Presentation Abstract
In October 2013, Raincoast Conservation Foundation and Georgia Strait Alliance launched 1644 drift cards from 9 locations along the shipping route through the Salish Sea to Vancouver, British Columbia. Drift cards are 4x6” pieces of marine plywood painted bright yellow and numbered. Drift cards have historically been used to assess the way in which floating objects move in various contexts, including potential oil spills from underwater pipelines, marine park planning, sewage outflows and more. In this case, these drift cards were released in the context of Kinder Morgan’s plans to twin the Trans Mountain pipeline, which if approved would see increases in tanker traffic on the shipping route by up to 500%. Results from this study indicate that cards released in Burrard Inlet very quickly landed across many of Vancouver’s beaches, cards released in Burrard Inlet eventually moved from near Vancouver to other locations ranging from the San Juans to the Broughton Archipelago, cards released outside Burrard Inlet can disperse to distant locations relatively quickly, and card recoveries in some areas were from many different drops, indicating that some areas could be affected from incidents along much of the shipping route. Card movement is also compared to the oil spill modelling presented in Kinder Morgan’s National Energy Board application. Implications for spill response, oil spill modelling and environmental/societal impacts are also discussed.
Session Title
Session S-10C: Spill Prevention, Preparedness, and Response Issues in the Salish Sea and Pacific Northwest
Conference Track
Emerging Contaminants and Emergencies
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2014 : Seattle, Wash.)
Document Type
Event
Start Date
2-5-2014 1:30 PM
End Date
2-5-2014 3:00 PM
Location
Room 606
Genre/Form
conference proceedings; presentations (communicative events)
Contributing Repository
Digital content made available by University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Ocean currents--Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.)--Forecasting; Oil spills--Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.)--Prevention
Geographic Coverage
Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.)
Rights
This resource is displayed for educational purposes only and may be subject to U.S. and international copyright laws. For more information about rights or obtaining copies of this resource, please contact University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225-9103, USA (360-650-7534; heritage.resources@wwu.edu) and refer to the collection name and identifier. Any materials cited must be attributed to the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference Records, University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Type
Text
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
From boat to beach: Using drift cards to improve our knowledge of ocean currents, areas at risk and oil spill trajectories.
Room 606
In October 2013, Raincoast Conservation Foundation and Georgia Strait Alliance launched 1644 drift cards from 9 locations along the shipping route through the Salish Sea to Vancouver, British Columbia. Drift cards are 4x6” pieces of marine plywood painted bright yellow and numbered. Drift cards have historically been used to assess the way in which floating objects move in various contexts, including potential oil spills from underwater pipelines, marine park planning, sewage outflows and more. In this case, these drift cards were released in the context of Kinder Morgan’s plans to twin the Trans Mountain pipeline, which if approved would see increases in tanker traffic on the shipping route by up to 500%. Results from this study indicate that cards released in Burrard Inlet very quickly landed across many of Vancouver’s beaches, cards released in Burrard Inlet eventually moved from near Vancouver to other locations ranging from the San Juans to the Broughton Archipelago, cards released outside Burrard Inlet can disperse to distant locations relatively quickly, and card recoveries in some areas were from many different drops, indicating that some areas could be affected from incidents along much of the shipping route. Card movement is also compared to the oil spill modelling presented in Kinder Morgan’s National Energy Board application. Implications for spill response, oil spill modelling and environmental/societal impacts are also discussed.
