{"id":495172,"date":"2022-02-03T05:39:39","date_gmt":"2022-02-03T13:39:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=495172"},"modified":"2022-07-07T12:10:50","modified_gmt":"2022-07-07T19:10:50","slug":"surfrider-oil-spill-cleanup-mapping","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/surfrider-oil-spill-cleanup-mapping","title":{"rendered":"Surfers Helped Clean Up California Oil Spill with Mapping App"},"author":841,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","castos_file_data":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[15412],"tags":[477732,473082,279502,284522],"industry":[],"esri-blog-category":[478392],"esri_blog_department":[478222],"class_list":["post-495172","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-oceans","tag-cleanup","tag-coordination","tag-dashboards","tag-oil-spill","esri-blog-category-ocean","esri_blog_department-conservation-and-environment"],"acf":{"video_source":"","video_start":"","video_stop":"","short_description":"Volunteers teamed with Surfrider Foundation to record the location of tar balls that washed up from the Huntington Beach oil spill.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Right","content":"Surfrider Foundation coordinated an influx of volunteers hoping to safeguard the environment and diminish the impact of the Huntington Beach oil spill.\r\n\r\n<strong>Key Takeaways<\/strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Local surfers use location technology to record where oil and tar washed up on beaches after a major pipeline leak.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Engineers automated the dissemination of GIS data showing the location of tar balls along the coast.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Volunteers become citizen scientists, collecting data to restore beaches.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"The smell of oil hit early morning beach walkers in Huntington Beach on Sunday, October 3. The cause: tens of thousands of gallons of crude oil had leaked from a rift in the underwater pipe leading from an offshore rig. Lovers of Southern California beaches reacted with alarm, and members of the nonprofit Surfrider Foundation responded.\r\n\r\nWithin a week, the Surfrider Foundation had registered 10,000 volunteers who were directed to the geospatial crowdsourcing <a href=\"https:\/\/oilspillcleanup-surfrider-hub.hub.arcgis.com\/pages\/progress\">Surfrider Tar Ball Reporting App<\/a> and could start adding pictures and dropping pins where onshore oil removal was needed. Built using geographic information system (GIS) technology and with help from developers at Esri, the app became \u201ca great way to harness energy from the local community,\u201d according to Eric Laughlin, a public information officer for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. \u201cIt was more efficient than receiving individual reports.\u201d\r\n\r\nAs volunteers-turned-citizen-scientists used the app to comb beaches to pin tar balls to the map, the US Coast Guard launched vessels with skimmers to gather as much oil as possible before it hit the beach. Biologists with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife deployed floating booms to keep oil out of wetlands and assess environmental damage. Responders from Orange and San Diego counties donned hazmat suits to gather the spilled oil and tend injured wildlife.\r\n\r\n\u201cOne of the reasons you want to keep oil and tar offshore is that it\u2019s really difficult to clean up without doing greater environmental damage\u2014it\u2019s like getting chewing gum in your hair,\u201d said Pete Stauffer, environmental director at Surfrider. \u201cBecause the ocean is very dynamic\u2014with wind, currents, and swells constantly changing\u2014it\u2019s hard to predict when, where, or how much oil will be washing up.\u201d"},{"acf_fc_layout":"gallery","gallery_images":[495212,495202,495232,495262,495242]},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Once the oil did wash up on shore, the app made it possible to see exactly where. Response teams could view the damages holistically and better understand the bigger picture of shoreline impact. \u201cWe were able to follow the spill because of reporting through the app.\u201d said Dr. Chad Nelsen, chief executive officer of Surfrider Foundation.\r\n\r\nMore than 1,800 professional responders were involved during three months of cleanup after the spill. Surfrider volunteers added thousands more observers to help pinpoint ecological damage.\r\n<h3><strong>Future Impacts and Implications<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nCleanup was officially declared complete on December 29, 2021. Researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/response.restoration.noaa.gov\/environmental-restoration\/oil-spill-assessment-and-restoration.html\">Office of Response and Restoration<\/a> are now creating a thorough environmental impact report. The study will draw on observations to determine damages and hold the polluters accountable for restoration costs.\r\n\r\nThe members of Surfrider will be monitoring restoration plans and mitigation measures to see the shore restored. \u201cIt\u2019s both shocking and expected, because infrastructure associated with oil drilling fails regularly,\u201d Nelsen said."},{"acf_fc_layout":"gallery","gallery_images":[495272,495282]},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"The oil spill highlighted problems with aging offshore drilling infrastructure. While there hasn\u2019t been a new offshore platform built off the California coast since the mid-1980s, there have been federal proposals to add more. The city council of Huntington Beach had been slow to call for a moratorium, but after this spill they saw the impact and passed a resolution asking for a halt to it.\r\n\r\n\u201cWith this oil spill in such a highly populous place, with beaches that are so heavily used, it really raised awareness,\u201d Nelsen said. \u201cDrilling poses threats to the health of our coasts, which are a huge economic engine for Southern California.\u201d\r\n<h3><strong>A Passion for Preservation<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nThe Surfrider Foundation got its start in 1984 after surfers in Malibu fell ill due to exposure from pollution by a wastewater treatment plant up the watershed. At the same time, a new harbor built in Dana Point meant surfers lost a great wave there. The 1984 Olympics took place in Los Angeles too, and surfers saw how much respect athletes in other sports were getting.\r\n\r\n\u201cThere was this general sense that the surfer ecosystem was being abused and nobody cared,\u201d Nelsen said. \u201cWe realized that if we want to surf in clean water and protect our surf spots, we needed to get active.\u201d"},{"acf_fc_layout":"gallery","gallery_images":[495292,495222]},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Now, the organization advocates for conservation and rallies local chapters to conduct cleanup operations. In addition to oil spills, the group\u2019s advocacy focuses on reducing plastic pollution, stemming sea-level rise that threatens to drown favorite surf spots, and curbing ocean acidification which is harming coral reefs.\r\n\r\nMoving forward, Stauffer anticipates more applications of geospatial technology to address their concerns and empower citizen scientists. \u201cWe definitely want to use the app again when the next oil spill happens. I hate to say <em>when<\/em> but that\u2019s just the reality. We also hope to develop more crowdsourcing tools that allow people to take action and make a positive impact on our environment.\u201d\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nLearn more about the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/disaster-response\/overview\">Disaster Response Program at Esri<\/a>."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":495252,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Surfers Helped Clean Up California Oil Spill with Mapping App<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Volunteers teamed with Surfrider Foundation to record the location of tar balls that washed up from the Huntington Beach oil spill.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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