Tweetchat on Preparing for Arctic Oil Spills
As Arctic waters continue to lose sea ice each summer, oil-powered activity in the region will be on the rise—along with an increased risk of oil spills.
In August of 2014, NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration sent two GIS specialists aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy for an exercise in the Arctic Ocean demonstrating oil spill tools and technologies . This scientific expedition provided multiple agencies and institutions with the invaluable opportunity to untangle some of the region's knotty logistical challenges on a state-of-the-art Coast Guard icebreaker in the actual Arctic environment. It is one piece of the Coast Guard's broader effort known as Arctic Shield 2014. Part of NOAA's focus in the exercise was to test the Arctic Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA®), our interactive mapping tool for environmental response data, during a simulated oil spill. Join us as we learn about NOAA's role in the mission and what life was like aboard an icebreaker. Use Twitter to ask questions directly to NOAA GIS specialists Jill Bodnar and Zachary Winters-Staszak. Get answers to questions such as:
- What type of technologies did the Coast Guard Research and Development Center (RDC) and NOAA test while aboard the Healy and what did we learn?
- What was a typical day like on a ship that can break through ice eight feet thick?
- Why can't we just simulate an Arctic oil spill at home? What are the benefits of first-hand experience?
Tweetchat Details: What You Need to Know
- What: Use Twitter to chat directly with NOAA GIS specialists Jill Bodnar and Zachary Winters-Staszak.
- When: Thursday, September 18, 2014 from 11:00 a.m. Pacific to 12:00 p.m. Pacific (2:00 p.m. Eastern to 3:00 p.m. Eastern).
- How: Tweet questions to @NOAAcleancoasts using hashtag #ArcticShield14. You can also submit questions in advance via orr.rsvp.requests@noaa.gov or at facebook.com/noaaresponserestoration.
About NOAA's Spatial Data Branch
Jill Bodnar is a GIS specialist in the Assessment and Restoration Division of NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration. She is an experienced oil spill responder and has been mapping data during oil spills for more than a decade. This is her first trip to the Arctic. Zachary Winters-Staszak is a GIS specialist in the Assessment and Restoration Division of NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration. While not aboard the Healy, he co-leads an effort to manage data and foster partnerships for Arctic ERMA. This is his second time participating in the annual Arctic Technology Evaluation in support of Arctic Shield. You can listen to him discuss this exercise and NOAA's participation in a NOAA's Ocean Service audio podcast from August 2014 . For further information, contact Katie.Wagner@noaa.gov. Go back to OR&R Weekly Report.