A special session on oil spills at ASLO 2018 Summer Meeting will be held in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada on June 10-15, 2018. Abstract submission deadline is February 23, 2018.
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Registration/Abstract submission
Session Description:
ASLO 2018 Conference theme: Water Connects!
Oil and water do mix: the fate, behaviour and impact of dispersed oil droplets in the sea.
Crude oil is released into oceanic waters through production, transport, offshore exploration, and natural seeps. Since the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill there has been a significant increase in research related to marine oil spills which has improved the ability to understand and predict the fate of spilled oil, and its potential environmental and human health impacts. The use of chemical dispersants affects the size and spatial distributions of droplets in marine spills. Dispersant application on surface oil slicks or directly into subsurface oil well blowouts can create small oil droplets of various sizes down to the micron and submicron range. The broad range of sizes of droplets impact the breakdown and consumption of oil by hydrocarbon degrading bacteria, interactions of oil droplets with marine organisms, interactions with suspended particles and the formation of oily marine snow. An improved understand of these processes can be used to develop tools for assessing response options in future spills, and weighing the environmental and human health trade-offs of various oil spill remediation practices in the sea, including burns, skimming, and surface or sub-surface application of chemical dispersant.
Session organizers:
Dr. Edward Buskey, University of Texas Marine Science Institute
Dr. Kenneth Lee, Fisheries and Oceans, Canada
Please contact me if you have any questions.
Dr. Edward J. Buskey
Director, Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative DROPPS Consortium
