Researchers have completed a new analysis that will help protect marine birds in Prince William Sound from oil spills. Anne Schaefer and Dr. Mary Anne Bishop from the Prince William Sound Science Center compiled data from surveys in Prince William Sound conducted during March between 2007-2014 and 2018-2023.
How to read a wind rose: This graphic, referred to as a “wind rose,” helps researchers visualize average wind direction, frequency, and speed. This rose represents all of the data for June 2020. The bars point toward the direction the wind is blowing from, the length represents the frequency of wind from that direction, and the color indicates wind speed. This particular rose shows that winds during June 2020 were generally from the west and some were from the east. The strongest winds came from the west and were between 10 to 20 knots (approximately 11.5 to 23 miles per hour).
A new study will help responders plan for the effects of weather on an oil spill. Dr. Rob Campbell, a researcher at the Prince William Sound Science Center, has been working with the Council to collect data about ocean currents, wind direction and speed, wave direction and heights, and other information from two buoys in Prince William Sound.
The buoys have been in place since 2019, and have collected enough information to begin to analyze trends. Dr. Campbell recently analyzed the nearly two million pieces of information.
Dr. Campbell found that the air and water temperatures generally followed a typical annual cycle for a subarctic region. Highest temperatures were seen in August, and the lowest in February. There were a few deviations, however:
During the summers of 2019 and 2020, the region experienced a marine heatwave, referred to by locals as “The Blob.” These unusually warm temperatures matched what was occurring in the Gulf of Alaska.
Late 2020 brought impacts from a La Nina event. La Nina is a climate pattern associated with cooler temperatures in the Pacific Ocean.
Regional temperatures increasing
Temperature data has been collected in the region since 1908. Dr. Campbell was able to compare this historical data with data from the buoys to confirm a warming trend of approximately 5 degrees Fahrenheit over the last 114 years.
Surface temperatures trending warmer in winter, cooler in summer
Interestingly, in the last few years Port Valdez has experienced cooler than average temperatures at the water’s surface during summer. This appears to be related to melting glaciers, which have been melting much faster in the Gulf of Alaska region than the rest of the world. Most of this melting happens between May and October. Cold water from the Lowe River and Valdez Glacier Stream flows into the port, cooling the water’s surface.
How does this affect oil spill prevention and response?
Understanding how factors such as wind, waves, currents, and temperatures are behaving and changing can help responders better prepare for an oil spill, and make sure spill contingency plans are tailored to real conditions in the region. Real-time weather data can also provide valuable information during a spill response.
Members of the public watch vessels practice pulling oil spill boom in proper formation. This formation would be used to collect oil during an oil spill.
The Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council held a tour for locals to observe the annual oil spill response training for fishing vessels in Whittier, Alaska, on Sept. 30, 2024. This has been an annual event since 2016, rotating through several communities in the region, though it was postponed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Whittier community was invited to join the council from 11:30 to 2 p.m., on a Stan Stephens Cruises vessel to observe the training. Over 90 members of the public participated in the event, including students from the Whittier Community School.
Whittier resident, Chase, age 12, stated about the event, “There are so many people participating and wanting to learn on this boat, learning about this to help protect our environment. Plus watching all those boats do their job in helping protect the environment. I think it’s pretty cool.”
The local fishermen and women participating in the training are contracted by the Ship Escort Response Vessel System, also known as SERVS, to respond in the event of an oil spill from a Prince William Sound tanker or the Valdez Marine Terminal. SERVS is Alyeska Pipeline Service Company’s oil spill removal organization and coordinates annual spill response exercises in multiple Southcentral Alaska communities, including Whittier.
This Council event helps keep communities informed on what oil spill prevention and response measures are in place in Prince William Sound and downstream communities, especially those involving their local fishers. Whittier residents learned about oil spill response technology, tactics and how this program helps Alyeska operate safely in Prince William Sound. Narrators from both the Council and Alyeska were on board to describe the activities so that participants could better understand the training. We would like to thank our partners, Alyeska/SERVS and Stan Stephens Glacier & Wildlife Cruises, for helping to support this event.
“I think that’s very cool for [students] to see people from their community taking part in an activity like this,” said Whittier school teacher Jennifer Childress. “Knowing what a special and important place Prince William Sound is, it’s important to have people be trained and ready to go in case an awful event like an oil spill happens. To have local people involved in that and as a teacher to have students see that they could have a place in that and be a part of that as they get older, is very important.”
Alyeska’s contracted fishing fleet is the backbone of their oil spill response system. It is essential to the system operating as it was designed to do and part of what makes the Prince William Sound system world-class. These contracted vessels and their crews help ensure the most comprehensive oil spill response measures are in place for both open water and nearshore resources. A major lesson of the Exxon Valdez oil spill was that incorporating local mariners into the spill response system helps ensure a quick, efficient and effective response.
Since the inception of SERVS after the Exxon Valdez spill, the Council has been highly supportive of local fishers and mariners being trained annually with the best available technology to prepare for oil spills. Whittier mariners have the most intimate knowledge of, and connection to, the waters in and around Whittier. Their involvement would help protect the most sensitive areas, such as hatcheries and spawning streams, from spilled oil.
Whittier school student, Ana, 12, said about the event, “I think it’s good to protect our marine wildlife and [this event] creates awareness.”
The Council has held previous fishing vessel oil spill response training tours in Valdez, Seward, Cordova and Homer. The Council hopes that through such programs communities will understand the importance of oil spill prevention and having the most robust response strategies in place in the event of a spill.
”It’s especially important for local fishing vessels to participate in the system,” said Kathy Shea, one of several representatives from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation’s Spill Prevention and Response Division on board the tour. “They know the water, they’re out here fishing on a regular basis and they rely on the ocean for their livelihoods. They want to pass down a clean environment to their families in the future, so having them on our team is hugely advantageous for spill response.”
Additional photos are available for use on request by contacting Brooke Taylor at brooke.taylor@pwsrcac.org or 907-301-3784.
The Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council, with offices in Anchorage and Valdez, is a federally mandated, independent nonprofit corporation whose mission is to promote the environmentally safe operation of the Valdez Marine Terminal and the oil tankers that use it. The council’s work is guided by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, and its contract with Alyeska Pipeline Service Company. The council’s member organizations are communities in the region affected by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, as well as commercial fishing, aquaculture, Alaska Native, recreation, tourism and environmental groups.
Responders often work in close proximity during oil spill response drills. Pandemic precautions restricted many of these activities. In this photo, responders guide oil spill boom off of the response vessel Valdez Star as a distant fishing vessel tows the boom into position.
The Council’s newest annual report on drills and exercises highlights lessons learned during the pandemic and recent changes due to new technologies.
Large drills continue to take advantage of video-conferencing platforms. Meetings are held online. Documents and other data are shared through online collaboration tools.
“While the Council supports responders having as much local knowledge as possible, modern communication technologies mean some positions in the response can fully function from a remote location such as Anchorage,” says Roy Robertson, drill monitor for the Council, and author of the report.
Online learning during fishing vessel training
Alyeska’s Ship Escort Response Vessel System, or SERVS, conducts annual training for crews of local fishing vessels, who are contracted to respond in case of a spill. Before the pandemic, part of the training was held in a classroom, part was hands-on experience with equipment on dry land, and finally, crews would practice deploying equipment on the water.
Since the pandemic, the classroom sessions have been held online.
Hands-on equipment training increased in 2023
Technology can’t take care of everything. Responders still need to know how to set up and use oil spill boom, run skimmers, and communicate effectively during an emergency.
Unfortunately, crew members were not able to safely work with equipment over the last few years due to pandemic precautions. Restrictions hit two specific tactics particularly hard: nearshore response and sensitive area protection.
“Nearshore response” is a set of maneuvers used by fishing vessels to intercept the leading edge of an oil spill as it approaches a shoreline. These tactics are designed to redirect oil and collect it.
“Sensitive area protection” also happens near a shoreline. The difference is that these tactics are designed for a specific location such as a fish hatchery, cultural site, or wildlife congregation area. These tactics are planned out in advance and are designed to keep oil from contaminating the location.
Both of these tactics involve crew members being close together, so they were not regularly practiced from 2020-2022. In 2023, however, these exercises were held regularly.
Other oil spill response highlights from the report
New oil spill response barges: Over the past few years, Alyeska and the Prince William Sound shippers have been replacing oil spill response barges. These barges are stocked with response equipment and have large cargo tanks for storing collected oil. Some of the barges were up to 40 years old. The latest new barge is a replacement for the Allison Creek, which arrived in Prince William Sound in April. Read more about the Allison Creek from Alyeska. The new barges are almost identical, so training on one vessel is applicable to all.
Most likely scenario for spill from terminal: Three of five exercises at the Valdez Marine Terminal involved an area called “Drainage 58.” This is considered the most likely route that a large oil spill from the East Tank Farm would flow downhill toward Port Valdez.
Recommendations for improvement
While many of the drills and exercises went smoothly, observers did find room for improvement. Find more details in the full report: 2023 Annual Drill Monitoring Report
Report archive
Previous annual drill reports (2002-present) are available on the Preparedness Monitoring page.
