Fajarasia.co – A team of US and Chinese scientists who mapped oil pollution across Earth’s oceans have found that more than 90% of the chronic thin oil layer comes from human sources, a much higher proportion than previously thought.
Their research, published in Science, is a major update on previous investigations of marine oil pollution, which estimated that about half came from human sources and the other half from natural sources.
“What’s interesting about these results is how often we detect these thin floating oil spills — from small releases, from ships, from pipelines, from natural sources such as seeps on the seabed and then also from areas where industry or populations generate runoff containing runoff. floating oil,” said Ian MacDonald, professor in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science at Florida State University, United States, and author of the study.
A thin oil spill is a microscopic thin layer of oil on the surface of the ocean. Massive oil spills can be the cause, but this layer is also produced extensively and continuously by human activities and natural resources.
This short-lived oil layer is constantly moved by winds and currents, while the waves break it, making investigations difficult. To find and analyze it, the research team used artificial intelligence to examine more than 560,000 satellite radar images collected between 2014 and 2019. This allowed them to determine the location, extent, and possible sources of chronic oil pollution. Saturday (18/6/2022).
Even a small amount of oil can have a big impact on the plankton that form the basis of a marine food system. This thin layer harms other marine animals, such as whales and turtles, when they touch the oil while rising to breathe.
The researchers found that most of the oil layer was near the coastline. About half of the oil layer is within 25 miles (40 km) of the coast, and 90% is within 100 miles (160 km). The researchers found relatively fewer oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico compared to anywhere else in the world, suggesting that government regulation and enforcement and compliance with oil platform operators in US waters can reduce spills.
“If we can take those lessons and apply them to places globally, where we’ve seen high concentrations of oil spills, we can improve the situation,” MacDonald said.*****
