Trainee Manual
Train-Sea-Coast Benguela Programme
Marine Pollution Control
Module 4: using geographic Information Systems for Managing Marine Pollution
DETAILED MODULE PLAN.
This module will run for one day in the marine pollution course. In this module the trainees will be
introduced to the scope of using a Geographical Information System GIS in assessing the risks
attached to a marine pollution event and help develop a contingency plan. This module first
examines the well-known Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989 and its impact on Prince William Sound
and Copper River. The reason to use this case study is that an immense amount of GIS
information was collected in the aftermath of the tragedy and this information is freely available.
Once an understanding of the nature of the oil spill is discussed a more detailed lecture on GIS
will be presented. The third section of this course will examine how a trainee will use the South
African Coastal Information Centre online maps for evaluating an oil spill in the mouth of
Saldanha Bay. The reasoning for this is that CSIR has done a modelling exercise in the bay
which can be used as a simulation for a real life oil spill. The mastery test will be undertaken
using a multiple-choice question that is self marked and undertaken by the trainees.
Objectives
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To understand what information can be obtained from maps, orthophotographs and aerial
photographs and how it can be usefully applied.
Familiarize yourself with computer-based techniques to mapping and define what a
Geographical Information System (GIS) is and how it can be used for zonation of activities
and identification of potential problems relating to the coastal environment using St Helena
and Saldanha Bays on the West Coast as case studies.
Be able to define the differences between a vector and a raster-based GIS and know where
the strength and weakness of each system is.
Discuss how GIS can be used as a management tool and be developed for modeling and
prediction.
Discuss how a GIS can be implemented on an Internet.
This course will provide four PowerPoint lecture material with annotated notes.
Time Frame
09h00 – 09h30 Power Point 1 and Discussion
09h30 – 10h00 Power Point 2
10h00 – 10h30 First assessment (Mastery Test)
10h30 – 10h45 Tea break
10h45 – 12h30 Power Point 3 and Discussion
12h30 – 13h30 Lunch
13h30 – 15h00 Power Point 4 and Discussion
15h00 – 15h15 Tea break
15h15 – 16h30 Second Assessment (Mastery Test)
Materials and equipment needed
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FOR THE PARTICIPANT
1. Pens
2. Trainee Manual
3. Word document Template to fill in electronically (as
M4_Mastery_test_answersheet_1.doc & M4_Mastery_test_answersheet_2.doc)
4. Computers with Microsoft Word
Reference Material
Web Reference
The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/spotlight/spotlight.html
Books for an Introduction to GIS
Clarke, Keith C. 2001. Getting Started with Geographic Information Systems, 3rd ed., Prentice
Hall Series in Geographic Information Science, Prentice-Hall Inc., Upper Saddle River, New
Jersey.
Delaney, Julie. 1999. Geographical Information Systems, An Introduction, Oxford University
Press, New York.
DeMers, Michael N. 2003. Fundamentals of Geographic Information Systems, 2nd. ed. (update
edition), John Wiley and Sons, Toronto.
Longley, Paul A., Goodchild, Michael F., Maguire, David J., and David W. Rhind. 2001.
Geographic Information Systems and Science, John Wiley and Sons, Toronto
Books on South African Coast Sensitivity
Jackson and Lipschitz 1984 “Coastal Sensitivity Atlas of southern Africa”, Published by the
Government Printer
Report on Saldanha Bay
Taljaard, S and Monteiro, P.M.S. (2002) Saldanha Bay marine water quality management plan.
Phase I:Situation Assessment. Report to the Saldanha Bay Water Quality Forum Trust. CSIR
Report ENV-S-C, Stellenbosch.
MODULE CONTENT
Main Points of Module 4
The formal lectures will consist of four PowerPoint presentations entitled
PowerPoint one Exxon Valdez oil spill 1989 in impact on Prince William Sound and Copper River.
(27 slides - no annotation is necessary and is self explanatory)
Lecture1_Exxon_Valdez_Impacts.ppt
Time required 30 minutes
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Summarised content
Title Page
Map showing the state of Alaska and the site of the Exxon Valdez oil spill
Detailed map site of the Exxon Valdez oil spill using an enhanced and
processed satellite image
Photo of the Valdez oil terminal showing the loading peers where the oil is
transferred from mainland to tankers
Photo showing the Exxon Valdez stranded on Bligh Reef
Photo showing transferrance of oil from the Exxon Valdez on two another
tanker
Photo showing a boom being deployed to contain any further leakage from the
Exxon Valdez
Photo showing spilt oil on the surface of the sea. Despite the measures taken
about 1/5 of the Exxon Valdez cargo was spilt
Photo showing sensitive sites that were being protected from the oil spill using
booms such as around this salmon hatchery
Photo showing oil washed up on the pebble Beach as a result of the storm that
followed the grounding of the Exxon Valdez
Photo showing oil impacting on a rock pool
Photo showing the use of the boom by barge and this skimmer to collect
surface oil
Photo showing the use of two boats and the boom and skimmer to concentrate
the surface oil
Photo showing NOAA scientists at work at the spill response command centre
pool
Photo showing the combined action of times and currents and the impact of
the oil on the intertidal zone
Photo showing how many of the beaches were heavily oil during the spill
Photo showing captured oil wildlife being moved to a rehabilitation centre for
cleansing
slide discussing methods of cleaning oil on the shoreline
Photo showing the use of high-pressure hot water washing of the rocky shore
Photo use of the boom to prevent oil that is being cleaned from refloating into
the ocean
Photo showing how sediment and some oil gets refloated into the ocean during
the cleanup
Photo showing case study of pre-high-pressure hot water washing at Block
Island
Photo showing the cleansing operation at Block Island
Photo showing an assessment of how deep the oil penetration has gone in to
the beaches surface
Photo showing the changing method to determine oil penetration
Photo showing debris that was collected and has been backed during the oil
spill. This will be deposited in a landfill site
Photo credits and reference material used
PowerPoint 2 Exxon Valdez oil spill 1989 showing file GIS is the use in the contingency plan.
Lecture2_Exxon_Valdez_GIS.ppt (9 slides-annotation is provided in the PowerPoint presentation)
Time required 30 minutes
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Summarised Content
Title Page – GIS coverages used for evaluating the Exxon Valdez 1989 Oil
spill
A brief list of coverages useful for assessing the impact of the Exxon Valdez
Impact divided into Satellite Images, Digital Elevation Models and actual
coverages
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A map showing the trajectory of the oils spill (animated GIF)
A map showing the impacts of the oil spill categorised into high, medium, light
and very light.
A map showing the impact of the oil spill on recreational sites
A map showing the impact of the oil spill on marine bird colonies
A map showing the impact of the oil spill on Eagle nest sites
A map showing the ranking of the sites based on integrating the previously
shown coverages
References
PowerPoint 3 Basics of GIS
Lecture3_GIS_principles.ppt (25 slides-annotation is provided in the PowerPoint presentation)
Time required 105 minutes
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Summarised Content
Definitions of GIS
Types of data that can be included in a GIS
History of GIS
How does GIS vary from other Graphics Programs ?
Difference between a GIS and Maps/Atlases
GIS Maps are Customizable
GIS Maps are Searchable
GIS Maps are Updatable
What Computers would you need to run a GIS?
Where can you get GIS data?
Getting Maps and Data into a GIS
Who produces Digital Maps?
Obtaining New Data
Types of GIS
Raster GIS - Gridded Data
Vector GIS - Points, Lines and Polygons
Using a GIS for an Environmental Sensitivity Atlas
Thematic Mapping for Sensitivity-NOAA
List of sensitive Marine Environment-NOAAs
Sensitive Biological Features-NOAA
Symbolization of Sensitive Biological Features-NOAA
Sensitive Human Resources - General description-NOAA
Sensitive Human Resources - General description continued
Symbolization of Sensitive Human Resources - NOAA
Final Sensitivity Atlas-NOAA
PowerPoint 4 case study is simulated oil spill in Saldanha Bay South Africa.
Lecture4_Contingency_Plan.ppt (21 slides-annotation is provided in the PowerPoint presentation)
Time required 90 minutes
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Title Page
Why Saldanha Bay is Ecologically is sensitive?
A Sensitivity Atlas for Saldanha Bay
Details of the simulation model and the URL from where it came from. This
site is currently down, however, you can preview previous simulations that had
been run and investigate the variables that we used to run the simulation.
Variables used for this study which is used to determine the impact of the oil
spill at the entrance to the Harbour and assess whether Malgas Island will
need a evacuation of its breeding Gannet population.
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Start of the simulation showing the first hours of the trajectory of the oil spill.
A map showing how the oil spill is approaching Malgas Island
A map showing the progress of the oil spill trajectory
A map showing further progress of the oil spill trajectory
A map showing the oil spill almost on Malgas Island
A map showing how the oil spill virtually leaves Malgas Island unaffected.
A map confirming that the oil spill did not have a major predicted impact on
Malgas Island.
A map showing the area of interest that needs to be assessed in order to
develop a contingency plan
Use of the results of the simulation within a coastal sensitivity GIS
A screenshot showing the old South African coastal information Centre
interactive web-based GIS
A screenshot showing the above site with the satellite image selected and
zoomed in on Saldanha Bay.
A screenshot showing all coastal sensitivity layers being selected and the
various menus for operation.
A screenshot showing how the area of interested drawn as a line and has
been defined on the Web-based GIS
A screenshot showing an alternative way of defining an area of interest using a
box
A generic report that is generated based on 1:250 000 map sheets.
A screen shot showing how a user can define various reports for each 1:250
000 map sheets
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MASTERY TESTS.
Master TEST 1 – Revision (30 minutes)
1) Define what a DEM is and how it could be used together with a Satellite image in undertaking a
contingency oil spill analysis?
2) What were the most sensitive biological parameters in the Exxon Valdez oil spill and provide
reasons for your choice.
3) Describe events that could have made the Exxon Valdez oil spill even more environmentally
damaging.
An Answer Sheet is provided electronically as M4_Mastery_test_answersheet_1.doc
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Master TEST 2 – Putting a Contingency Plan into Action (75 minutes)
You have been asked to take responsibility for revising an oil spill contingency plans for your
National coast. As the first step you will need to define and describe the spatial data you wish to
use in developing these plans. You will need to organize your data under major headings and
codes (e.g. Recreation = R) and using a number rank each dataset from 1 equalling the highest
rank (=most significant). You can tie scores if you thing they equally important. You will also
need to work out whether it is seasonally sensitive or not. You will now need to invert these
scores and to do this you will add up the total number of dataset within each major heading and
then add 1 and now taking this score you subtract its ranking score – in other words you reverse
the ranks
To illustrate this we have identified four recreational datasets, namely bathing beaches R1,
general recreational beaches R2, angling sites (R3) and motorboat launch sites (R4). You have a
total of four site data sets so the highest bathing beaches will get (4+1)-1 = 4, recreational
beaches get (4+1)-2 =3, angling sites (4+1)-3 = 2 and finally motorboat launch sites (4+1)-4 = 1.
You will now need to work out rules that can be used to combine this new scores into an overall
prioritization score based on intersections as well. To do this you will need to identify whether the
data is highly localized (<100 m coastline) or fairly wide-spread. When combining highly localized
data you will use the summation function so where two of these data sets intersect you will sum
them in the intersection area. In contrast very wide-spread data you will use the overlay ensuring
the highest value is on top. The example below shows the combining rules in graphical form.
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R
4
R
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R
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R
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Final score for Recreation
Beach Bathing=R1
Beach General=R2
Angling=R3
Motor-boat Launch=R4
Score = 4 Widespread use Cover Rule
Score = 3 Widespread use Cover Rule
Score = 2 Widespread use Cover Rule
Score = 1 Localized use Intersection Rule
The combining rulesets using summation where they are localized and overlap where they are
widespread and seasonality. Note some features can be both widespread or localized
Group
Layer
Code
Inverse
Distribution
Seasonal
Score
JFMAMJJASOND
Summer/Autumn/Winter/Spring
Recreation
Beach bathing
R1
4
Widespread/Localized
Summer/Autumn/Spring
Recreation
Beach General
R2
3
Widespread
All Year
Recreation
Angling
R3
2
Widespread
All Year
Recreation
Motor-boat launch R4
1
Localized
All Year
An Answer sheet is provided electronically as M4_Mastery_test_answersheet_2.doc
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