Fieldwork with oil-in-ice on Svalbard

SINTEF Materials and Chemistry, Marine Environmental Technology has for the last two winters, in cooperation with the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS), performed experiments with oil in ice on Svalbard. This work has been an activity in a larger project together with the Norwegian Atmospheric Institute (NILU) and the University in Bergen (UiB), and has been funded by the Norwegian Research Council, Statoil and Hydro.

The purpose of this three-year project has been to investigate weathering processes in marine oil spills under Arctic conditions. The focus has been on weathering of the bulk oil phase (evaporation, w/o-emulsification and dispersion), dissolution of water-soluble components, photo-oxidation and biodegradation processes of oil in ice.

The field activities this winter have focused on leakage of water soluble components from oil trapped in or under ice, and weathering properties of oil spilled in dynamic broken ice.
The leakage experiments have been performed with seven different oil types. The oils were frozen into the ice in February and samples (oil/ice) have been taken to determine the concentration of the water soluble components in the surrounding porous first-year ice.

Weathering experiments have also been performed in a meso-scale basin (6 x 4 m) cut into the ice. One oil type was used at three different ice conditions (0, 30% and 90% ice coverage). Weathering parameters such as evaporative loss, viscosity, water content, pour point and flash point were monitored during the 3-day weathering experiments. The weathering experiments were terminated with a burning experiment in an adjacent burn-basin.

For more information, contact:  Per Johan Brandvik