Word: oiled
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...this case, the tempestuous weather was the culprit -- and then the savior. High winds and 30-ft. waves sent the ship onto the shore and prevented salvage crews from removing the oil. But "the weather had its good sides too," says Madeleine McDonagh, head of the marine-environment group at Britain's Warren Spring Laboratory. "The winds and waves helped induce a natural dispersion of the oil...
Spills are usually almost two-dimensional in their initial stage: the oil remains in a layer on the surface in one location. It spreads out slowly and sinks only gradually. But in the churning sea off the Shetlands, the spill quickly became three-dimensional and spread rapidly over a wide area -- at which point, some scientists argue, the concentration of oil is no longer dangerously high. The sea contains bacteria and other microbes that will naturally break down the oil droplets until they are eventually reduced to little more than carbon dioxide and water...
Since the concentrations of oil off the Shetlands are now low, seabirds are less likely to take on a fatal coat of crude than their counterparts in other spills. That is small comfort for the more than 700 birds that died in the early stages of the spill, or to the thousands more that may become sick from ingesting oil while preening or feeding on contaminated food. But the spill seems to have affected fewer birds than expected...
...Thus the Shetlands are likely to be spared the costly and environmentally disruptive cleanup that followed the spilling of nearly 11 million gal. of crude (less than half the amount lost by the Braer) into Prince William Sound in Alaska. Says Robert Spies, chief scientist for the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council: "There is ample evidence that overzealous cleanup can be harmful." The chemical detergents, high-pressure sprays and brushes used to clean beaches and rocks after a spill destroy microorganisms that are an important part of the seaside's ecology. The surfaces of rocks are attractively cleaned...
...Shetlands also had a lucky break in the kind of oil carried by the Braer: a light variety called Gullfaks, which, unlike other crudes, resists taking up water and forming a stable emulsion. The viscosity of most crudes causes them to form hard, tight masses that are difficult to break up. The tar balls and gooey globs that plagued Alaska have not appeared in the Shetlands because of the peculiar nature of Gullfaks. Says Dan Lawn, an environmental engineer who works in Prince William Sound: "When I flew over the site in the Shetlands, I was astounded to see that...