - 19. Characterizing Bacterial Communities in Beaufort Sea Sediments in a Changing Arctic
  - 20. Chukchi Acoustic, Oceanography, and Zooplankton Study: Hanna Shoal
- Projects 21-30
  - 21. Coastal Community Vulnerability Index and Visualizations of Change in Cook Inlet, Alaska
  - 22. Collaboration with North Pacific Research Board Arctic Marine Research Program
  - 23. Community Based Monitoring: LEO Network
  - 24. Community Web Access to WRF Atmospheric Model Results and Meteorological Station Data, 1979–2009
  - 25. Continued Archiving of Outer Continental Shelf Invertebrates by the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History
  - 26. Cooperative Monitoring Program for Spawning Aggregations in the Gulf of Mexico: An Assessment of Existing Information, Data Gaps and Research Priorities
  - 27. Data Synthesis and Advanced Predictive Modeling of Deep Coral and Hardbottom Habitats in the Southeast Atlantic: Guiding Efficient Discovery and Protection of Sensitive Benthic Areas
  - 28. Deepwater Atlantic Habitats II: Continued Atlantic Research and Exploration in Deepwater Ecosystems with Focus on Coral, Canyon, and Seep Communities
  - 29. Defining Abnormal Events of Oceanographic, Biological, and Physical Properties in The Gulf Of Mexico to Identify Data Gaps
  - 30. Determining Offshore Use by Diving Marine Birds Using Satellite Telemetry
- Projects 31-40
  - 31. Developing the Next Generation of Animal Telemetry: A Partnership To Develop Cost Effective, Open-Source, Marine Megafaunal Tracking
  - 32. Development of a Very High-resolution Regional Circulation Model of Beaufort Sea Nearshore Areas
  - 33. Development of a weathered oil Standard Reference Material SRM 2977 Weathered Gulf of Mexico Crude Oil
  - 34. Development of an Autonomous Carbon Glider to Monitor Sea-Air CO2 Fluxes in the Chukchi Sea
  - 35. Discerning Behavioral Patterns of Sea Turtles in the Gulf of Mexico to Inform Management Decisions
  - 36. Distribution and Habitat Use of Fish in the Nearshore Ecosystem of the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas
  - 37. Distribution and Relative Abundance of Marine Mammals in the Chukchi Sea and the Fall Migration of Bowhead Whales in the Beaufort Sea
  - 38. Distribution of Fish, Crab and Lower Trophic Communities in the Chukchi Sea Lease Area
  - 39. Ecological Baseline Studies of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf
  - 40. Ecosystem Modeling Efforts in the Gulf of Mexico: Current Status and Future Needs to Address Management and Restoration Activities
- Projects 41-50
  - 41. Endangered Pallid Sturgeon Risk Assessment and Data Collection, Planning and Training
  - 42. Estimation of Abundance and Demographic Rates of Pacific Walruses Using a Genetics-based Mark-Recapture Approach
  - 43. Expansion of West Coast Oceanographic Modeling Capability
  - 44. Field Evaluation of an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) for Studying Cetacean Distribution, Density, and Habitat Use in the Arctic
  - 45. Freeze-Up and Break-Up Studies of the Alaskan Beaufort and Chukchi Seas
  - 46. Functional Diversity of Epibenthic communities on the Chukchi and Beaufort Sea Shelves
  - 47. Genomics of Arctic Cod: A Sentinel Species in a Changing Environment
  - 48. Gulf of Mexico Marine Assessment Program for Protected Species (GOMMAPPS)
  - 49. Hanna Shoal Ecosystem Study
  - 50. Identifying Sources of Organic Matter to Benthic Organisms in the Beaufort and Chukchi Outer Continental Shelves
- Projects 51-60
  - 51. Initiating an Arctic Marine Biodiversity Observing Network (AMBON) for Ecosystem Monitoring
  - 52. Integration of Offshore Avian Spatial Data into the USFWS Information, Planning and Conservation System
  - 53. Integrative Statistical Modeling and Predictive Mapping of Seabird Distribution and Abundance on the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf
  - 54. Marine Arctic Ecosystem Study: Task 3 Pilot Biophysical and Chemical Observations
  - 55. Marine Arctic Ecosystems Study: A Multi-Agency NOPP Partnership (MARES)
  - 56. Marine Bird Distribution and Abundance in Offshore Waters
  - 57. Mass Wasting Processes and Products of the Mississippi Delta Front: Data synthesis and Observation
  - 58. Mesoscale Climatology and Variation of Surface Winds Over the Chukchi-Beaufort Coastal Areas
  - 59. Microbial Biodegradation of Alaska North Slope Crude Oil in the Arctic Marine Environment
  - 60. Migration Trends for King and Common Eiders and Yellow-billed Loons past Point Barrow in a Rapidly Changing Environment
- Projects 61-70
  - 61. Multibeam Survey of Small Topographic Features to Determine Efficacy of Current "No Activity Zones"
  - 62. Nearshore Food Web Structure on the OCS in Cook Inlet, Alaska
  - 63. Net Environmental Benefit Analysis of Pacific Platform Decommissioning Scenarios
  - 64. Northern Alaska Sea Ice Project Jukebox: Phase III
  - 65. Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) Program for the Northern Gulf of Mexico
  - 66. Phase II Development of the Tethys PAM Metadata System
  - 67. Range-Wide Distribution of Cook Inlet Beluga Whales in the Winter
  - 68. Satellite Tracking of Bowhead Whales: Habitat Use, Passive Acoustic and Environmental Monitoring
  - 69. Seabird Distribution and Abundance in the Chukchi and North Aleutian Basin Offshore Environment
  - 70. Sensitivity to Hydrocarbons and Baselines of Exposure in Marine Birds on the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas
- Projects 71-80
  - 71. Shelf-Slope Sediment Exchange in the Northern Gulf of Mexico: Application of Numerical Models for Extreme Events
  - 72. Social Indicators in Coastal Alaska: Arctic Communities
  - 73. Spatial & Acoustic Ecology of Pelagic Megavertebrates (SPAM)
  - 74. Sperm Whale Prey in the Northern Gulf of Mexico
  - 75. Subtidal and Intertidal Habitats and Invertebrate Biota in Lower Cook Inlet, Alaska
  - 76. Synthesis of Arctic Research (SOAR) Physics to Marine Mammals in the Pacific Arctic
  - 77. Task 4: Integrated Observations of the Beaufort Sea Ecosystem
  - 78. The Central Role of the Mississippi River and its Delta in the Oceanography and Ecology of the Gulf of Mexico Large Marine Ecosystem
  - 79. Traditional Knowledge Implementation: Accessing Arctic Community Panels of Subject Matter Experts
  - 80. U.S.-Canada Transboundary Fish and Lower Trophic Communities
- Projects 81-86
  - 81. Updating Status and Trends of Seabirds and Forage Fish in Lower Cook Inlet
  - 82. USA-Mexico to Coordinate Future Environmental Studies Related to Ocean Energy in the Gulf of Mexico
  - 83. Using Genotyping by Sequencing Population Genetics Approaches to Determine the Population Structure of Tanner Crab in Alaska
  - 84. Using Trace Elements in Pacific Walrus Teeth to Track the Impacts of Petroleum Production in the Alaskan Arctic
  - 85. Wading Shorebirds Habitats, Food Resources, Associated Infauna, Sediment Characteristics and Bioremediation Potential of Resident Microbiota of Deltaic Mudflats
  - 86. Walrus Seasonal Distribution and Habitat Use in the Eastern Chukchi Sea
Response Management Systems
- Projects 1-10
  - 1. Arctic Tracer Release Experiment Applications for Mapping Spilled Oil in Arctic Waters
  - 2. Developing an Innovative Dispersant Spray Drift Model
  - 3. Equipment Surge Risk Assessment Tool
  - 4. Evaluation of Gulf of Mexico Oceanographic Observation Networks Impact Assessment on Ecosystem Management and Recommendation
  - 5. Gulf of Mexico Response Viability Analysis
  - 6. Leveraging Offshore Hydrocarbon Risk Assessment Models and Datasets to Support the Evaluation and Ranking of Worst Case Discharge Scenarios
  - 7. Mobile Asset Tracking and Reporting During an Incident of National Significance
  - 8. Oil Spill Response Emerging Technology Research
  - 9. Physical and Chemical Analyses of Crude and Refined Oils: Laboratory and Mesoscale Oil Weathering
  - 10. Preliminary Technical Guidance and Literature Review to Assist in Evaluation of Wellhead Burning as a Blowout Response
- Projects 11-14
  - 11. Response to Oil In Ice
  - 12. Scientifically Based Field Tools for Predicting Dispersant Effectiveness and Usage Rates
  - 13. Shale Oil & Gas Preparedness and Response
  - 14. WebGNOME Additions for Trajectories Visualization and Oil Libraries
Other
- 1. Developing a Capabilities-Based Framework for Designing and Evaluating Oil Spill Response Exercises