Support Greenpeace!
The dumped sulfur does not seem to pose any serious threat because sulfur is a natural substance, a lot of which is dissolved in the sea water. The spilled oil, however, is a huge threat to the marine flora and fauna.
The lighter fraction of the hydrocarbons in the form of thin film will cover the water surface and stop saturation of the sea water with oxygen, while heavier fractions will fall to the bottom to become source of future pollution that will poison the seas for years to come. Oil is especially dangerous for marine fauna and their respiratory organs: oil can contaminate gills of fish, which leads to suffocation. Bottom pollution destroys spawning grounds and consequently hinders fish spawning and reproduction.
Besides finding those responsible for the accidents, it is necessary to try to find ways to cope with the consequences. Existing technologies used in elimination of oil spills like this are not helping as the applied biological absorbents that help collect oil from the surface will work only if the water temperature is over +10 Centigrade, while now the water temperature is a little above +7. Chemical absorbents do not have thermal restrictions but when applied, both chemical and biological absorbents are to be collected from the surface, which is absolutely impossible now when oil-spill vessels cannot put to sea because of the storm. The storm also makes it impossible to use slick bars to stop the oil from spreading.
This disaster, in fact, has clearly demonstrated that today it is impossible to eliminate consequences oil spills at sea. It is a very important observation if we take into consideration far-reaching plans of the Russian government to develop new oil fields in the Caspian, on Sakhalin shelf, Kamchatka and in the Arctic. Large spills are equally likely both during production and transportation of oil. Keeping in mind that oil spills and shipwrecks will surely be happening in the future regardless of what people may do to stop it, it will be quite reasonable for this while to put aside all plans of industrial development in such environmentally vulnerable areas as sea shelves.
The lighter fraction of the hydrocarbons in the form of thin film will cover the water surface and stop saturation of the sea water with oxygen, while heavier fractions will fall to the bottom to become source of future pollution that will poison the seas for years to come. Oil is especially dangerous for marine fauna and their respiratory organs: oil can contaminate gills of fish, which leads to suffocation. Bottom pollution destroys spawning grounds and consequently hinders fish spawning and reproduction.
Besides finding those responsible for the accidents, it is necessary to try to find ways to cope with the consequences. Existing technologies used in elimination of oil spills like this are not helping as the applied biological absorbents that help collect oil from the surface will work only if the water temperature is over +10 Centigrade, while now the water temperature is a little above +7. Chemical absorbents do not have thermal restrictions but when applied, both chemical and biological absorbents are to be collected from the surface, which is absolutely impossible now when oil-spill vessels cannot put to sea because of the storm. The storm also makes it impossible to use slick bars to stop the oil from spreading.
This disaster, in fact, has clearly demonstrated that today it is impossible to eliminate consequences oil spills at sea. It is a very important observation if we take into consideration far-reaching plans of the Russian government to develop new oil fields in the Caspian, on Sakhalin shelf, Kamchatka and in the Arctic. Large spills are equally likely both during production and transportation of oil. Keeping in mind that oil spills and shipwrecks will surely be happening in the future regardless of what people may do to stop it, it will be quite reasonable for this while to put aside all plans of industrial development in such environmentally vulnerable areas as sea shelves.
