12.3 How and In What Way Do Human Activities Pollute the Ocean? Flashcards

Question

What is the impact of oil extraction off the coast of the US?

Answer 1

- Highly intensive extraction operation: over 25,000 miles of pipes inter-connecting these systems - Over 330 oil fields - Long-established- since the 1940's - Supports 345,000 jobs across the US (on and off shore)- one of the poorest parts of America, primary sector jobs are important- fishing, oil industry. Contributes >$30 billion to the nations economy.

Answer 2

* Toxicity to organisms * Physical damage to organisms and ecosystems * Disrupted food chains * Clean up damage * Dead zones * Economic impacts on local people * Global warming

Answer 3

20 April 2010 | A deep water oil well exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. BP- was fined $54 billion

Answer 4

40 miles of the Louisiana coast and in 1500m water depth.

Answer 5

- The Department of Justice Lawsuit. 15 December, 2010- US department of justice filed a civil and criminal law suit against BP and its partners, Transocea and Halliburton, for violations under the Clean Water Acts in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Loiusiana. Costs over $70 billion for BP for residents, businesses and clean up.

Answer 6

- Entire marine ecosystem along the gulf coast was affected. The media pubslihed photos of oil-soaked birds, fish, turtles and mammals.Mortality among such heabily affected creatures was high. Oil trapped in Coastal salt marshes accumulated in the mud which meant that in anaerboc conditions the oil was not broken down by bacteria.

Answer 7

In 2016, BP became responsible for the oil spill and had to pay more than $20 billion in civil and criminal penalty, a large amount of this went towards the restoration of Gulf resources.

Answer 8

- Fishing industry along US Gulf coast is one of the most productive in the world and important for the regional economy and employment. Fishing stopped in the short term and there was a loss of income for those in the industry. Tourism industry was also hit, due to shared photos in the media. A loss of income and unemployment for those in tourist industry. This then moved through the local economies of coastal communities- multiplier effect.

Answer 9

- The cement mixture not being able to handlethe pressur- meaning that it wasn't able to seal the well properly. Liquid nitrogen had been used- weakened it and allowed the leak of gas and natural gas. - Fail-safe valves did not engageto stop oil and gas from coming up the pipe if a leak was detected. - The leak was not detected until it was too late. - A second valve failed to function when it was engaged by the crew before the explosion. - The blow out preventor did not close due to a faulty battery and switch. - Gas alarm safety system failing.

Answer 10

- Skimming surface oil- booms towed by manouverable boats collect oil. - Burning surface oil- oil is collected in a fire-proof boom and then burned. - Dispersants- chemicals break the oil into smaller particles to prevent oil slicks forming, sprayed from the air and boats- 1.84 million gallons of dispersants were used, evaporation and biological degradation by oil-consuming bacteria then removes the oil. - Artificial barrier islands constructed just off-shore of places to act as physical barriers to stop the oil reaching the shore- however, they tended to be washed away by the waves and currents in the gulf. Beach cleaning- oil washed up on beaches mixed with sand- contaminated sand was then moved into piles for collection. Or, it was collected and 'washed' by equipment using very hot water- sand could then be returned to beach and oil taken to be processed.

Answer 11

given the high level of activity, are oil spills commonplace, or well managed and regulated?

Answer 12

waste from beach users, sewers, shipping debris, fishing waste, rivers. Most is plastic. * 10,000 containers are lost everywhere from ships in storms e.g. yellow duckies * Tiny manufactured pellets of plastic called “nurdles” are easily spilled and dispersed. They are found in every ocean and along most coastlines * Plastic is not biodegradable but exposure to sunlight and wave action breaks ( photo-degradation) plastic into micro-particles that float on the surface Ocean currents move the micro-particles and concentrate them in garbage patches = gyres

Answer 13

- large accumulation in oceans- not globally known due to remoteness - impacting endangered species - microplastics are harder to control and so enter many pathways- through the ocean, food chain and our health - side effects of plastic are not well-known - we are ingesting poison and plastic through our pollution - lack of public knowledge

Answer 14

Global plastic production is in line with the economy- if the economy grows, plastic production will grow. There has been exponential growth in plastic- 500 million tonnes produced a year today. 2000: 3% plastic recyled 56% landfilled 2018: 9% plastic recycled 49% landfilled Projection for 2060- 1.2 billion tonnes of plastic production Emerging or middle income countries tend to produce more plastic- higher population. For example, a lack of drinking water leads to bottled water- no management for recyling- landfill. Mainly mismanaged in South America and Sub saharan Africa- North south divide. Brazil, Russia, India and China- huge amount of plastic surrounding the coastlines and high input of plastic into oceans. Main problem is nappies and plastic bottles. 82% of plastic is from rivers- we can deal with the source and we know where it ends up. 88% of plastic floats close to the shoreline, 10% sinks to seabed and 2% is transported offshore on the surface.

Answer 15

1. Plastic is believed to form up to 90% per cent of the rubbish floating in the oceans. a. The UN environment programme estimates that every square mile of ocean contains 46,000 pieces of floating plastic. 2. Plastic debris causes the deaths of more than a million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals every year by ingestion and entanglement. 3. Syringes, cigarette lighters and toothbrushes have been found inside the stomachs of dead seabirds, which mistake them for food. 4. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch" is thought to have formed gradually as oceanic currents brought marine pollution together into a giant vortex. Currents can carry debris from the west coast of North America to the vortex in about six years, and debris from the east coast of Asia in a year or less. 5. The Scripps Institution of Oceanography survey mission of the "Great Garbage Patch" found plastic debris in each of 100 samples taken at varying depths and net sizes along a 1,700 miles path. 6. An estimated 20% of the plastic in the oceans comes fromships or offshore platforms_. The rest is blown, washed or deliberately dumped from the land. 7. Ship generated pollution is a cause for growing concern, as a typical 3000 passenger cruise ship. produces over 8tonnes of solid waste/ week. 8. Most plastics do not biodegrade_, but remain in the sea for hundreds of years, breaking down into ever-smaller toxic particles. a. Toxic plastic particles end up in the stomachs of marine birds and animals, including sea turtles and the Black-footed Albatross. 9. They are also eaten by jellyfish, which are then eaten by larger fish. Many of these fish are then consumed by humans, resulting in their ingestion of toxic chemicals 10. Plastic sheeting has been documented in the stomachs of sperm whales, round-toothed dolphins and a Curvier beaked whale.

Answer 16

○ The garbage patch is actually two distinct collections of debris bounded by the massive North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. ○ Spans waters from the west coast of North America to Japan. ○ The patch is actually comprised of the Western Garbage Patch, located near Japan, and the Eastern Garbage Patch, located between the U.S. states of Hawai'i and California. These areas of spinning debris are linked together by the North Pacific Subtropical Convergence Zone, located a few hundred kilometers north of Hawai'i. This convergence zone is where warm water from the South Pacific meets up with cooler water from the Arctic. The zone acts like a highway that moves debris from one patch to another. ○ The entire Great Pacific Garbage Patch is bounded by the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. ○ The North Pacific Subtropical Gyre is formed by four currents rotating clockwise around an area of 20 million square kilometers (7.7 million square miles): the California current, the North Equatorial current, the Kuroshio current, and the North Pacific current. ○ 5 Gyres within the oceans- NP, SP, NA, SA and Indian. ○ Gyres are 30 degrees North/South of the equator- heat and wind (trade winds). GPGP makes up 8% of pacific ocean

Answer 17

○ Over 100,000,000 kg of plastic- 94% are microplastics ○ The amount of debris in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch accumulates because much of it is not biodegradable. Eg. Plastic. ○ Mostly made up of microplastics- photodegradation- nurdles. ○ 70 percent of marine debris actually sinks to the bottom of the ocean. ○ 80% of plastic in ocean is estimated to be from land sources, remaining 20% from boats and other marine sources. ○ 2018 study- synthetic fishing nets made up 50% of of the GPGP. More than 700,000 tonnes. ○ 2016 study= 79,000 tonnes of ocean plastic are floating inside an area of 1.6 million sq km- 4-16 times higher than previously reported. ○ 500 years for a plastic beer can ring to degrade. ○ 10% of global plastic ends up in the GPGP ○ 1,000,000 microplastics per sq mile. Less than 5% plastic globally recycled.

Answer 18

○ No one knows how much plastic- North pacific subtropical gyre is too large for scientist to trawl. Denser debris can also sink- making it impossible to measure. ○ loggerhead sea turtles often mistake plastic bags for jellies, their favorite food. Albatrosses mistake plastic resin pellets for fish eggs and feed them to chicks, which die of starvation or ruptured organs. ○ Seals and other marine mammals are especially at risk. They can get entangled in abandoned plastic fishing nets, which are being discarded largely due to inclement weather and illegal fishing. Seals and other mammals often drown in these forgotten nets—a phenomenon known as “ghost fishing.”Marine debris can also disturb marine food webs in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. As microplastics and other trash collect on or near the surface of the ocean, they block sunlight from reaching plankton and algae below. Algae and plankton are the most common autotrophs, or producers, in the marine food web. Autotrophs are organisms that can produce their own nutrients from carbon and sunlight. ○ These dangers are compounded by the fact that plastics both leach out and absorb harmful pollutants. As plastics break down through photodegradation, they leach out colorants and chemicals, such as bisphenol A (BPA), that have been linked to environmental and health problems. Conversely, plastics can also absorb pollutants, such as PCBs, from the seawater. These chemicals can then enter the food chain when consumed by marine life. ○ Platic is causing strange mutations or biohazards for marine life. ○ Marine life percieve microplastics as zooplankton.

Answer 19

○ Charles Moore discovered the GPGP after crossing the North Pacific sea. ○ Because the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is so far from any country’s coastline, no nation will take responsibility or provide the funding to clean it up. Charles Moore, the man who discovered the vortex, says cleaning up the garbage patch would “bankrupt any country” that tried it. ○ The National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Debris Program has estimated that it would take 67 ships one year to clean up less than one percent of the North Pacific Ocean. ○ Charles Moore, who discovered the patch in 1997, continues to raise awareness through his own environmental organization, the Algalita Marine Research Foundation. During a 2014 expedition, Moore and his team used aerial drones, to assess from above the extent of the trash below. The drones determined that there is 100 times more plastic by weight than previously measured. The team also discovered more permanent plastic features, or islands, some over 15 meters (50 feet) in length. He found out that there was 6x more plastic in the ocean than plankton. ○ THE OCEAN CLEANUP- the largest cleanup in history, made in 2017. Aim to clean up 90% of plastics in ocean by 2040. They use a dual strategy: intercepting plastic in rivers to cut the inflow of pollution (tackiling 1000 rivers= 80% of river pollution reaching ocean), and cleaning up what has already accumulated in the ocean and won’t go away by itself. CEO- Boyan Slats. ○ International plastic treaty- negotiated in 2024, 175 nations develop a legally binding agreement on plastic pollution to prevent ocean pollution. Estimated that in 10 years the GPGP will be cleaned up- 7 billion dollars to do this.

12.3 How and In What Way Do Human Activities Pollute the Ocean? Flashcards

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