'Oil Spills in Arctic Waters' Published by US ARC

The US Arctic Research Council (ARC) in association with others, reports on research & mitigation measures for oil spills in the Arctic marine area.

This “white paper” is a compilation of research on oil spills in ice-covered Arctic waters and recommendations for future work. ARC identify research entities in governmental, nongov- ernmental, industrial, and private organizations, and provide an inventory of research projects.

The paper begins with a summary of federal efforts in three topic areas:
(1) spill demarcation and mitigation, including containment and countermeasures;
(2) oil spill response tech- nologies for cleanup and recovery of oil, including affiliated data management tools; and
(3) the fate of oil and its effects on the environment.

Following this summary is a discussion of the work of the Interagency Coordinating Committee on Oil Pollution Research (ICCOPR), whose mission is to coordinate oil pollution research among the federal agencies.

The third section describes research efforts by other federal and state agencies, universities, and private entities and the final section highlights nonfederal activities of interest, and plans for additional research.

The full report may be accessed here.