The ruptured offshore oil well 80 miles from Mexican town of Ciudad del Carmen, which poured 8000 barrels of light oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico, provided marine scientists with the opportunity to monitor the spill and see what happens to petroleum hydrocarbons in sea water. Scientists followed changes in viscosity, surface tension, and buoyancy of individual oil globs as they moved through the water and interacted with the surface slick. Using gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy, chemists are gaining an understanding of the unique characteristics of the oil. Computer-generated models projected the slick's movement in the Gulf in response to wind and wave pressures, but the sophisticated system did not give an accurate daily prediction. Immediate damage to fish, turtles, and sea birds was documented by tagging. Long-term effects will take longer to ascertain since 25 years is generally required to flush oil out of sediments. ...
The biological treatment process was selected by Gaz de France (GDF), the French national gas utility, for the de-pollution of an old gas works where the main pollutants are coal tars containing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Microorganism-based biological treatment techniques may involve bio-reactors, static ground knolls (where oxygen is brought through drains) and dynamic knolls (where oxygenation is carried out by turning up the soil). Issues on sampling, sorting, process testing, site preparation, process control, etc. are reviewed
The history of the Arabian Gulf region shows a lot of commonality in the six states which form the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Their shared heritage ranges from common colonial masters to common religion and language. Because of their oil wealth and, ...
the southern Arabian Gulf region left its signature on the heterogeneous aerosol .... Arabian Gulf region, since large differences in ? may be caused by ...
Polygon coverage showing distribution of groundfish and Pacific halibut in the Gulf of Alaska. Includes halibut, nearshore rockfish, pacific cod, pacific ... ...
Polygon coverage showing known concentrations and known spawning areas of shrimp in the Gulf of Alaska. General distribution area of shrimp includes most ... ...
May 13, 2010 ... Abstract: On April 20, 2010, an explosion occurred on the semi-submersible offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico, ...
dust measured in the Arabian Gulf region during UAE2 and examine the hypothesis that ... [8] UAE2 took place in the southern Arabian Gulf region in August and ...
[1] Independent data from the Gulf of Mexico are used to develop and test the hypothesis that the same sequence of physical and ecological events each year allows the toxic dinoflagellate Karenia...Full Text Available
Apr 25, 2010... oil per day were leaking from an oil well in the Gulf of Mexico in late April, following an explosion at an offshore drilling rig on April 20, 2010. ...
Climate change-induced sea-level rise will have a disproportionate effect along the Gulf Coast shoreline for a number of reasons. This document describes ... ...
Environmental health concerns in the Persian Gulf are peculiar to the geography of the region. Prevention of heat and solar injury deserves primary consideration, but cold injury also may occur in the...Full Text Available
... Uninterrupted access to and use of critical infrastructure in the Arabian Gulf region are key to the successful prosecution of the Global War on Terror ...
... Deepwater Horizon leak in the Gulf of Mexico, the Haitian earthquake and subsequent response, release of information by WikiLeaks, the Icelandic ...
In the Arabian Gulf region in general, and in Saudi Arabia in particular, demand for water in the agricultural, domestic, and industrial sectors has increased dramatically as a result of rapid development, and improved standard of living, and diversification of economic activity in agriculture and industry. This article presents an overview of supply and demand situations prevailing in the Arabian Gulf region and discusses various conventional and unconventional alternatives for meeting the growing demand for water. It also describes conservation measures and their socioeconomic effects.
Possible factors regulating phytoplankton variability in the Arabian (Persian) Gulf were analyzed on the basis of satellite observations and meteorological data (1997-2009), including remotely-sensed chlorophyll a concentration (CHL), sea surface temperature, wind, solar radiation, precipitation, and aerosols. Shallow waters of northwestern Gulf influenced by Shatt Al-Arab River discharge were more productive than open Gulf waters, although seasonal CHL patterns in this and other shallow regions looked unrealistic likely because the CHL signal was obscured by bottom reflection. Therefore our further analyses focused on the open Gulf waters, which show a subtropical seasonal CHL cycle with maximum in winter and minimum in spring-summer. This cycle, however, was decoupled from the seasonal e...
More than 2 years after the Gulf conflict, scientists are continuing to keep a close watch on marine pollution stemming from the war. Following the conflict in early 1991, major concern was raised worldwide when an estimated four to eight million barrels of crude oil were directly released into the Persian Gulf from the Sea Island terminal in Kuwait. Such amounts clearly made it the largest oil spill in history. The catastrophe was exacerbated when Kuwaiti oil fields were ignited. The magnitude of the pollution, and the types of toxic contaminants involved, led to a worldwide response through the United Nations system. An inter-agency plan of action was developed quickly. As one of its steps, the co-ordinating agency - the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) - asked the IAEA's Marine Environment Laboratory (MEL) in Monaco to help make a preliminary assessment of the situation. The Laboratory's main goal in initial surveys was to map the ...
Recent organic geochemical studies differ radically in their interpretation of the origin of the Gulf coast oils. However all studies since (and including) Thompson, et al. 1989, emphasize the considerable geographic variation in genetic oil types and are in generalized agreement as to the genetic oil types present and their spatial and stratigraphic relationships. In particular it is accepted that the Gulf rim (both north and south) is encircled by a ring of Mesozoic carbonate-sourced oils and that there is also at least one major deep water trend of carbonate-sourced oils in the northern Gulf. It is also generally agreed that many of the Gulf rim oils are of Oxfordian-Kimmeridgian age, though some, like the Sunniland oils of Florida, are of lower Cretaceous origin. Major disagreement still occurs over the sources of the Louisiana offshore oils and onshore Wilcox reservoired oils. One ...
The potential strategic impact of regime change in Iraq and Iran on OPEC in the long-run is explored. In the first part of the paper short overviews are given of the present international oil market; of US oil import issues and energy policy; of the strategic position of the US in the Persian Gulf and of geopolitical developments in the Persian Gulf at large. Also, attention is paid to the OPEC and the role of a 'new' Iraq. In the second part the game of 'boxed pigs' is used to explore the possible strategic impact of regime change in Iraq and possible regime change in Iran on OPEC. This exploration takes place within four possible futures for the Gulf.
This document contains the accident sequence analysis of internally initiated events for Grand Gulf, Unit 1 as it operates in the Low Power and Shutdown Plant Operational State 5 during a refueling outage. The report documents the methodology used during the analysis, describes the results from the application of the methodology, and compares the results with the results from two full power analyses performed on Grand Gulf.
On April 20, 2010 the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig located in the Gulf of Mexico experienced an explosion resulting in at least 11 deaths and creating ...
Mangroves are disappearing rapidly worldwide despite their well documented biodiversity and the ecosystem services they provide. Failure to link ecological processes and their societal benefits has...Full Text Available
Aug 18, 2004 ... The Arabian Gulf region presents a challenge to meteorologists trying to simulate weather with computer models because sea-surface and land ...
... Uninterrupted access to and use of critical infrastructure in the Arabian Gulf region are key to the successful prosecution of the Global War on Terror ...
Background:Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) can occur in patients with prior coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). In the Gulf Registry of acute coronary events (Gulf RACE), we identified...Full Text Available
Clastic sediments of Albian age provide hydrocarbon source rocks, reservoirs and seals. Major reservoirs occur in sandstones to the north, and have a limited reservoir potential in offshore Qatar. Distal shales are a major seal in offshore Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman. Local source-rock potential exists in the northern part of the Arabian Gulf and in the extreme SE of Saudi Arabia (in the Rub Al Khali Basin). (author)
Seismic stratigraphy and sedimentological studies of the Gemlik Gulf in the Sea of Marmara, Turkey, have been carried out. For this purpose, 19 lines totaling 189 km of excellent quality, high-resolution seismic data were recorded. Four major acoustic units were identified in the seismic profiles. Three were sedimentary units: irregular layered, cross-layered and well-layered; and the fourth was an acoustic basement which is probably composed of crystalline volcanic rocks. Some local areas in the Neogene formation contain gas accumulations. The formation of faults in E--W and N--S directions can be explained by the existence of shear stresses in the Gulf. The bathymetric map shows good accommodation with the shore line as does the tectonic map.
The use of numerical modeling in oil spill incidents is a well established technique that has proven to provide cost-effective and reasonable estimates of oil surface drift. Good predictability of such models depends highly on the quality of the input data of the incident and on the model calibration effort. This paper presents the results of simulating oil spillage trajectory in the Arabian (Persian) Gulf. The study employed a 3-D rectilinear hydrodynamic model combined with oil spill model. Typical representative environmental conditions of the Arabian Gulf were first setup into a hydrodynamic circulation model using data from various sources. The performance of the hydrodynamic model was then tested against measurements of tidal fluctuation and sea currents at selected locations. The sp...
The known metazoa parasite fauna of the invasive round goby Apollonia melanostoma (formerly Neogobius melanostomus) consists of 12 species. The core of the parasite fauna comprises two species: Cryptocotyle concavum and Diplostomum spathaceum; secondary species are absent; satellite species include Cercariae gen. sp. and Ergasilus sieboldi; rare species are Acanthocephalus lucii, Anguillicola crassus, Bothriocephalus sp., Dichelyne minutus, Hysterothylacium aduncum, Pomphorhynchus laevis, Piscicola geometra, and Tylodelphys clavata. Fifty percent of metazoa parasites that occurred in the invasive round goby in the Gulf of Gda?sk (an invasion that was first detected in 1990) are also typically found in the native Gulf of Gda?sk gobiids. The round goby hosts common fish parasite species: C. ...
The advanced detector development project at the University of Michigan has completed the first full year of its current funding. Our general goals are the development of radiation detectors and spectrometers that are capable of portable room temperature operation. Over the past 12 months, we have worked primarily in the development of semiconductor spectrometers with {open_quotes}single carrier{close_quotes} response that offer the promise of room temperature operation and good energy resolution in gamma ray spectroscopy. We have also begun a small scale effort at investigating the properties of a small non-spectroscopic detector system with directional characteristics that will allow identification of the approximate direction in which gamma rays are incident. These activities have made use of the extensive clean room facilities at the University of Michigan for semiconductor device fabrication, and also the radiation measurement capabilities provided in our laboratory in the Phoenix ...
We used two high profile articles as cases to demonstrate that use of fishery landings data can lead to faulty interpretations about the condition of fishery ecosystems. One case uses the mean trophic...Full Text Available
... 2 km (0-1.2 mi) of new onshore pipelines projected as a result of proposed Lease Sale ... 2 km (0-1.2 mi) of new onshore pipelines projected as a result of proposed Lease Sale ... ...
OBJECTIVE: To determine the common types of injuries among children (0-14 years) in Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates (UAE). DESIGN: A retrospective descriptive hospital based study. SETTING: Al-Ain Medical...Full Text Available
The information in this Final Environmental Statement is the second assessment of the environmental impacts associated with the construction and operation of the Grand Gulf Nuclear Station, Units 1 and 2, located on the Mississippi River in Claiborne County, Mississippi. The Draft Environmental Statement was issued in May 1981. The first assessment was the Final Environmental Statement related to construction, which was issued in August 1973 prior to issuance of the Grand Gulf Nuclear Station construction permits. In September 1981 Grand Gulf Unit 1 was 92% complete and Unit 2 was 22% complete. Fuel loading for Unit 1 is scheduled for December 1981. The present assessment is the result of the NRC staff review of the activities associated with the proposed operation of the Station, and includes the staff responses to comments on the Draft Environmental Statement.
In the Assel'skiy and Sakmarskiy time of the lower Permian epoch, on the territory of the modern Dnieper and Donets, and Pripyatskiy Basins, there was a gulf which stretched in a northwest direction. The latter connected to the open sea in the east through the CisDonets trough. Transverse tectonic elevations divided the gulf into 5 semi-isolated reservoirs. In the Assel'skiy time, in the period of carbonate sedimentation, the development of algae, crinoids, corals and other organisms occurred. They created reef, bioherm and biostroma reconstructions. The most favorable sections for their settlement were the coastal zones of the gulf, consedimentation positive structures and transverse tectonic elevations. It is assumed that the formation of reefs, bioherms and biostromas, on the one hand, and sedimentation of evaporites on the other hand, are interrelated processes. The first after the next marine ...
The methanogenic community in hydrothermally active sediments of Guaymas Basin (Gulf of California, Mexico) was analyzed by PCR amplification, cloning, and sequencing of methyl coenzyme M reductase...Full Text Available
... M. Taylor, T. Kurt Kyser. (2009) Feather isotope analysis discriminates age-classes of Western, Least, and Semipalmated sandpipers when plumage ... ...
Baldwin County is located on the Gulf of Mexico in Alabama and has a rapidly growing population. Almost 3,000 permits for septic systems are approved annually by by the Baldwin County Health Department. More than 50% of the county's residents rely on septic systems for their d...
Dozens of universities--primarily from the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia--are eyeing the Gulf region as a largely untapped reservoir of academic potential and economic opportunity. During the last few years, UAE states like Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, and Ras al Khaymah have spent billions to entice top universities. And many colleges are responding--examples include New York University's campus in Abu Dhabi; Michigan State University's school in Dubai; and big names like Cornell, Northwestern, and Carnegie Mellon that have set up shop in Qatar. Typically, Western universities begin their foray into the Gulf by teaming with local investors. The colleges oversee the academic infrastructure while the investors front all operational costs. The partnerships are complicated. Some investors are mining the UAE's educational zeal for profit. In other cases, schools join forces with the region's numerous royal families, who are mostly ...
Radon-222 has been measured in natural gas produced from experimental geopressured-geothermal test wells. Comparison with published data suggests that while radon activity of this unconventional natural gas resource is higher than conventional gas produced in the gulf coast, it is within the range found for conventional gas produced throughout the US. A method of predicting the likely radon activity of this unconventional gas is described on the basis of the data presented, methane solubility, and known or assumed reservoir conditions of temperature, fluid pressure, and formation water salinity.
Activity concentrations of some anthropogenic radionuclides (90Sr, 137Cs, 238Pu, 239+240Pu and 241Am) have been measured in the surface of marine sediments along the Saudi coast of the Arabian (Persian) Gulf. The samples were collected at different locations and water depths. The spatial distribution of the concentrations of the measured radionuclides showed a heterogeneous pattern and is independent of location or water depth. The obtained results are discussed and some conclusions are drawn.
In Arabian Gulf industrial development, location factors show a favorable decline compared to the US as a result of industrial experience and the development of a data base on which to base comparisons. Petrochemical feedstocks and capital are the major resources for the Arabian states' investments. Cost analyses of ammonia, ethylene, and methanol show that production is only a little more than half the US production costs. While ethylene derivatives lose their economic advantage, they are more practical for marketing. Methanol production is developing slower than the production of ethylene derivatives because of competition in industrialized countries and low world prices for gas, but rising gas prices and the use of methanol for fuel are changing this situation. Comparisons of the growing aluminum industry with the investment and operating costs of other countries show that total operating costs are low, total costs per ton are average, and electricity ...
This paper describes the Brown and Root`s BARBOX, an alternative, purpose-built, deep-draft monohull system for floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO). This alternative system concept has been designed for worldwide applications including the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico environments. The stiffened flat plate construction of the BARBOX gives it a low capital investment cost relative to minimum water plane hull types (e.g., semi-submersible, SPAR, TLP) and ship-shaped FPSO. Dynamic motion comparison between the BARBOX and the ship-shaped FPSO indicates that the BARBOX`s motion characteristics are similar or better than those of comparable ship-shaped FPSO configurations. This paper also considers construction of the BARBOX hull in the Gulf of Mexico region. A recent study indicated that the Gulf coast fabrication yards were technically capable to fabricate the BARBOX hull and they could be cost competitive ...
Thailand's demand for gas will outstrip supplies in the late 1990s as rapid economic growth continues. Gas will be a cornerstone for Thai energy policy throughout the growth, although sources in neighboring countries need development. Thai gas production will rise 25% from 1992 to average 1 bcfd by 1995. Including production from new discoveries, production could rise to 1.5 bcfd by 2000, up almost 90% from the 1992 level. Increased gas flow output in the mid-1990s will be due largely to development of Gulf of Thailand fields. By 1998, production from Gulf of Thailand fields will not be enough to offset the decline in today's fields. Thailand will need to import more than 1 bcfd by 2005 in the absence of future discoveries in the country. The paper discusses new pipelines and imports.
The new oil price environment is sending industry engineers back to the drawing board. The search is on for cost effective and perhaps unconventional deepwater production systems. One candidate for Gulf of Mexico deepwater tracts is a tanker-based floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) system. Substantial experience with tanker-based FPSO systems has proven them to be cost effective when the field is remote from existing production facilities and pipelines. A tanker-based system offers the unique feature of integrating production, storage, and offloading capabilities into a single unit. Such systems can be installed in 12 to 15 months and can even be leased, significantly improving an operator's cash flow.
Supplement 2 to the Safety Evaluation Report for Mississippi Power and Light Company, et. al, joint application for licenses to operate the Grand Gulf Nuclear Station, Units 1 and 2, located on the east bank of the Mississippi River near Port Gibson, in Claiborne County, Mississippi, has been prepared by the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. This supplement reports the status of certain items that had not been resolved at the time of publication of the Safety Evaluation Report.
Remotely sensed ocean color data and numerical modeling have been used to study the phenology of both spring and fall phytoplankton blooms (FPBs) in the Nova Scotian Shelf (NSS)-Gulf of Maine (GoM) region. The ocean color data reveal a general pattern of westward progression of the spring phytoplankton bloom (SPB), and an eastward progression of the FPB in the NSS-GoM region. The spatial pattern of mean chlorophyll concentration in spring is similar to that in fall, with a lower concentration in the NSS and higher in the GoM. Interannually, there is a weak but significant tendency for years with earlier (delayed) SPBs to be followed by delayed (earlier) FPBs, but the mean chlorophyll concentrations during SPBs are not correlated with those during FPBs. The interannual variability of SPB ti...
This paper summarizes the IHY and BSS activities in West Asia and their importance in many Arab countries, such as Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, etc. BSS future plans for some of these countries are as follows: It is proposed by the astronomers from the Arabian Gulf Region to build the Gulf Observatory on top of Jabal Shams (2980 msl) which will have a 2-3 m optical telescope. Libya signed a contract with a French company for building an observatory which will have a 2-m optical robotic telescope. It is also proposed to rebuild the Iraqi National Astronomical Observatory (INAO) which was destroyed during the two wars. It is planned to build a 5-6 m optical telescope and a small solar telescope on the top of Korek mountain, which has excellent observing conditions.
The United States deployed 118 military working dogs (MWDs) to the Persian Gulf theater during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. This study is a retrospective descriptive study of medical records of these deployed dogs, with the objective to determine whether there were infectious or parasitic diseases with a zoonotic potential in a sentinel population of MWDs that may be of concern to Persian Gulf veterans. Fifty-one percent of visits to veterinary treatment facilities during deployment were for illness or injury. Potential zoonotic conditions accounted for 21% of the total visits, 41% of the "sick-call" visits, and 63% of presentations for illness to veterinary treatment facilities. This study did not determine whether the diseases treated were transmitted between MWDs and the troops. Although the etiologic agents were not determined in these cases, no evidence was found supporting new or reemerging illnesses in this population of ...
In June 2003, we conducted a two-part field exercise to examine biogeochemical characteristics of water in the lower Mississippi river during the 4 days prior to discharge and in the Mississippi river plume over 2 days after discharge. Here we describe the fates of materials immediately after their discharge through Southwest Pass of the Mississippi delta into the northern Gulf of Mexico. Changes in surface water properties immediately after discharge were much larger and more rapid than changes prior to discharge. Total suspended matter (TSM) declined, probably due to sinking, dissolved macronutrients were rapidly diminished by mixing and biological uptake, and phytoplankton populations increased dramatically, and then declined. This decline appeared to begin at salinities of approximatel...
This work describes how a general, process-based mass-balance model (CoastMab) for phosphorus for coastal areas may be used as a tool to estimate realistic values of "natural" or preindustrial reference levels of key bioindicators in coastal science, including the Secchi depth, a standard measure of water clarity, the chlorophyll-a concentration, an operational measure of phytoplankton biomass and the concentration of cyanobacteria, a measure of the concentration of harmful algae. The CoastMab-model is an ecosystem model giving monthly predictions to achieve seasonal variations of basin-wide properties. The selected case-study area, the Gulf of Riga, is sensitive to nutrient loading because of its shallowness and low openness towards the Baltic Proper. The morphometry of any coastal area, ...
Apart from the vulnerability implied by the START II treaty, it will bear the burden of the general political opposition to the Yeltsin administration. START II will be seen as part of an overall Yeltsin-Andrei Kozyrev foreign policy that is under fire for selling out Russian national interests in Yugoslavia, the Persian Gulf, and elsewhere. This article discusses public opinion concerning START II, the cost of its implementation, and the general purpose of the treaty.
A population-based, cohort study was conducted to determine the importance of Gulf War deployment to Southwest Asia, from 1 August 1990 to 31 December 1991, in explaining neurologic mortality and peripheral nerve disease among United States military worki...
This 'Issues in Ecology' article from the Ecological Society of America provides information about the consequences of nutrient enrichment along the US coast. It describes problems such as harmful algal blooms (HABs), anoxia, hypoxia, and dead zones. It explains which nutrients are involved and describes implications of excess nutrients in regions such as the Gulf of Mexico/Mississippi River basin. The article features several color photographs, maps, and diagrams.
The Sperchios Basin is an active asymmetric graben, bounded to the south by a major border fault system with major fault segments typically 20-30 km long. The basin is dominated by a major axial fluvio-deltaic system which enters the partially enclosed Maliakos Gulf to the east. Lateral sourced depositional systems within the basin comprise hanging-wall and footwall-derived alluvial fans and a narrow coastal plain along the footwall scarp bordering the Maliakos Gulf. High resolution seismic data from the Maliakos Gulf reveals three late Quaternary progradational parasequences sourced from axial and lateral depositional systems, with a regional late-Pleistocene transgressive surface dated at circa. 10 ka BP within the Maliakos Gulf. Differential subsidence of the late Pleistocene transgressive surface indicates marked variation in subsidence from 2.4 m ka[sup -1] at fault segment centers to 0.8 m ka[sup ...
The Sperchios Basin is an active asymmetric graben, bounded to the south by a major border fault system with major fault segments typically 20-30 km long. The basin is dominated by a major axial fluvio-deltaic system which enters the partially enclosed Maliakos Gulf to the east. Lateral sourced depositional systems within the basin comprise hanging-wall and footwall-derived alluvial fans and a narrow coastal plain along the footwall scarp bordering the Maliakos Gulf. High resolution seismic data from the Maliakos Gulf reveals three late Quaternary progradational parasequences sourced from axial and lateral depositional systems, with a regional late-Pleistocene transgressive surface dated at circa. 10 ka BP within the Maliakos Gulf. Differential subsidence of the late Pleistocene transgressive surface indicates marked variation in subsidence from 2.4 m ka{sup -1} at fault segment centers to 0.8 m ka{sup ...
Bahrain's Awali oil field is one of the oldest in the Arabian Gulf region. The recent sharp increase in produced water cut at Awali has resulted in higher oil carry-over in the produced water, which is currently disposed of in an aquifer about 700 ft (210 m) deep. The steps taken by Bahrain Natl. Oil Co. (Banoco) and the problems encountered in improving the quality of effluent are described in this paper.
The carbon isotope profiles of shallow-marine carbonates from the Barremian-Aptian Kharaib and Shuaiba formations of the Arabian Gulf region range between 0.5 and 7{per_thousand} {delta}{sup 13}C PDB (Peedee belemnite). Systematic variations can be correlated with isotope profiles reported from Tethyan pelagic limestone sequences. The detailed correspondence between the isotopic signature of the relatively well-dated pelagic limestones and the poorly dated shallow-water limestones from the Arabian Gulf region suggests that global marine carbon isotope changes apparently affected deep-sea and shallow-water carbonate sediments similarly and at a similar time resolution. Although oxygen isotopes have been reset during diagenesis, carbon isotopes appear to have maintained their primary marine signature through time. No evidence has been found to connect carbon isotope trends to subaerial exposure or later meteoric diagenesis. In combination with ...
An observational and modeling study was performed over the Arabian Gulf region to investigate the coastal circulations and aerosol transport in the area. Climatological data and observations from the United Arab Emirates' Unified Aerosol Experiment were used to develop a better understanding of the complex meteorological processes in the Arabian Gulf region. Climatological data suggests that sea breezes occur on more than 77 percent of days in all months of the year and land breezes occur on more than 70 percent of the days. The occurrence of the sea and land breeze circulations are higher (90-99 percent) during the summer months when large-scale weather patterns are quiescent. Measurements of aerosol concentrations taken during the Unified Aerosol Experiment(2004) experiment are used to investigate aerosols, namely dust, transported in the Arabian Gulf region. Vertical profiles of dust concentration along with vertical ...
Recent data from the northwest Gulf of Alaska reveal a coastal current which flows westward along the Kenai Peninsula (mainly within 30 km of shore), enters Shelifof Strait, and exits to the southwest of Kodiak Island. This flow, which we call the Kenai Current, has a large seasonal variation in baroclinic transport and maximum surface speed; transport is typically about 0.3 x 10/sup 6/ m/sup 3//s but exceeds 1.0 x 10/sup 6/ m/sup 3//s in fall, with concurrent speed increases from 15--30 cm/s to over 100 cm/s. The coastal flow is clearly distinct from the offshore Alaskan Stream; its seasonal signal is mainly related to a cross-shelf pressure gradient, which responds to an annual hydrological cycle. Current records from Shelikof Srait substantiante the presence of an annual signal and indicate that wind forcing has maximum effect from December through February, but it does not appear to augment flow at other times.
An aerial radiological survey was performed from 11 to 20 March 1982 over a 260-square-kilometer area centered on the Grand Gulf Nuclear Station at Port Gibson, Mississippi (the station was not yet in operation at the time of the survey). All gamma ray data were collected by flying east-west lines spaced 152 meters apart at an altitude 91 meters above ground level. Processed data showed that all gamma rays detected within the survey area were those expected from naturally occurring terrestrial background emitters. Count rates obtained from the aerial platform were converted to exposure rates at 1 meter above the ground and are presented in the form of an isoradiation contour map. The observed exposure rates were between 5 and 13 microroentgens per hour (#mu#R/h), with most of the area ranging from 9 to 10 #mu#R/h. These values include an estimated cosmic ray contribution of 3.6 #mu#R/h. The exposure rate obtained from soil samples and ionization chamber ...
A divergence correction is conventionally applied to zero-offset data in an effort to preserved amplitude information. The conventional divergence correction compensates for the geometrical spreading of a point source in a horizontally layered medium where velocity varies with depth only. The dip-dependent divergence correction extends the conventional correction for improved amplitude processing of dipping beds. The dip-dependent divergence correction is computed by dynamic ray tracing, and applied to stacked data using a dip decomposition technique. This correction decreases amplitudes relative to the conventional correction for steep dips and late times. In a data example from the Gulf of Mexico, the conventional correction over- amplified the reflection off a salt dome flank by a factor of 1.6. High amplitudes near salt flanks are also associated with the presence of hydrocarbons. Applying the dip-dependent divergence correction ensures that bright ...
A divergence correction is conventionally applied to zero-offset data in an effort to preserved amplitude information. The conventional divergence correction compensates for the geometrical spreading of a point source in a horizontally layered medium where velocity varies with depth only. The dip-dependent divergence correction extends the conventional correction for improved amplitude processing of dipping beds. The dip-dependent divergence correction is computed by dynamic ray tracing, and applied to stacked data using a dip decomposition technique. This correction decreases amplitudes relative to the conventional correction for steep dips and late times. In a data example from the Gulf of Mexico, the conventional correction over- amplified the reflection off a salt dome flank by a factor of 1.6. High amplitudes near salt flanks are also associated with the presence of hydrocarbons. Applying the dip-dependent divergence correction ensures that ``bright spots`` ...
The purpose of this study was to assess the utility of the Arabic translation of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) among a sample of male Muslim prisoners (N = 107) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Confirmatory factor analysis indicated a two-factor model to be the best fit of the data. Good internal reliability (a =.91) and predictive validity were also observed. While the limitations of the study are observed, these promising results suggest that the Arabic version of the AUDIT is a reliable and sound measure of alcohol use disorders among prisoners in the UAE.
Although rovs (remotely operated vehicles) and AUVs (autonomous underwater vehicles) are playing ever increasing roles in the development of underwater fields, surprise is expressed that oil companies are not supporting the necessary research and development. The situation was discussed at this year's annual Association of Diving Contractors and Marine Technology Society in Houston. Some of the technical problems associated with operating the vehicles in deeper and deeper water were discussed. Although demand for the vehicles is falling in the North Sea, the Gulf of Mexico is seen as the next growth area. (uk)
This article introduces the story of Yusuf al-Marzuk (1895-1957), a Kuwaiti merchant who created a thriving network in the Arabian/Persian Gulf and India. This network was part of the vast, undocumented activities of Kuwaiti merchants. They were uncovered by rare British reports. Yusuf's economic power enabled him to participate in the struggle of Kuwaiti elites to achieve political power vis-a-vis the Kuwaiti rulers, the Sabah family. This article demonstrates the importance of the trading networks with respect to the economic and political developments that shaped the region before the relatively well researched oil period.
There are very different views on the health hazards of DU munitions. Most of the concerns of veterans and their advisors focus on the radiological effects of DU and consequently these are the focus of this editorial. Effects on the kidney and environmental consequences are, however, considered in the second of the Royal Society reports and the main conclusions of both of the reports are outlined in the summary document published in this issue of the journal. The main radiological concerns focus on the irradiation of lung tissues from inhaled DU particles and irradiation resulting from the translocation of inhaled particles to the thoracic lymph nodes.The overwhelming scientific view, presented in the two Royal Society reports and in other independent reviews, is that the main risks of exposure to DU aerosols are an increase in lung cancer and (from chemical toxicity) damage to the kidney, although these are likely to be evident only following substantial intakes. The equivalent doses ...
The Lake Charles and Port Arthur quadrangles cover approximately 10,950 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River delta area. The area overlies thick sections of the Gulf of Mexico Basin. Surficial exposures are dominated by Recent and Pleistocene sediment. A search of available literature revealed no known uranium deposits. A total of 82 uranium anomalies were detected and are discussed briefly in this report. None were considered significant and all appear to relate to cultural features. Magnetic data appear to be in agreement with existing structural interpretations of the area.
The Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002 amended the Deepwater Port Act of 1974 to permit the construction of offshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals. Terminals with environmentally destructive open-loop regasification systems were quickly approved in the Gulf of Mexico. This study analyzed the political methods of the George W. Bush administration to determine how it developed offshore LNG. Findings showed that the Bush administration worked closely with the energy industry to promote national energy security and limited the role of certain federal and state agencies through a centralized policy process.
The first sediments to onlap the metamorphosed Precambrian Arabian shield were Infracambrian (Proterozoic) to Middle Cambrian carbonates, clastics, and evaporites. The oldest Arabian reservoir rocks occur in the Precambrian to lower Paleozoic Era Salt of the Huqf Group, which forms the Birba field of Oman. The Middle Cambrian sequence was followed by Late Cambrian through Early Permian marine sandstones and continental to littoral siltstones and variegated shales. The first commercial oil discovered in the Arabian Gulf region occurs in fluvial sands of the Ordovician to Permian Haima and Haushi Groups of the Marmul field in south Oman. These strata are also productive in other fields and are sealed by unconformable contact with the Al Khlata Formation or beneath shale of the Albian Nahr Umr Formation. The deeply buried kerogen sediments of the Huqf Group to the southeast are believed to be the source rocks for these fields of south Oman. The Late Permian to ...
The recently completed ''Deep River Study, Lower Mississippi River'' sponsored by the ''Governor's Task Force on Deep-Draft Vessel Access to the Lower Mississippi River'' contained the following recommended program: Dredge the present 40 foot deep channel to 45 feet initially from the Gulf via Southwest Pass to Mile 172 AHP to provide for two-way navigation of the deep draft vessels that would serve the forecasted most likely level of waterborne commerce (Alternative 9). Plan and seek authorization to further deepen the channel in stages to 55 feet in the future should actual increases in commerce equal the high level level of commerce (Alternative 11). Put into operation, as soon as possible, facilities for loading and topping-off grain ships midstream and topping-off coal carriers in the Gulf in order to attract and establish patterns of trade in large ships. The ...
The aim of the present study was to describe the distribution and remobilization of plutonium (Pu) in the sediments off the Rhone river mouth. Most of the {sup 238}Pu and {sup 239,240}Pu isotopes introduced into the Rhone River were discharged by the liquid effluents released from the Marcoule reprocessing plant, located 120 km upstream the river mouth. Due to its high affinity for particles and its long half life, {sup 238}Pu is a promising tracer to follow the dispersion of particulate matter from the Rhone River to the Mediterranean Sea. During the 3 REMORA cruises, sediment samples were specifically collected in the Rhone pro-delta area and more offshore on the whole continental shelf of the Gulf of Lions. The measurements of alpha emitters gave a first detailed spatial distribution of Pu isotope concentrations in surface sediments off the Rhone mouth. Using {sup 137}Cs concentrations and their correlations with Pu isotopes, we were able to give a first ...
The MISR instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite participated in the UAE-2 campaign, August-October 2004. This campaign represented a unique opportunity to study the complex aerosol situation in the Arabian Gulf region, in the context of a first-rate collection of aircraft and surface-based instruments, giving us the opportunity to do some groundbreaking satellite aerosol validation work. We aimed (1) to validate MISR aerosol retrieval results for dust and pollution particles over dark and light surfaces, and (2) to contribute regional maps of aerosol optical thickness (AOT) and particle micro-physical properties, giving spatial context to the field-instrument measurements, and moving toward a satellite-based regional aerosol climatology. The validation effort benefited from the combination of an instrumented aircraft and a regional network of surface-based sun photometers. We obtained high-quality sub-orbital data coincident with MISR overpasses on three days: ...
Abstract Absence of the palmaris longus muscle has been well documented in several populations at a prevalence rate ranging between 2.2 and 63.9% which varies according to race, sex, and side of the body. There is little documentation of the prevalence of absence of this muscle from populations in the Arabian Gulf region. We examined 1,043 subjects, 3 85 years old, from the Kingdom of Bahrain for the presence or absence of the palmaris longus muscle using the conventional test for the presence of this muscle. Statistical analyses investigated the association of muscle absence with sex, hand dominance, and laterality. The palmaris longus muscle was absent in 36.8% of subjects. Bilateral absence (19%) was more common than unilateral absence (17.9%) with preponderance in female subjects. The ...
The Huqf Supergroup of the Sultanate of Oman provides important information on the geological evolution of the Arabian?Persian Gulf region during a protracted period of continental dispersal and reassembly on the periphery of the Gondwanan supercontinent during the Neoproterozoic, and also provides important constraints on the nature of extreme climate swings during this critical period in the evolution of Earth's biosphere. The Huqf Supergroup spans the period ca. 725?540?Ma, and is composed of three groups. The Abu Mahara Group (ca. 725 to ca.ca. 547?540?Ma), which is known mostly from the subsurface, comprises carbonates, evaporites and organic-rich shales, with interbedded ashes, deposited in a large number of N?S trending troughs and platforms.The three groups of the Huqf Supergroup c...
A new renicolid cercaria, Cercaria kuwaitae X sp. n., from the prosobranch gastropod Cerithium scabridum from Kuwait Bay is described. The new cercaria is nonstyleted gymnocephalous with voluminous Y-shaped excretory vesicle, flame cell formula 2[(3 + 3 + 3) + (3 + 3 + 3)] = 36, and without caudal fins. Surface topography of the new cercaria is studied by scanning electron microscopy. Domed papillae are abundant on the anterior and lateral aspects of the body, ciliated papillae are sparse dorsally. The ventral sucker bears nine domed papillae. Domed papillae form two circles around the oral sucker with three circles of spines in between. This is the first renicolid cercaria to be recorded in a gastropod from the Arabian Gulf region. PMID:9789783
Many of the world's coral reefs suffered high coral mortality during the 1998 ENSO, with the highest mortality in the western Indian Ocean (WIO). A meta-analysis of field data on change in coral cover across the 1998 ENSO event was conducted for 36 major reef areas in the WIO, and relationship of the change with the historical sea-surface temperature (SST) variability investigated. WIO reefs were categorized into three major SST groups of differing coral cover change. Cover change was negatively associated with standard deviation (SD) SST until about SD 2.3, with increasing flatness of the SST frequency distributions. It increased with further increase in SD as the SST distributions became strongly bimodal in the Arabian/Persian Gulf area. The study indicates that environmental resistance/...
Floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels offer a cost-effective field development solution, especially in deepwater areas lacking an adequate pipeline network. Most FPSOs are permanently moored, i.e. the complete system is designed to withstand any kind of extreme environment at the field location. FPSOs that can be quickly disconnected from their moorings and risers have also been designed and deployed. The key feature of this type of disconnectable FPSO is that it can be disconnect and so avoid dangerous environmental conditions such as icebergs, hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and typhoons in the South China Sea. In this paper, the concept of disconnectable FPSOs for deepwater field development is presented. Key technologies and their engineering analyses are highlight...
Summary During a histopathological survey of the geoduck, Panopea abbreviata (Hiatellidae), and the razor clam, Ensis macha (Pharidae), in northern Patagonian gulfs (Argentina), turbellarian worms were found in the intestine lumen. In this work, we described a new species of Paravortex (Platyhelminthes, Graffillidae). We collected the hosts by scuba diving and dissected alive for studying the turbellarians. In this new species, the pharynx continues in a short esophagus and the latter in a saccular intestine. Gravid specimens have from 2 to 8 twin embryos in the parenchyma. A short penis papilla arises from the seminal vesicle and the gonopore presents a strong sphincter. This species resembled P. nicolli Szidat, 1965, which was described paraziting Mytilus edulis platensis in Buenos Aires...
The exceptional ability of marine sponges to adapt to often drastic changes of their environments could be due to special structural features in cell membranes, including firstly phospholipids (PL). Thus, PL class composition was investigated in marine sponges (22 species from 19 genera to 15 families) originating from various locations (East Atlantic, North Atlantic, South-West Pacific, Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Arabian?Persian Gulf). The quantitative determination of PL class composition was obtained by high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) with scanning densitometry of the different spots. Previous reports have shown phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) as the major PL class in marine sponges, followed by phosphatidylcholine (PC), while other papers described PC as a minor class...
We model coral community response to bleaching and mass mortality events which are predicted to increase in frequency with climate change. The model was parameterized for the Arabian/Persian Gulf, but is generally applicable. We assume three species groups (Acropora, faviids, and Porites) in two life-stages each where the juveniles are in competition but the adults can enter a size-refuge in which they cannot be competitively displaced. An aggressive group (Acropora species) dominates at equilibrium, which is not reached due to mass mortality events that primarily disadvantage this group (compensatory mortality, >90% versus 25% in faviids and Porites) roughly every 15 years. Population parameters (N individuals, carrying capacity) were calculated from satellite imagery and in situ transect...
The slumping of the GCC currencies against other major currencies and the ensuing rising imported inflation have sparked an ongoing debate about the viability of the dollar peg. This paper extends and applies the contribution of Berger et al. (2001) to the largest economies of the GCC, namely Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE, by introducing a foreign inflation dimension. Empirical estimations suggest little or no evidence supporting the suitability of a fixed exchange rate regime in any of the three analyzed economies. It is this paper's contention that policy makers ought to play an immediate and active role in identifying a suitable more flexible exchange rate regime as well as an achievable timeline and road map to effectively abandoning the dollar peg.
Knowledge of subsurface temperatures obtained from heat flow and equilibrium temperature measurements were used as a basis for evaluation of the usefulness of the non-equilibrium temperatures of oil and gas wells for geothermal exploration. We find that the data in the Geothermal Gradient Map of North America do not conform to the thermal regime of Nebraska; and, that if the BHT data were the only data used, we would have underestimated our resource by about 80%. Differences in geological sections and heat flow between Nebraska and the U.S. Gulf coast where the correction data for the USGS map were obtained are the reasons for the discrepency. Some significant inaccuracies in the BHT data may not be correctable.
This is the first record from China of the bopyrid isopod genus Asymmetrione, of which the new species Asymmetrione globifera, a parasite of the hermit crab Dardanus hessii (Miers) in Beibu Gulf and South China Sea, is described. The female A. globifera differs from Asymmetrione nossibensis Bourdon in the shape of its barbula and ornamentation of the first oostegite. A tabulation of the occurrence of all currently known species of Asymmetrione is included. New genus Parasymmetrione is described. The type species, Parasymmetrione tuberculineata, sp. nov., a parasite of Clibanarius corallinus (H. Milne-Edwards) Xisha, is similar in appearance to Asymmetrione spp. but differs, in the female, in not having the propodi of its pereopods produced into sockets and having uniramous uropoda; the mal...
In past Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas lease sales, winners of drainage tracts have tended to realize a higher economic return than winners of wildcat tracts. This paper finds empirical support for the hypothesis that adjacent lessees have an information advantage when bidding for drainage tracts under the cash bonus bidding system. This leads to superior economic returns, and thus explains the difference in returns between wildcat and drainage leases. The paper concludes that this difference and its cause do not pose a policy problem given empirical evidence that the government receives fair market value for the two lease categories combined.
The thermal analysis of a turbine stack discharging exhaust gases to the atmosphere is presented. The examined turbine stack belongs to a gas lift plant for oil extraction located in the Gulf area. The analysis has been performed because an overheating of the anchor flange/bolts and of the concrete foundation occurred and caused small cracks in the upper layer of the foundation. A qualitative thermal analysis of the stack has pointed out that the main cause of the overheating was the thermal radiation in the air-filled region underneath the stack bottom plate. Detailed calculations performed by using a CFD code (Fluent ver. 6.0.12), cross-checked with measurements taken from site, have shown that a significant reduction of the heat flux to the foundation could be obtained by filling the above mentioned air region with an insulating material. The benefits of this solution are prevailing over those achievable with the installation of external fins on the stack shell. ...
Abstract: The basement of the South China Sea (SCS) and adjacent areas can be divided into six divisions (regions) - Paleozoic Erathem graben-faulted basement division in Beibu Gulf, Paleozoic Erathem strike-slip pull-apart in Yinggehai waters, Paleozoic Erathem faulted-depression in eastern Hainan, Paleozoic Erathem rifted in northern Xisha (Paracel), Paleozoic Erathem strike-slip extending in southern Xisha, and Paleozoic-Mesozoic Erathem extending in Nansha Islands (Spratly) waters. The Pre-Cenozoic basement in the SCS and Yunkai continental area are coeval within the Tethyan tectonic domain in the Pre-Cenozoic Period. They are formed on the background of the Paleo-Tethyan tectonic domain, and are important components of the Eastern Tethyan multi-island-ocean system. Three branches of t...
The lower continental slope of the northwestern Gulf of Mexico is characterized by a hummocky topography with shallow salt masses interspersed by numerous salt-withdrawal basins containing thick Plio-Pleistocene and older sediments. Analysis of over 7500 km of multichannel seismic reflection data from the Keathley Canyon Area and vicinity defined the Wisconsinan-Holocene sequence and its seismic facies. In interbasinal areas and in the southern part of the study area where salt is shallow, the Wisconsinan-Holocene sequence consists mainly of low-amplitude (LA) facies underlain by strong basal-reflection (SBR) facies. The LA facies occasionally show subtle onlaps against SBR facies and grade upward into a draping pattern. Onlapping LA facies are interpreted to be a lowstand systems tract deposited by widespread low-energy turbidity currents. Draping LA facies at the top may consist of hemipelagic or pelagic sediments. The SBR facies are interpreted to consist of ...
A study of more than 1200 of 72-fold, migrated, seismic reflection profiles, from the eastern part of the East Breaks flexure trend, Gulf of Mexico, indicates that, although individual seismic reflectors cannot be traced across the entire area, seismic depositional units can be recognized and correlated from basin to basin in most instances. Three tentative conclusions are evident from this study: (1) salt diapirs appear to have grown through a series of intermittent movements to form structurally separate intraslope basins; (2) sedimentation is probably channeled by differential dome growth, which creates local stratigraphic differences between basins; and (3) packages of distinctive seismic depositional units can be successfully used to map sediment cycles between separate basins. Fluctuations of Pleistocene sea level appears to be the dominate depositional control on the upper continental slope in this area. During high sea level stands, turbidity currents were ...
An atlas series about the offshore northern Gulf of Mexico will group gas and oil reservoirs into subregional plays and will display reservoir data on a computerized geographical information system. The atlas series will provide critically compiled reservoir engineering data to help the private sector explore and develop hydrocarbons and to help the public sector analyze the hydrocarbon endowment in this basin. In this report, we cover aspects of the play-analysis procedure and provide specific examples of lower Miocene plays from the upper Texas coast and Federal Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). Play analysis emphasizes using broad classes of structural style, depositional style and environments, and defining attributes to group reservoirs into plays. To date, we have identified 4 Oligocene and 25 Miocene plays in Texas State offshore waters and 115 plays in the Federal OCS. Texas State offshore plays are gas prone (cumulative production 3.7 TcF) and are ...
Friede and Goldman Ltd. of New Orleans, Louisiana has a successful drilling rig, the L-780 jack-up series. The triangular-shaped drilling vessel measures 180 x 176 ft. and is equipped with three 352 ft legs including spud cans. It is designed to work in up to 250 ft waters and drill to 20,000 ft depths. The unit is scheduled to begin initial drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico for Arco. Design features are included for the unit. Davie Shipbuilding Ltd. has entered the Mexican offshore market with the signing of a $40,000,000 Canadian contract for a jack-up to work in 300 ft water depths. Baker Marine Corporation has contracted with the People's Republic of China for construction of two self-elevating jack-ups. The units will be built for Magnum Marine, headquartered in Houston. Details for the two rigs are given. Santa Fe International Corporation has ordered a new jack-up rig to work initially in the Gulf of Suez. The newly ...
The Gulf of California represents one of the most productive and unique marginal seas in the world. The mouth of the Gulf captures warm equatorial water while annual wind patterns assure major upwelling of nutrient-rich water leading to a rich marine biota. These conditions have created a wide array of tropical through warm temperate carbonate environments. The most unusual of these environments is located in the La Paz region of Baja California Sur where tropical-subtropical water temperatures and low rainfall have allowed growth of corals, calcareous red algae, and other shelled invertebrates to form a carbonate bank environment. Sampling and mapping transacts in shallow bays north of La Paz and on the adjacent Espiritu Santo island have revealed a full spectrum of subenvironments including mangrove bordered, terrigenous mud dominated coastal zones, which grade into carbonate tidal flats. In addition, single coral heads as well as incipient ...
The Cretaceous rudist-bearing carbonates of the Arabian Gulf region are proven exploration targets for hydrocarbons and form the reservoirs of a number of giant fields, including Bu Hasa, Fateh, Fahud, Idd El Shargi, Rumaila, Shaybah, and Shah. Rudist buildups occur in three principal formations: (1) Aptian Shuaiba, (2) Cenomanian Mishrif, and (3) Maastrichtian Simsima. A regional subaerial unconformity marks the upper boundary of each of these formations. Associated with the rudists that dominate the Shuaiba Formation are calcareous algal crusts, foraminifera, and echinoid plates, which accumulated in mudstone, packstone, and carbonate sands. The Mishrif Formation contains mollusk fragments, bioclasitc packstones to grainstones, miliolid and nonrudist bivalves in muddy limestones, and rudist (mainly radiolitids and caprinids) conglomeratic floatstones, with fragmented rudists mixed with wackestone lithoclasts. The Mishrif sediments accumulated as a progradational, ...
The Upper Jurassic Hith Anhydrite is a major hydrocarbon seal in the Arabian Gulf region. Outcrops, core samples from the subsurface, and the literature indicate that the Hith Formation is composed mainly of anhydrite. In most locations where a section of the Hith Formation has been measured, this unit contains less than 20% carbonate much of which is in the form of thin laminations. This lack of carbonate, locally thick layers of salt, and the predominance of anhydrite favor a playa for the setting in which this sediment was accumulated. In fact, much of the Hith has the sedimentary characteristics of the Holocene Lake MacLeod playa of Western Australia, which is dominated by layers of gypsum and halite (what little carbonate that occurs is found in layers at the base of the section). Locally the Hith appears to have accumulated in a sabkha setting, particularly toward central Abu Dhabi where it pinches out into shallow-water, and peritidal carbonate. This sabkha ...
There are over 4,500 petroleum platforms in the north-central Gulf of Mexico. Explosives are commonly used to remove platforms and have the potential to kill nearby sea turtles. From June 1988-June 1990, the authors used aerial surveys to study turtle density and the spatial relationship between turtles and platforms offshore of Louisiana. They sighted 316 turtles most of which (92%) were loggerheads. Seventy-eight percent were sighted just east of the Mississippi River offshore of the Chandeleur Islands. East of the river, turtle densities ranged from 0.92 (winter) to 4.83 turtles/100 sq km (spring). West of the river, annual densities ranged from 0.11-0.50 turtles/100 sq km. East of the river, three statistical tests indicated that turtles were generally closer to platforms than expected by chance alone. West of the river, turtles were randomly located with respect to platform locations. Before explosives are used, current mitigation measures require that no ...
Anomalous features in Gulf Coast Salt domes exhibit deviations from normally pure salt and vary widely in form from one dome to the next, ranging considerably in length and width. They have affected both conventional and solution mining in several ways. Gas outbursts, insolubles, and potash (especially carnallite) have led to the breakage of tubing in a number of caverns, and caused irregular shapes of many caverns through preferential leaching. Such anomalous features essentially have limited the lateral extent of conventional mining at several salt mines, and led to accidents and even the closing of several other mines. Such anomalous features, are often aligned in anomalous zones, and appear to be related to diapiric processes of salt dome development. Evidence indicates that anomalous zones are found between salt spines, where the differential salt intrusion accumulates other materials: Anhydrite bands which are relatively strong, and other, weaker impurities. ...
Recent Canadian progress in the development of the curved-blade Darrieus vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT) is described. Cooperation between government, industry and power utilities in the conduct of field trials, over several years, has demonstrated improved performance and reliability of grid-coupled turbines of this type. The rated power of the VAWTs currently under test ranges from 30 kW, in a wind/diesel powerplant, to 230 kW, in an installation on an island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Progress has also been made in understanding the basic aerodynamic behavior of the VAWT and theoretical methods for performance and load prediction have correspondingly improved. A brief description is given of Project EOLE, a cooperative project between the federal government and the utility Hydro-Quebec to develop and test, during the next two to three years, a 4 MW VAWT prototype, which will be coupled to the power grid at a location on the south shore of the St. Lawrence ...
More than 660 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images acquired over the southern Baltic Sea, the North Sea, and the Gulf of Lyon in the Mediterranean Sea by the Second European Remote Sensing Satellite (ERS-2) have been analyzed since December 1996 with respect to radar signatures of marine pollution and other phenomena causing similar signatures. First results of our analysis reveal that the seas are most polluted along the main shipping routes. SAR images acquired during descending (morning) and ascending (evening) satellite passes show different percentages of oil pollution, because most of this pollution occurs during night time and is still visible on the SAR images acquired in the morning time. Moreover, we found a higher amount of oil spills on SAR images acquired during summer (April-September) than on SAR images acquired during winter (October-March). We attribute this finding to the higher mean wind speed encountered in all three test areas during winter. ...
Since 1978 the United States Department of Energy`s (DOE) International Safeguards Program has conducted policy analysis, strategies and technology development, international cooperation and training to support the formulation and implementation of international safeguards. The end of the Gulf War (1991), the end of the Cold War (1992), and the trend towards regionalization of safeguards has led to increased US and international attention to the threat of nuclear weapons proliferation and the need for significantly greater support to nonproliferation policy making and implementation activities. As a result, DOE`s International Safeguards Program has undergone substantial growth and has continued to focus its resources on the priority issues which are part of today`s and tomorrow`s world. In order to effectively and efficiently conduct and manage these activities the International Safeguards Program has developed and continues to refine and implement a strategic ...
Since the 1970s, Danish electricity supply has been dependent on imported coal. This has lead to greater reliability of supply, as could be seen during the Gulf War when Danish electricity prices remained stable in contrast to conditions in other countries. The disadvantage is the air pollution caused by coal combustion. This is regulated, it is stated, by several international laws and agreements, and these are named here. The nature of this form of pollution is explained in relation to actual Danish power plants and their efforts to reduce emissions of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. Carbon dioxide, which is a greenhouse gas, is also emitted. Danish environmental policy concentrates on these problems. The efforts of the electric power companies to reduce air pollution are detailed, both nationally and internationally, and their positive consequences are described. Desulphurization and denitrification costs are claimed to be 4.6 Danish oere and 1.9 Danish ...
This article discussed a project formed to develop innovative seismic imaging technologies. The Kaleidoscope project aims to accelerate the processing of seismic sound waves by several orders of magnitude using advanced computer-based techniques to reveal oil and gas deposits buried deep in the earth in a manner that is both cost-effective and efficient. It is expected that the technology will be used in deep water applications with massive untapped reserves. The seismic technology will be used to locate hydrocarbons and oil reserves buried 20,000 feet beneath the seabed. It is estimated that the Gulf of Mexico contains 56 billion barrels of oil equivalent worth nearly $6 trillion. However, the reserves are difficult to locate due to the interbedded salt bodies in the subsurface. The project is simultaneously working on both hardware and software applications, and are currently writing the first petascale set of seismic imaging applications. The technology will ...
Samples dredged from the sediment mounds have a unique chemistry and mineralogy which reveals details of the hydrothermal processes that produce these deposits. The mounds form primarily by deposition of Fe, Mn and Si from hydrothermal fluids which circulate through the basalt crust and the overlying sediments. The Mn, Fe and Si are strongly fractionated in the process; the Fe and Si precipitate within the mounds under slightly reducing conditions as nontronite, while the Mn is deposited as Mn oxyhydroxides at the seawater-sediment interface. The nontronite is exceptionally well crystallized, and contains less than 200 ppm Al. The Mn minerals, todorokite and birnessite, also have exceptional crystallinity and the distribution of trace elements Cu, Ni, Zn, Co, Ca and Ba in these phases agrees with predictions made on the basis of models of their crystal structure. The environment of deposition which produces this suite of minerals - slow percolation of hydrothermal fluids through ...
The primary objective of the project is to investigate the long-term effects of commercially available tangentially-fired low NO{sub x} combustion technologies on NOx emissions and boiler performance on Unit 2 at Gulf Power Company`s Plant Lansing Smith located near Lynn Haven, Florida. The project will characterize emissions and performance of a tangentially-fired boiler operating in the following configurations: Baseline ``as-found`` configuration: Phase 1; retrofitted low NO{sub x} concentric firing system (LNCFS) Level 2 and simulated low NO{sub x} bulk furnace staging (LNBFS): Phase 2; retrofitted low NO{sub x} concentric firing system (LNCFS) Level 3, Phase 3a and simulated LNCFS Level 1, Phase 3b.
The primary objective of the project is to investigate the long-term effects of commercially available tangentially-fired low NO{sub x} combustion technologies on NOx emissions and boiler performance on Unit 2 at Gulf Power Company's Plant Lansing Smith located near Lynn Haven, Florida. The project will characterize emissions and performance of a tangentially-fired boiler operating in the following configurations: Baseline as-found'' configuration: Phase 1; retrofitted low NO{sub x} concentric firing system (LNCFS) Level 2 and simulated low NO{sub x} bulk furnace staging (LNBFS): Phase 2; retrofitted low NO{sub x} concentric firing system (LNCFS) Level 3, Phase 3a and simulated LNCFS Level 1, Phase 3b.
The infrastructure of the Mexican southeastern coastal zone is affected by corrosion problems which are due, mainly, to the construction bad practices and to the aggressive environmental agents (temp., Relative Humidity, chlorides). The first actions for knowing and controlling them have been taken on the coast of Progreso, Yucatan. Cylinders of solid concrete and others with an embedded rebar were constructed and exposed to the marine environment studying different variables like w/c ratio, time of curing, coated and uncoated rebars, chlorides and CO{sub 2} penetration and place of exposure with respect to the seashore. The cylinders were tested through corrosion potential and polarization resistance measurements in order to detect, in a first stage, the onset and propagation stages of the corrosion processes and to correlate the apparent corrosion current density (Icorr.) with the chloride concentration in the rebar surface. These results are discussed and compared with those of the ...
Due to the improvement of algorithm and the advancement of calculation performance, the imaging by depth migration before stacking is being put into practice from the viewpoint of both calculation cost and accuracy. A lot of imaging examples have been already reported from the survey areas with complicated velocity structures, such as the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. Effectiveness of the method has been confirmed. For imaging techniques in Japan National Oil Corporation and Japan Petroleum Exploration Co., Ltd., high-speed depth migration before stacking and high efficiency velocity structure estimation technique have been investigated. This paper describes necessary care to be taken when using depth focusing analysis (DFA) for correcting a velocity model, as an interim stage of case study. The results of depth migration before stacking using dip moveout (DMO) velocity were further inferior to the section obtained by the migration after tracking. Tendency of ...
The Sunoco Felda oil trend of the South Florida basin has been a prolific oil producer. All the oil is produced from the Cretaceous Sunniland formation, a leached limestone bioherm. Although the producing section has been considered reefal in the literature, petrographic and biostratigraphic analyses of various cores in producing fields have determined that these deposits are composed of particles of fragmented rudist and other fauna deposited in a tidal shoal. Atop this debris an algae and gastropod section has been deposited, typical of a mound deposited on a tidal mud flat. This model is exemplified in the Sunoco Felda and West Sunoco fields and was used in exploring the Sunoco Felda trend. From the petrological analysis of these two fields and from knowledge of other wells in the basin, biostratigraphic and lithologic trends can be determined and extended offshore into the eastern Gulf of Mexico. The author stresses petrology in exploring the Sunniland ...
An evaluation of eastern shale oil (ESO) residue as an asphalt additive to reduce oxidative age-hardening and moisture susceptibility was conducted. The ESO residue, having a viscosity of 23.9 Pa{sm_bullet}s at 60{degrees}C (140{degrees}F), was blended with three different petroleum-derived asphalts, AAD-1, AAK-1, and AAM-1, that are known to be very susceptible to oxidative aging. Rheological and infrared analyses of the unaged and aged asphalts and the blends were then conducted to evaluate oxidative age-hardening. In addition, the petroleum-derived asphalts and the blends were coated onto three different aggregates, Lithonia granite (RA), a low-absorption limestone (RD), and a silicious Gulf Coast gravel (RL), and compacted into briquets. Successive freeze-thaw cycling was then conducted to evaluate the moisture susceptibility of the prepared briquets. The abbreviations used above for the asphalts and the aggregates are part of the Strategic Highway Research ...
The Department of Energy (DOE) has prepared an environmental assessment (EA), DOE/EA-0804, for the proposed replacement of a deteriorated brine disposal pipeline from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) Bryan Mound storage facility in Brazoria County, Texas, into the Gulf of Mexico. In addition, the ocean discharge outfall would be moved shoreward by locating the brine diffuser at the end of the pipeline 3.5 miles offshore at a minimum depth of 30 feet. The action would occur in a floodplain and wetlands; therefore, a floodplain/wetlands assessment has been prepared in conjunction with this EA. Based on the analyses in the EA, DOE has determined that the proposed action is not a major Federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment within the meaning of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 (42 USC. 4321, et seg.). Therefore, the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is not required, and the Department ...
The performance of more than 3,000 offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico was observed during the passage of Hurricane Andrew in August 1992. This event provided an opportunity to test the procedures used for platform analysis and design. A global bias was inferred for overall platform capacity and loads in the Andrew Joint Industry Project (JIP) Phase 1. It was predicted that the pile foundations of several platforms should have failed, but did not. These results indicated that the biases specific to foundation failure modes may be higher than those of jacket failure modes. The biases in predictions of foundation failure modes were therefore investigated further in this study. The work included capacity analysis and calibration of predictions with the observed behavior for 3 jacket platforms and 3 caissons using Bayesian updating. Bias factors for two foundation failure modes, lateral shear and overturning, were determined for each structure. Foundation capacity ...
This paper proposes a high accuracy numerical method to model oil spill trajectories using a particle-tracking algorithm. The Euler method, used to calculate oil trajectories, can give adequate solutions in most open ocean applications. However, this method may not predict accurate particle trajectories in certain highly non-uniform velocity fields near coastal zones or in river problems. Simple numerical experiments show that the Euler method may also introduce artificial numerical dispersion that could lead to overestimation of spill areas. This article proposes a fourth-order Runge-Kutta method with fourth-order velocity interpolation to calculate oil trajectories that minimise these problems. The algorithm is implemented in the OilTrack model to predict oil trajectories following the 'Nissos Amorgos' oil spill accident that occurred in the Gulf of Venezuela in 1997. Despite lack of adequate field information, model results compare well with ...
Monitoring brine chemistry to determine the extent of potential adverse reactions has been simplified by the development of a field-brine test kit and a series of nomographs. Results of the kit analyses serve as input to the nomographs, which provide a graphic means of determining the scaling tendency (Saturation Index value) of a brine. Brines that do not tend to form scale may be corrosive. Saturation Index values were correlated with various processes using data from geopressured wells in the Gulf Coast area. Control of scale in surface equipment with chemical inhibitors has been successful. Numerous laboratory simulations of inhibitor squeeze operations were completed using core material with calcite present and absent. The corresponding wells were squeezed with phosphorous-containing inhibitors, and the flowback of brine was monitored for phosphorous concentrations vs time. A new procedure to measure the concentration of phosphorous-containing inhibitors down ...
Monitoring brine chemistry to determine the extent of potential adverse reactions was simplified by the development of a field brine test kit and a series of nomographs. Results of the kit analyses serve as input to the nomographs, which provide a graphic means of determining the scaling tendency (Saturation Index value) of a brine. Brines that do not tend to form scale may be corrosive. Saturation Index values have been correlated with various processes using data from geopressured wells in the Gulf Coast area. Control of scale in surface equipment of geopressured wells by chemical inhibitors has been successful. Downhole treatment with inhibitors to prevent scale formation in the production tubing is being investigated. Laboratory simulations indicate that an inhibitor squeeze treatment may be successful at the Gladys McCall No. 1 well. Inhibitor mixtures exhibit additive behavior at minimum concentration levels; however, behavior at maximum concentration may ...
This study examined the atmospheric pollution created by some waste treatment and disposal facilities in the State of Kuwait. Air monitoring was conducted in a municipal wastewater treatment plant, an industrial wastewater treatment plant established in a petroleum refinery, and at a landfill site used for disposal of solid wastes. Such plants were selected as models for waste treatment and disposal facilities in the Arabian Gulf region and elsewhere. Air measurements were made over a period of 6 months and included levels of gaseous emissions as well as concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Samples of gas and bioaerosols were collected from ambient air surrounding the treatment facilities. The results obtained from this study have indicated the presence of VOCs and other gaseous pollutants such as methane, ammonia, and hydrogen sulphide in air surrounding the waste treatment and disposal facilities. In some cases the levels exceeded the ...
This presentation outlined the energy policy in the United States and its impact on frontier development in Alaska, deepwater offshore fields and in the western oil shale resources. The energy strategy focuses on technologies that increase domestic production from existing resources as well as technologies that create new sources of energy. In addition to emphasizing the cooperation between Canada and the United States in ensuring energy supply security and stability, this paper discussed the importance of overall bilateral trade between the 2 countries. It was noted that Canada is the United State's most secure and reliable energy partner and is the number 1 supplier of imported oil, natural gas, electricity and uranium. The Bush administration's energy policy is based on the mandate to supply stable, reliable, secure, affordable and environmentally sound energy for the country's growing economy. The energy strategy focuses on increasing energy supplies, ...
Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) monthly data are analyzed, building on a previous study that investigated the influence of the El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on US streamflow. Harmonic analysis is performed using data from 1,035 selected climatological stations, allowing observation of the biennial tendency in climate data. With the middle twelve months defined as the El Nino year (0), an idealized first harmonic fit to a 24-month ENSO composite is computed for each station. By plotting the first harmonic vectors of each station, regions of similar, or coherent, response are identified. The regions identified using PDSI data represent wet conditions in the Gulf of Mexico (Gm1 and GM2) and central (C) US, and dry conditions in the Pacific northwest (PNW) and northeast (NE) US. The PNW region exhibits the strongest interrelationship between ENSO and extreme drought events. Comparing PDSI data results with other hydroclimatic data (temperature, ...
The Georges Bank, off southwestern Nova Scotia, is one of the most biologically productive continental shelf ecosystems in the world. It supports a wide diversity of species, including many seabirds. In 1988, federal and provincial legislation placed a moratorium on petroleum exploration and drilling on the Georges Bank, directing the ministers of Natural Resources Canada, and of the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources to make a decision regarding the moratorium by January 1, 2000. This report by the Ecology Action Centre (EAC) asks the Georges Bank Review Panel to recommend extending the moratorium on Georges Bank and adjacent areas until 2012, in part to match the American moratorium. Other reasons why the panel made this recommendation were explored. The principal reason is the EAC concern that when the moratorium is lifted, several oil and gas developments will proceed in this ecologically significant offshore area that could result in the loss of the ecological integrity ...
The long-term aim of our research is to develop humidification-dehumidification desalination technology for farms in arid coastal regions that are suffering from salt-infected soils and shortages of potable groundwater. The specific aim of our current study was to determine the influence of greenhouse-related parameters on a process, called Seawater Greenhouse, which combines fresh water production with growth of crops in a greenhouse system. A thermodynamic model was used based on heat and mass balances. The dimension of the greenhouse had the greatest overall effect on the water production and energy consumption. A wide shallow greenhouse, 200 m wide by 50 m deep gave 125 m{sup 3} d{sup -1} of fresh water. This was greater than a factor of two compared to the worst-case scenario with the same area (50 m wide by 200 m deep), which gave 58 m{sup 3} d{sup -1}. Low power consumption went hand-in-hand with high efficiency. The wide shallow greenhouse consumed 1.16 kW h m{sup -3}, while ...
The cause of the Gulf War Syndrome may be related to soldiers being exposed to insecticides (e.g., permethrin (P)), insect repellents (e.g., N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide (DEET)), an organophosphate nerve agent simulant (e.g., diisopropyl fluorpohosphate (DFP)), and/or prophylactic treatment (e.g., pyridostigmine bromide (PB)) against potential nerve gas attacks. The purpose of this study was to assess the dermal disposition of [14C]permethrin in ethanol or ethanol:water (3:2) in the isolated perfused porcine skin flap (IPPSF) model with simultaneous dermal exposure to DEET or DFP. These IPPSFs were also simultaneously perfused arterially with or without PB, DFP, or DFP + PB. The results indicated that DFP + PB significantly increased [14C]permethrin absorption compared to controls (1.06% dose vs 0.14% dose). PB significantly increased [14C]permethrin disposition in the stratum corneum (SC) in aqueous mixtures only (9.40 vs 3.35% dose), while topical DEET or topical DFP ...
In building new pipelines, the main preoccupation of the countries along the Persian Gulf is transport safety. The shortest or the most profitable route is no longer sought, but rather the politically least dangerous route. If in itself the decrease in dependency on a single route and the multiplication of pipelines reduce vulnerability, transport costs by pipeline are always higher than maritime transport costs. Moreover, still another economic factor has to be considered, that of drilling in the seas, which today represents about 20% of production, a percentage which is likely to increase. Oil produced on continental shelves can be delivered from a platform to tankers almost as it comes out of the well. In this case, it seems to be completely irrational to transport this oil through one or several countries and then to deliver it to a tanker. And so, dependency on the Straits of Hormuz is quasi-irreversible. In the event of a conflict, pipelines can easily be ...
Oil exploration began in Florida in 1901, but no oil was found until 1943. In November of that year, Humble Oil and Refining Co. made a discovery near Sunniland in southern Florida. This field and the producing zone were called Sunniland. No further discoveries were made in southern Florida until 1954 when the Forty-Mile field was discovered by Gulf Oil Co. Ten years later, in 1964, the Sunoco Felda field was discovered by Sun Oil Co., followed by West Sunoco Felda field in 1968. The examination of numerous cores and thin sections of this formation, both from producing fields and wildcat wells, reveals a sequence of deposition in the Sunniland formation. It has been reported that tintinnids or calpionellids have been observed in the lower mud section, but investigation of many thin sections from this section revealed only ostracod particles. Above the mudstone, the section becomes increasingly plentiful in fragmented microbored rudist particles and forams such as ...
The aim of the thesis is to validate concepts used in hydrocarbon generation and migration models; the model considered is the Temispack model developed by IFP, and the validation is based on the investigation of the thermal and hydraulic evolution in various sedimentary basins. It is shown that, in general, the thermal history of sediments is influenced by external processes (sedimentation rates, lithology, climate changes, regional-scale groundwater circulations) which frequently overprint internal processes (variations of crustal/mantle heat flow). It is found that external processes can frequently explain past thermal events that were erroneously attributed to internal causes (tectonic-thermal events). The origin of over-pressures in young basins with high sedimentation rates is shown to be generally related to compaction disequilibrium. Shale permeability values calibrated against overpressure profiles are consistent with experimental constraints. Compaction models predict ...
The NGDRS has facilitated 85% of cores, cuttings, and other data identified available for transfer to the public sector. Over 12 million linear feet of cores and cuttings, in addition to large numbers of paleontological samples and are now available for public use. To date, with industry contributions for program operations and data transfers, the NGDRS project has realized a 6.5 to 1 return on investment to Department of Energy funds. Large-scale transfers of seismic data have been evaluated, but based on the recommendation of the NGDRS steering committee, cores have been given priority because of the vast scale of the seismic data problem relative to the available funding. The rapidly changing industry conditions have required that the primary core and cuttings preservation strategy evolve as well. Additionally, the NGDRS clearinghouse is evaluating the viability of transferring seismic data covering the western shelf of the Florida Gulf Coast. AGI remains ...
The NGDRS has facilitated 85% of cores, cuttings, and other data identified available for transfer to the public sector. Over 12 million linear feet of cores and cuttings, in addition to large numbers of paleontological samples and are now available for public use. To date, with industry contributions for program operations and data transfers, the NGDRS project has realized a 6.5 to 1 return on investment to Department of Energy funds. Large-scale transfers of seismic data have been evaluated, but based on the recommendation of the NGDRS steering committee, cores have been given priority because of the vast scale of the seismic data problem relative to the available funding. The rapidly changing industry conditions have required that the primary core and cuttings preservation strategy evolve as well. Additionally, the NGDRS clearinghouse is evaluating the viability of transferring seismic data covering the western shelf of the Florida Gulf Coast. AGI remains ...
This paper reports on the first U.S. tanker converted to a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) unit which takes up station in Gombe-Beta field off Gabon by Dec. 1. FPSO Ocean Producer will work under a 3 year, day rate contract let late in 1990 by Amoco-Gabon Bombe Marin co., a unit of Amoco Production Co. (OGJ, Dec. 24, 1990, p. 27). Gombe-Beta field is in the Atlantic Ocean about 70 miles south of Port Gentil, Gabon. Ocean Producer will be moored in 50 ft of water 3.7 miles off Gabon, with Bombe-Beta's unmanned production platform about 820 ft astern. The vessel will be held in position by a disconnectable, asymmetric, six point, spread mooring system, It is owned and operated by Oceaneering International Services Ltd. (OISL). Affiliate Oceaneering Production Systems (OPS) converted the 78,061 dwt oil tanker MT Baltimore Sea at a capital cost of $25 million at Gulf Copper Manufacturing Corp.'s Port Arthur, Tex., shipyard. Both ...
There are at present 116 floating production systems and 60 storage vessels dotting the oceans involved in hydrocarbon exploration and production activities. Although concentrated mostly in the North Sea, they can be found also off the coast of Australia, eastern Canada, Brazil, some African nations and the Gulf of Mexico. They range from converted tankers to purpose built rigs. The most adaptable of the various systems is the floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, first developed as a cost-effective means of developing fields in Brazil's very deep offshore areas. Still being tested and modified for work in widely different environments, FPSOs appear to have met all requirements in producing expenditure efficiencies, maximizing profits, and protecting workers. One of the most efficient and most technically advanced is a 292-metre long FPSO built for the Terra Nova Alliance by Daewoo Shipyards in South Korea. It arrived at ...
An evaluation of eastern shale oil (ESO) residue as an asphalt additive to reduce oxidative age hardening and moisture susceptibility was conducted by Western Research Institute (WRI). The ESO residue, have a viscosity of 23.9 Pa{lg_bullet}s at 60{degree}C (140{degree}F), was blended with three different petroleum-derived asphalts, ASD-1, AAK-1, and AAM-1, which are known to be very susceptible to oxidative aging. Rheological and infrared analyses of the unaged and aged asphalts and the blends were then conducted to evaluate oxidative age hardening. In addition, the petroleum-derived asphalts and the blends were coated onto three different aggregates, Lithonia granite (RA), a low-absorption limestone (RD), and a siliceous Gulf Coast gravel (RL), and compacted into briquettes. Successive freeze-thaw cycling was then conducted to evaluate the moisture susceptibility of the prepared briquettes. The rheological analyses of the unaged petroleum-derived asphalts and ...
Canadian oilfields are a prime breeding ground for talent, technology and industrial management. This paper described how Canadian talent was recognized in 2001 for three major projects which included a cold-ocean production platform in the Sea of Okhotsk in Siberia, a mountain pipeline project in South America, and an in-situ underground extraction technology in the oilsands of Alberta. The cold-ocean production platform project was recruited by Sakhalin Energy Investment Co., an international consortium originally led by Marathon Oil Co which is now led by Royal Dutch Shell. The oil production platform is stationed 16 kilometres offshore of Sakhalin Island in the Sea of Okhotsk. Sakhalin Energy bought and converted the Molikpaq, an innovative platform made in the 1980s for the Beaufort Sea by Gulf Canada Resources Ltd. The second project included Calgary's Hydroconsult EN3 Services Ltd. which was responsible for the construction of the 940-km GasAtacama ...
As the jump from 2D to 3D, seismic exploration lives a new revolution with the use of converted PS waves. Indeed PS converted waves are proving their potential as a tool for imaging through gas; lithology discrimination; structural confirmation; and more. Nevertheless, processing converted shear data and in particular determining accurate P and S velocity models for depth imaging of these data is still a challenging problem, especially when the subsurface is anisotropic. To solve this velocity model determination problem we propose to use reflection travel time tomography. In a first step, we derive a new approximation of the exact phase velocity equation of the SV wave in anisotropic (TI) media. This new approximation is valid for non-weak anisotropy and is mathematically simpler to handle than the exact equation. Then, starting from an isotropic reflection tomography tool developed at Lt-'P, we extend the isotropic bending ray tracing method to the anisotropic case and we ...
A parallel event to the eleventh Conference of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention of Climate Change was held to demonstrate examples of adaptation from around the world in the areas of food security, water resources, coastal zones, and communities/infrastructure. Panels on each theme presented examples from developing countries, countries in economic transition, and developed countries. These 4 themes were chosen because both mitigation and adaptation are essential to meeting the challenge of climate change. The objective of the event was to improve the knowledge of Canada's vulnerabilities to climate change, identify ways to minimize the negative effects of future impacts, and explore opportunities that take advantage of any positive impacts. This third session focused on how coastal communities are adapting to climate change in such places as Quebec, the Caribbean, and small Island States. It also presented the example of how a developed country became ...
This paper provided an outline of the Canadian natural gas commodity market and a forecast for Canadian natural gas supply and prices for the 2007 winter heating season. Since 2001, steady demand growth and slow supply growth have contributed to higher North American natural gas commodity prices. The loss of natural gas supply due to hurricanes pushed North American natural gas commodity prices to record levels in 2005. Canadian natural gas production levels currently exceed domestic gas consumption. In 2005, Canada produced 16.5 billion cubic feet per day of marketable natural gas. Approximately 45 per cent was consumed domestically, and the remainder was exported to the United States. Despite high levels of drilling activity, production of natural gas from western Canada has flattened out since 2001. In 2006, natural gas prices in Canada declined due to the restoration of United States Gulf Coast natural gas production; the absence of any major hurricanes; and a ...
This report describes progress on the Advanced Coal Liquefaction project by the Gulf Research and Development Company's Merriam Laboratory during the months of January through March 1983. The liquefaction behavior of Illinois No. 6 coal beneficiated in various ways was studied in both single-stage recycle (SRC II) and short contact time (SCT) modes of operation. The distillate yield increased as the iron level in the feed slurry increased in both modes of operation. In the SCT mode, the conversion increased at greater depths of cleaning. In the SRC II mode, the distillate yield and conversion were much higher with deep cleaning and add-back of pyrite than with conventional cleaning. Pyrite addition resulted in a significant increase in short contact time conversion of subbituminous Belle Ayr coal in both high and low quality solvents. Solvent quality itself, however, had little effect on conversion. With Loveridge coal, the hydrocarbon gas yield and ...
As part of an ongoing strategic research project to find barrels of radioactive waste off San Francisco, the U.S. Navy (USN), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary (GFNMS) pooled their expertise, resources, and technology to form a partnership to verify new computer enhancement techniques developed for detecting targets the size of 55 gallon barrels on sidescan sonar images. Between 1946 and 1970, approximately 47,800 large barrels and other containers of radioactive waste were dumped in the ocean west of San Francisco; the containers litter an area of the sea floor of at least 1400 km {sup 2} knows as the Farallon Island Radioactive Waste Dump. The exact location of the containers and the potential hazard the containers pose to the environment is unknown. The USGS developed computer techniques and contracted with private industry to enhance sidescan data, collected in cooperation with the GFNMS, to detect ...
The renewed interest for using wind energy commercially is not more than twenty-five years old. From an experimental stage of turning wind energy into electricity in the 1970s, a new industry for producing standardised windmills gained foothold in the beginning of the 1980s and since then it has developed rapidly through the 1980s and the 1990s. The Danish innovators of the new windmill technology have been the pioneers behind this development, and Denmark has succeeded in acquiring a first mover advantage on the world market. This position has been maintained and at present Denmark satisfies more than half of the world market's demand for windmills. There are at least two reasons for this pioneering position of the Danish windmill industry. First, Denmark is by nature very `abundant' in wind energy due to its geographical position at the nexus between the Gulf Stream and the European continent. The windy climate makes given technologies of ...
The renewed interest for using wind energy commercially is not more than twenty-five years old. From an experimental stage of turning wind energy into electricity in the 1970s, a new industry for producing standardised windmills gained foothold in the beginning of the 1980s and since then it has developed rapidly through the 1980s and the 1990s. The Danish innovators of the new windmill technology have been the pioneers behind this development, and Denmark has succeeded in acquiring a first mover advantage on the world market. This position has been maintained and at present Denmark satisfies more than half of the world market's demand for windmills. There are at least two reasons for this pioneering position of the Danish windmill industry. First, Denmark is by nature very 'abundant' in wind energy due to its geographical position at the nexus between the Gulf Stream and the European continent. The windy climate makes given technologies of windmills more ...
Reserve appreciation, also called reserve growth, is the increase in the estimated ultimate recovery (the sum of year end reserves and cumulative production) from fields subsequent to discovery from extensions, infield drilling, improved recovery of in-place resources, new pools, and intrapool completions. In recent years, reserve appreciation has become a major component of total U.S. annual natural gas reserve additions. Over the past 15 years, reserve appreciation has accounted for more than 80 percent of all annual natural gas reserve additions in the U.S. lower 48 states (Figure 1). The rise of natural gas reserve appreciation basically came with the judgment that reservoirs were much more geologically complex than generally thought, and they hold substantial quantities of natural gas in conventionally movable states that are not recovered by typical well spacing and vertical completion practices. Considerable evidence indicates that many reservoirs show significant geological ...
This document gathers the available presentations (articles and transparencies) given at this annual meeting, the 2007 topic of which was the technological, geopolitical, economical, environmental, societal and development stakes of energy. 1 - technological stakes - which energies for the future: new energies, illusion or solution of the future; the Lorraine region, an energy land: strategies and stakes for a sustainable development; from China to Brazil: understanding the nuclear energy revival; hydroelectric power: renewable and sustainable energy; renewable energies and environment protection: the contribution of biofuels; wind power in Germany between success and contestation; 2 - geopolitical stakes - energy levier of power: the Gulf of Guinea hydrocarbons: between development and geopolitics; the complex evaluation of resources and reserves between technology, market and geopolitics; the new Bakou-Tbilissi-Ceyhan pipeline: what impacts for Turkey and the ...
Installation of new Shortwave Spectrometer for permanent operation at SGP - In May 2006 the new ShortWave Spectrometer (SWS) was installed in the Optical Trailer at the Southern Great Plains Central Facility SGP on 27 April 2006. The SWS began full operation 28 April 2006 and has run continuously to the present. Over 25 GB of spectra has been collected, calibrated and archived. 3-D radiative transfer simulations - Retrieved fields of cloud optical thickness and effective radius to from the MODIS Airborne Simulator were used to reproduce 3D cloud fields that were used a input to 3D radiative transfer simulations and then compared with simultaneous Solar Spectral Flux Radiometer (SSFR) spectral irradiance measurements. The influence of both horizontal and vertical cloud structure, using accurate versus approximated optical properties in the radiative transfer model on the modeled irradiance was examined, as was the influence of using the full phase function versus using approximations of ...
Canada's offshore Atlantic petroleum industry is celebrating its tenth anniversary in 2001. This article chronicles the development of the industry discussing the many challenges and setbacks and the eventual triumphs that accompanied the industry's development over the years. Highlights discussed include shipping first oil from the Cohasset Field in July 1992; the financial crisis caused by the withdrawal of Gulf Oil from the Hibernia consortium in the same year; new funding and the beginning of the gravity-based structure construction at Bulls Arm in 1993; striking oil in the Hibernia Field in 1994; the start of exploration and development of the Terra Nova field by Petro-Canada in the same year, based on the floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) system, which heralded a new era of offshore development in eastern Canada. Approval by the Nova Scotia government of the third and final phase of the Sable Offshore Energy Project followed ...
1. Contest rules The European Space Agency (ESA) is launching a public competition to find the most suitable names for its four Cluster II space weather satellites. The quartet, which are currently known as flight models 5, 6, 7 and 8, are scheduled for launch from Baikonur Space Centre in Kazakhstan in June and July 2000. Professor Roger Bonnet, ESA Director of Science Programme, announced the competition for the first time to the European Delegations on the occasion of the Science Programme Committee (SPC) meeting held in Paris on 21-22 February 2000. The competition is open to people of all the ESA member states (*). Each entry should include a set of FOUR names (places, people, or things from history, mythology, or fiction, but NOT living persons). Contestants should also describe in a few sentences why their chosen names would be appropriate for the four Cluster II satellites. The winners will be those which are considered most suitable and relevant for the Cluster II mission. ...