Agencies, Universities Meet at UNCW to Discuss Statewide Oil Spill Response Capabilities and Resources
7/27/2010 5:44:12 PM
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Representatives from state and federal agencies and more than 20 marine researchers from North Carolina colleges and universities met Wednesday at the University of North Carolina Wilmington's Center for Marine Science to discuss "Higher Education's Role in Responding to a Major Oil Spill."
Participating agencies included the U.S. Coast Guard and the North Carolina divisions of Emergency Management and Marine Fisheries. Universities and colleges represented included UNC Wilmington, East Carolina University, Coastal Carolina University, Cape Fear Community College, North Carolina State University and UNC Chapel Hill.
The purpose of the event was to inform emergency responders at the state and federal levels of the personnel, technologies, equipment, capabilities and scientific information located at these institutions and how these resources could be deployed during an oil spill related emergency off the NC coast.
"In working with various agencies to assess capabilities related to the Gulf oil spill, we realized that some of them were not fully aware of the higher education resources that could be called upon to assist them in the event of a major emergency," said Bob Roer, UNCW dean of the graduate school and research. "The universities in the state have a wealth of expertise that we need to develop and use as we respond to environmental crises."
The event, initiated by UNC Wilmington, included a tour of the Center for Marine Science facility to glimpse cutting edge oceanographic technology, including autonomous underwater gliders, the Phantom remotely operated vehicle (ROV), instruments on offshore buoys used to validate circulation and wave models, and the R/V Cape Fear - a 65-foot-long research vessel with a rosette water sampling device that reaches various underwater depths.
On the tour, attendees learned about the UNCW-affiliated programs that support and manage this equipment, including the Coastal Ocean Research and Monitoring Program (CORMP), the Regional Coastal Ocean Observing System (RCOOS) and the Cooperative Institute for Ocean Exploration, Research and Technology (CIOERT). Center for Marine Science director Daniel Baden spoke about the center's state-of-the-art mass spectrometry lab, which is able to detect with extreme specificity oil and dispersant deposits in water samples, allowing scientists to trace contaminants back to the Deepwater Horizon spill or any specific oil incident.
The tour also included presentations by UNCW marine science faculty about the relevance of their individual research to oil spill detection and response. Presenters included:
•Geography and geology professor Lynn Leonard, who studies marine geology and sediment transport systems in coastal environments,
•Marine biology professor Martin Posey and research associate Troy Alphin, whose research is in the areas of salt marshes, oyster reefs and coastal estuaries and sounds and
•Marine biology research associate Jennifer Culbertson, who studies fiddler crabs, shell fish populations and salt marsh grasses.
Visiting presenters Reide Corbett, associate professor of marine geochemistry at East Carolina University, and Jason Rogers, marine science instructor at Cape Fear Community College, spoke about the research personnel and equipment available at their respective organizations.
The event culminated with an in-depth discussion about how researchers and emergency personnel might better work together to share resources and baseline data. UNCW and its sister institutions have developed extensive, long-term baseline data and monitoring sets in the areas of oil and gas seeps, deep coral ecosystems, Gulf Stream ecosystems, microbiology and more.
"After learning more about the ongoing research and capabilities at UNCW and the other NC universities, I feel confident that we will be able to assess impacts from the Deepwater Horizon incident or other oil spills in the future," said Anne Deaton, Habitat Protection Section Chief, Division of Marine Fisheries.
Media contact:
Dana Fischetti, media relations manager, 910.962.7259 or fischettid@uncw.edu
Photo captions:
Photo 1: UNC Wilmington's Lynn Leonard talks about the university's coastal monitoring efforts as representatives from state and federal agencies and marine researchers from several North Carolina universities gathered at UNC Wilmington's Center for Marine Science to discuss "Higher Education's Role in Responding to a Major Oil Spill" on Wednesday, July 21, 2010.- UNCW/Jamie Moncrief
Photo 2: Glenn Taylor, research operations manager, talks about UNC Wilmington's remote and autonomous underwater vehicles as representatives from state and federal agencies and marine researchers from several North Carolina universities gathered at UNC Wilmington's Center for Marine Science to discuss "Higher Education's Role in Responding to a Major Oil Spill" on Wednesday, July 21, 2010.
The conference, hosted by UNCW, was geared to facilitate cooperation between emergency responders and higher education in the areas of personnel, technologies, equipment, capabilities and scientific information for response during an oil spill-related emergency.
- UNCW/Jamie Moncrief
Downloadable Photos
Oil Spill Meeting 1
Oil Spill Meeting 2
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