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Projects < back Deepwater Horizon / BP Gulf Oil Spill Response
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 6, under contract to Weston Solutions, Inc. OVERVIEW
DESCRIPTION The Weston/Avatar team provided the U.S. Environmental Protection agency (EPA) with Geographic Information System (GIS) and Data Management support throughout the duration of the Gulf Oil Spill Response at the Incident Command Center (ICC) located in Houma, LA, as well as the Unified Area Command (UAC) located in New Orleans, LA. Avatar worked closely with other team members and was involved in all aspects of the activities. The team assisted EPA On-Site Coordinators (OCSs) with daily emergency response efforts specifically related to data and mapping activities associated with EPA's on-going Air Monitoring, Surface Water and Sediment Sampling, and Waste Management programs. In addition, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) requested support from EPA to conduct data audits, oceanographic/geo-spatial data processing and data warehousing in EPA's Scribe database. Scribe was the database of choice of the Unified Command as one best suited for warehousing emergency response data. Oceanographic data was collected daily throughout the Response phase of the incident by numerous NOAA and BP vessels during ongoing NOAA Sub-surface Monitoring Unit (SMU) operations. Sample location coordinates were extracted from daily vessel data deliverables/reports and exported to geo- databases for mapping activities to support daily SMU mission guidance. Unified Command requested that EPA continue to maintain a Sampling/Monitoring Program Information Matrix developed early on in the incident response effort by Avatar. This matrix listed and categorized every sampling and monitoring program conducted during the entire response effort. Organized by agency, it provided metadata including , program purpose, contact information, links to operating procedures, as well as every analysis conducted on literally hundreds of separate sampling tasks and programs. This became an invaluable reference and is expected to aid future research efforts. The team also provided GIS and oceanographic data assessment support to EPA, NOAA, and the US Coast Guard related to Phase II and III of the Special Monitoring of Applied Response Technologies (SMART) program. This included dispersant monitoring data analysis, summary, and summary graphic preparations with maps charts, photos, weather/sea conditions and efficacy statements to help document the effectiveness of vessel and aerial application of dispersants on oil slicks on the Gulf surface throughout the Gulf Response. SMART data was also maintained/ uploaded to EPA's Scribe database by Weston/Avatar team data managers. As the response phase began to wind down following the final kill of Deepwater Horizon MC255, the team was re-assigned by EPA to the UAC, New Orleans to support a committee of scientist which became known as the Operational Science Advisory Team (OSAT). OSAT was responsible for overseeing the research conducted by SMU operations and made specific recommendations to the Federal On-Scene Coordinator and the National Incident Commander regarding the status of the SMU's on-going mission. The immediate goal of the SMU's integrated sub- surface sampling strategy was to produce actionable information to effectively inform operational decisions during the response phase of the incident. The resulting data and information had extended value as a foundation for the subsequent recovery phases of the incident response. To that end, the Avatar assisted OSAT with inclusive analytical data summaries and maps highlighting analytical data results and locations where Human Health Risk Assessment (HHRA) indicators exceeded specific established EPA benchmarks. OSAT used that information to identify data gaps and recommend additional sampling prior to transition from the response phase to the recovery/damage assessment phase of the incident.
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