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LIVE INTERACTIVE LEARNING _at_ YOUR DESKTOP
The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill What can we
learn from this disaster? Presented by Audra
Livergood, Will Underwood and Atziri Ibanez
February 2, 2011 630 p.m. - 800 p.m. Eastern
time
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Your Presenters
Atziri Ibañez, NERRS National Education
Coordinator
Audra Livergood, Marine Resource Manager, NOAA
Fisheries
Will Underwood, Stewardship Coordinator, Grand
Bay NERR
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What is an estuary? What are some examples of
estuaries along the Gulf Coast?

• PART ONE

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Poll Question
What is an estuary?

1. The land area that drains water into a lake,
   river, or pond.
2. The large body of salt water that covers most of
   the earth's surface.
3. The area where a river meets the ocean, where
   fresh and salt water mix.
4. The underground system that provides drinking
   water to an area.

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Deepwater Horizon oil spill On April 20, 2010
an explosion rocked the oil drilling platform.
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(No Transcript)
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Five key estuaries in danger of being impacted by
the oil spill
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Mission Aransas NERR (Texas)

• MANERR
• Has the only naturally migrating population of
  whooping cranes in the world
• Total Acreage 185,708
• Designation 2006

Weeks Bay NERR (Alabama)

• Weeks Bay NERR
• Provide habitat for rare and endangered species
  including the brown pelican, eastern indigo
  snake, and the Alabama red-bellied turtle.
• Total Acreage 6,525
• Designation 1986

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Apalachicola NERR (Florida)

• Apalachicola NERR
• The West Indian manatee, the Indiana bat and the
  gray bat are endangered species that make their
  home at the Reserve
• Total Acreage 246,000
• Designation 1979

Rookery Bay NERR (Florida)

• Rookery Bay NERR
• Is a prime example of a nearly pristine
  subtropical mangrove forested estuary
• Total Acreage 110,000
• Designation 1978

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• How many class or activity periods of estuary
  instruction do your students receive in a typical
  school year?
• Place clip art on the continuum below

More than 15 classes per year
6 to 15 classes per year
3 to 5 classes per year
1 to 2 classes per year
None
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Resources 1

• Your Source for Learning and Teaching About
  Estuaries
• Video Gallery
• Estuaries 101 Curriculum
• Access to real-time data with graphing
  capabilities
• Species Factsheets

http//estuaries.gov/
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• Lets pause for questions

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Where and what is the Grand Bay Reserve?

• PART TWO

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About Grand Bay NERR (MS)
Approximately 18,000 acres (28 sq. mi.) of
emergent marsh, pine flatwoods, and pine savannas

• Established in 1999
• Represents the Louisianian bio-geographic region

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Grand Bay is located in the Northern Gulf of
Mexico to the east of the Mississippi river
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The drilling site was approximately 150 miles
SSW of the Grand Bay NERR
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Mobile delta area often influence the waters of
the Grand Bay NERR
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Grand Bay Reserve boundary
Bayou Heron
Bayou Cumbest
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How were the Grand Bay marshes formed?

• Where rivers meet the sea?
• Currently little freshwater input from uplands
• Pre-historic origin of marshes formed by
  Pascagoula and Escatawpa Rivers

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What makes Grand Bay important?

• Marshes serve as nursery ground
• Provides protection from dangerous storm surge
• Marshes filter nutrients
• Commercial and recreational fishing
• Outdoor recreation

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Natural Anthropogenic Stressors

• Hurricanes
• Erosion
• Invasive species
• Loss of sediments through dredging
• Decreased air and water quality
• Industrial disasters
• Overharvest of fishery

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Mississippi Phosphates Spill
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Estuaries 101 Curriculum
http//estuaries.gov/
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What can we learn from ongoing monitoring at the
Grand Bay Reserve?

• PART THREE

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System-Wide Monitoring Program Observing
short-term variability and long-term changes in
estuarine environments
I. Abiotic Monitoring Water Quality
Nutrients Weather Parameters II. Biological
Monitoring Habitat Change Biodiversity III. Land
Cover/Use and Habitat Change Spatial
Patterns Human Impacts
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Monitoring Water Quality Weather Data
SWMP Data-logger
Water quality data is collected at 15 or 30
minute intervals at 4 locations within or
adjacent to a research reserve.
Weather data is collected within or adjacent to a
research reserve at 5 second intervals.
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Mapping, Monitoring, Research

• Critical for protection of natural resource
• Primary responsibility of research and
  stewardship staff in the reserve system
• Provides baseline information important in
  assessing damage from disasters

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Fine-Scale Marsh Habitat Delineation
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Sea Grass Communities at GBNERR
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Resources 2

• Data in the Classroom
• Three curriculum modules El Nino, Sea Level
  Water Quality
• Grades 6-8
• Downloadable materials
• Correlated to National Standards in Science,
  Mathematics , Geography the Ocean Literacy
  Concepts

http//www.dataintheclassroom.org
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• Lets pause for questions

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How did the oil spill and the response effect the
Grand Bay Reserve?

• PART FOUR

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Sequence of Events

• Rig explosion, 4/20
• Booming initiated, 5/4
• 1st rig debris/tarballs, 6/4
• 1st oil at reserve, 6/12
• Temporary cap installed, 7/15
• Targeted boom removal, 8/31
• Response ongoing

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Plan for the Worst

• Identify Critical Resources
• Review Existing Response Plans
• Prioritize Critical AreasLimited Response
  Resource
• Identify Areas Sensitive to Response Damage
• Learn and Adapt to Incident Command System
• Begin Collecting Baseline Samples
• Provide Site Specific Technical Support

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Contingency Plan outlines booming needed
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Extensive pre-oil samples were collected
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Poll Question
Based on their research, scientists have learned
that it is always preferable to clean up an oiled
salt marsh as opposed to simply leaving it alone
to recover naturally. v True X False
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Installing booming is a delicate process in
shallow waters
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Airboats were used to install boom
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Three types of boom were installed
Pom-pom boom
Hard boom
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Waiting for the Worst
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Signs of the spill on GBNERR appeared as debris
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Dispersed oil at GBNERR
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Oiled boom at GBNERR
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Large patches of oil were stranded on the GBNERR
marshes
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Storm events had a damaging effect on boom
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Understanding key features of an estuary key to
protecting it
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Poll Question
Which of the following factors may help the Gulf
of Mexico to recover from the BP oil spill more
quickly than did Prince William Sound after the
Exxon Valdez spill?
Warmer water temperature Presence of natural oil eating microbes Chemical composition of the crude spilled None of the factors listed All of the factors here listed

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What is NRDA? Natural Resource Damage Assessment

• A legal process to determine - Injuries to or
  lost use of the publics natural resources-
  Appropriate amount type of restoration needed
  to offset losses
• NERR staff involved in technical working groups

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(No Transcript)
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How do we clean up oil at Grand Bay?

• In most cases, clean up is not recommended in
  Juncus marshes
• Mechanical cleanup methods might harm sensitive
  habitats
• Environmental stewardship
• Important concept for students to understand and
  practice

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Opportunities for Restoration
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Long-Term Monitoring

• Continue shoreline assessment work to look for
  stranded oil
• PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) sediment
  testing
• Continue monitoring natural resources
• Analyze trends in resource abundance

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Take Home Message

• Estuaries can serve as the nexus for teaching
  earth, life, and physical sciences
• Extensive research, mapping, and monitoring are
  necessary to analyze short and long-term
  changes/impacts from the oil spill
• Applying lessons learned, in terms of planning
  and response to past oil spills, can help better
  prepare our future leaders
• Understanding the impacts of the oil spill is a
  continuous process that will require direct
  observation and analysis of key archived and
  real-time data

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• Lets pause for questions

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Where can I find educational resources about
estuaries and the oil spill?

• PART FIVE

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Teacher Professional Development Opportunities

• Visit the Estuaries.Gov site to find teacher
  training opportunities
• Sign-Up to receive the NERRS Education
  BulletinWe will announce upcoming opportunities
• Help Field Test the Estuaries 101 Middle Grade
  CurriculumAt the end of 2011 we will form a team
  of reviewers who will test the activities

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Resources 3

• Oil Spill Educational Resources
• Multimedia
• Animation
• Lessons and Activities
• Real World Data
• Background Information
• Career Profiles

http//www.education.noaa.gov/Ocean_and_Coasts/Oil
_Spill.html
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• Thank you!
• For more information
• Re Estuaries in the National Estuarine Research
  Reserve System Contact Atziri Ibanez
  (atziri.ibanez_at_noaa.gov)
• Learn more NOAA Deepwater Horizon Archive
• http//www.noaa.gov/deepwaterhorizon/

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Thank you to the sponsor of tonight's Web Seminar
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http//learningcenter.nsta.org
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http//www.elluminate.com
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National Science Teachers Association Dr. Francis
Q. Eberle, Executive Director Zipporah Miller,
Associate Executive Director Conferences and
Programs Al Byers, Assistant Executive Director
e-Learning
NSTA Web Seminars Paul Tingler, Director Jeff
Layman, Technical Coordinator
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