Southern Thailand Officials Step-up Efforts to Tackle Tar Balls on Beaches

Officials in southern Thailand’s Nakhon Si Thammaratat are taking steps to tackle the tar ball problem on beaches.Two weeks after thick oil slicks polluted the sea and beaches of Hua Sai district

Deputy provincial governor Thawornrat Kongkaew chaired a meeting of heads of government offices and local administrations in Hua Sai district to discuss measures to clean up the area.

Mr Thawornsak said…

Wildfires cause even more damage than many climate models assume. Much has been written about the threat that wildfires pose to people's safety and health, to crop yields, and the quality of soils and forests. In addition, wildfires pose a huge threat in terms of climate change, not only due to the impact of emissions on the atmosphere, but there's also the impact of particles (soot, dust and volatile organic compounds) settling down on snow and ice, speeding up their demise through albedo changes. This contributes to the rapid decline of the sea ice and snow cover in the Arctic, a decline that has been hugely underestimated in many climate models. Furthermore, global warming and accelerated warming in the Arctic cause extreme weather conditions in many places, an impact that is again underestimated in many climate models. A team of scientists from Los Alamos and Michigan Technological University, led by Swarup China, points out that continued global warming will make conditions for wildfires worse, as was already noted in earlier studies, such as this 2006 study. They also point at the conclusion of a recent study that more biomass burning will lead to more ozone, less OH, and a nonlinear increase of methane's lifetime.

Mixing and classification of soot particles. Field-emission scanning electron microscope images of four different categories of soot particles: (a) embedded, (b) partly coated, (c) bare and (d) with inclusions. Approximately 50% of the ambient soot particles are embedded, 34% are partly coated and 12% have inclusions. Only 4% of the particles are bare soot (not coated or very thinly coated). Scale bars, 500 nm. Right, spherical tar balls dominate in the emissions.

The scientists recently completed an analysis of particles from the Las Conchas fire that started June 26, 2011, and was the largest fire in New Mexico's history at the time, burning 245 square miles. One of the scientists, Manvendra Dubey, said: 

 “Most climate assessment models treat fire emissions as a mixture of pure soot and organic carbon aerosols that offset the respective warming and cooling effects of one another on climate. However Las Conchas results show that tar balls exceed soot by a factor of 10 and the soot gets coated by organics in fire emissions, each resulting in more of a warming effect than is currently assumed.”

“Tar balls can absorb sunlight at shorter blue and ultraviolet wavelengths (also called brown carbon due to the color) and can cause substantial warming,” he said. “Furthermore, organic coatings on soot act like lenses that focus sunlight, amplifying the absorption and warming by soot by a factor of 2 or more. This has a huge impact on how they should be treated in computer models.”

Jimmy Fallon gets Russell Crowe to sing ‘Balls in your mouth’

Earth Day, celebrated on April 22 each year, roughly corresponds to one of the greatest environmental tragedies in recent history — the British Petroleum oil spill, which began on April 20, 2010 To mark the occasion, Jimmy Fallon got Russell Crowe to sing with him on Wednesday’s edition of The Tonight Show and show everyone what happens if you try swimming in the polluted waters of the Mexican…

Most of us remember when the BP oil rig exploded off the gulf coast. We are also able to recall the devastation that was Hurricane Isaac. However, what not all of us are aware of is how one was beneficial to the other.

After the hurricane had run its course, some fishermen discovered balls of tar on the beach. They sent them in to labs at Louisiana State University and Auburn University for tests in order to find out if they were remnants from the BP spill. When the results came back, their thoughts were confirmed. These balls had the same characteristics as those from 2010. Because of this discovery, scouts were able to go out and find a “large tar mat” (Huffington Post). This resulted in the local officials closing down an expanse of the beach so that people could come in and clean up.

Because of the fact that these tar balls have been washed ashore, it is now easier for people to go in and clean up the remaining tar that has been elusive for the past three years. This means that that the wildlife will be safer when they are on the beach, tourists will no longer happen upon a ball of tar, and that the environment will finally find some normalcy once again. It will most certainly be a long and dreary process, but it is one that many are excited for. Many areas along the gulf coast were affected by the spill. Local economies plummeted, people lost jobs, and tourists were no longer flocking to the beaches. With all of these factors adding together, it is no wonder people were so fed up with BP. However, the company is trying to right their wrongs, even if they are not exactly welcomed with open arms. They have sent teams into Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi to clean up the exposed tar.

I personally did not grow up along the coast. However, I did grow up in Alabama and we visited the coast annually in one way or another. When I first heard of the oil spill, and the months after, I was furious that this was a thing that was happening so close to me and was affecting my friends and family. Fast-forward three years and I am still in shock that this happened. However, now we are finally receiving some closure on this matter. That by no means, means that this nightmare is anywhere near to being over, it just means that now we are able to clean up more of it and remove it from the ecosystem. By exposing all of this hidden tar, Hurricane Isaac was able to help the some of the very same areas it ripped through. Experts are saying that there could be tar shelves along the ocean floor that had been washed up and that is what Isaac washed ashore. They are also saying that the remnants are staying close to the shoreline, which makes the cleanup easier.

This is not the first time a storm has revealed this tar balls either, “Relatively pristine tar balls have washed ashore with each tropical system that has hit the Alabama coast since the spill, Hayworth said, indicating the material isn't going anywhere” (Huffington Post). This information indicates that this will most certainly be a long and strenuous process, but it is most definitely worth it. To see the Gulf Coast beaches and businesses back at their finest is a goal that is more than worth the effort it will take to reach it. For more information on the ongoing cleanup efforts, feel free to visit this site: http://www.restorethegulf.gov/ . Or you can check out this video for more information on this particular story.

By: Kristen Reagan

Isaac washes up BP oil on La. coast. 2012. video. youtube.comWeb.