• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.16-27
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• 2003

For the last decade, some 400 small and large oil spill accidents have occurred every year. Such accident blow a serious damage to the marine resource and ecosystem, which can't be estimated in terms of economic and environmental losses. The physical/chemical methods used currently may be effective at the initial stage of accidents, but they can't serve to remove the spilled oil completely. Moreover, the dispersant may lead to a secondary contamination detrimental to the lives inhabiting wet lands, beaches and tidal zone. Thus, a new decomposing technology Is required for the environmentally sensitive areas. Bioremediation is the active use of biological techniques to mitigate the consequences of a spill using biological processes and refers both of stimulation of pollutant biodegradation and/or to enhance ecosystem recovery Bioremediation is an economically attractive method for the clean-up of oil-contaminated area. Bioremediation has been demonstrated to be an effective oil spill countermeasure for use in cobble, sand beach, salt marsh, and mud flat environment.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.58-66
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• 2006

Environmental Sensitivity Index Map(ESI Map) is useful information for efficient and prompt contolling of oil spill accident. Environmental sensitivity information relating to oil spill is very various, so efficient access and utilization for environmental sensitivity information at control field is required. In order to improve the efficiency of controlling accident at the field, it is necessary to building digital ESI Map and GIS program. In this study, GIS database was built to utilize environmental sensitivity information at Yeosu and Gyunggi bay. And the ESI Map program which is focused on the control job was developed. IMO/IPIECA's guide to make the ESI Map and Korea Coast Guard's guide to collect information for the control information map were referenced to capture environmental sensitivity data and build GIS database. The symbology of environmental sensitivity layers was defined and functions for supporting control job were implemented in ESI Map program. For the future works, the program in this study could be applied to ESI Map program for the whole coastal area of Korea and it could be the essential element technology in marine pollution control supporting system.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.64-73
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• 2024

Oil spills pose significant threats to marine ecosystems, human health, socioeconomic aspects, and coastal communities. Accurate real-time predictions of oil slick transport along coastlines are paramount for quick preparedness and response efforts. This study used an open-source OpenOil numerical model to simulate the fate and trajectories of oil slicks released during the 2007 Hebei Spirit accident along the Korean coasts. Six combinations of input parameters, derived from a five-day met-ocean dataset incorporating various hydrodynamic, meteorological, and wave models, were investigated to determine the input variables that lead to the most reasonable results. The predictive performance of each combination was evaluated quantitatively by comparing the dimensions and matching rates between the simulated and observed oil slicks extracted from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data on the ocean surface. The results show that the combination incorporating the Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) for hydrodynamic parameters exhibited more substantial agreement with the observed spill areas than Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS), yielding up to 88% and 53% similarity, respectively, during a more than four-day oil transportation near Taean coasts. This study underscores the importance of integrating high-resolution met-ocean models into oil spill modeling efforts to enhance the predictive accuracy regarding oil spill dynamics and weathering processes.

• Proceedings of KOSOMES biannual meeting
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• 2017.04a
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• pp.195-195
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• 2017

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.655-661
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• 2015

This study intends to evaluate the effect of nitric acid($HNO_3$) spill accidents on the marine ecosystem, while $HNO_3$ is known as one of the typical HNS. For this purpose, we performed (1) the growth inhibition test by using phytoplankton(Skeletonema costatum), (2) acute and chronic toxicity test by using invertebrate(Brachionus plicatilis and Monocorphium acherusicum), (3) fish(Cyprinodon variegatus) and (4) bacteria(Vibrio fischeri). In these tests, we observed the (1) pH changes induced by the nitric acid spill and (2) changes in nitrate($NO_3$) concentration disassociated from nitric acid after the accident, respectively. The toxicity test result on pH changes induced by $HNO_3$ shows that the no observed effect concentration(NOEC), lowest observed effect concentration(LOEC) and 50 % effect concentration($72h-EC_{50}$) values of M. acherusicum are pH 7 (0.3 mM), pH 5(1.1 mM) and pH 5.2(1.4 mM), respectively, indicating that M. acherusicum is the most sensitive species. The chronic toxicity test (population growth rate test) on $NO_3{^-}$ of B. plicatilis show that the NOEC, LOEC and $96h-EC_{50}$ are 5.9 mM, 11.8 mM and 32.6 mM, respectively, indicating that B. plicatilis is the most sensitive species. In conclusion, toxic effecst on the marine organism caused by the nitric acid spill accident is determined to be so slightly except for the most adjacent area of the ship in pH scale and such concentration of nitrate, to the extent of directly influencing the survival and reproduction of the marine organism, is determined practically not to be applicable in the typical accidents in the sea.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.423-432
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• 2019

Along with an increase in marine activities every year, the frequency of marine accidents is on the rise. Accordingly, various research activities and policies for marine safety are being implemented. Despite these efforts, the number of accidents are increasing every year, bringing their effectiveness into question. Preliminary studies relying on annual statistical reports provide precautionary measures for items that stand out significantly, through the comparison of statistical provision items. Since the 2000s, large-scale marine accidents have repeatedly occurred, and case studies have examined the "accident response." Likewise, annual statistics or accident cases are used as core data in policy formulation for domestic maritime safety. However, they are just a summary of post-accident results. In this study, limitations of current marine research and policy are evaluated through a literature review of case studies and analyses of marine accidents. In addition, the ontology of the marine accident information classification system will be revised to improve the current limited usage of the information through an attribute analysis of boating accident status reports and text mining. These aspects consist of the reporter, the report method, the rescue organization, corrective measures, vulnerability of response, payloads, cause of oil spill, damage pattern, and the result of an accident response. These can be used consistently in the future as classified standard terms to collect and utilize information more efficiently. Moreover, the research proposes a data collection and quality assurance method for the practical use of ontology. A clear understanding of the problems presently faced in marine safety will allow "suf icient quality information" to be leveraged for the purpose of conducting various researches and realizing effective policies.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.58-64
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• 2024

Approximately 250 marine oil spill accidents have occurred in Korea, with profound impact on local communities and the environment. The restoration process necessitates significant resources and costs to return affected areas to their pre-accident state. In accordance with the polluter pays principle, compensation is demanded from polluter, as stipulated in both international conventions and national laws. Consequently, investigations are conducted to determine civil and criminal liability. As the importance of investigation actors in oil spill accidents increases, standards such as CEN 15522-2 and ASTM D 3248 are employed to determine the similarity between the spilled oil and the oil of the suspected ship. Among these standards, CEN 15522-2, the most actively used European standard, underwent its third revision and is now known as EN 15522-2, as of 2023. This study used EN 15522-2 to analyze samples from marine oil spill accidents that occurred in Korea. The results indicated that, considering the characteristics of domestic spills where light fuel oil spills account for more than 40%, the application of EN 15522-2, which includes low-boiling point substances such as Adamantanes, was confirmed to be highly effective.

• Strategy21
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• s.37
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• pp.193-241
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• 2015

China, Japan and Korea are the world's top 10 energy consumers, and so very interested in the development of seabed hydrocarbon resources in order to meet their energy demands. The East China Sea is the tri-junction area where three countries' entitlements on the maritime boundaries are overlapped. There are abundant oil reserves in the East China Sea, and therefore competitions among countries are growing to get control of them. Although these countries have concluded the bilateral agreements to jointly develop resources in the East China Sea, they do not function as well. Because joint development and management of seabed petroleum resources can lead to stable development system, and to lower possibility of legal and political disputes, the needs for joint development agreement among three countries are urgent. Meanwhile, Northeast Asian seas are semi-closed seas, which are geographically closed and vulnerable to marine pollution. Moreover there are a lot of nuclear power plants in coastal area, and seabed petroleum resources are being developed. So it is likely to occur nuclear and oil spill accidents. Fukushima nuclear disaster and Bohai Bay oil spill accident in 2011 are the cases to exhibit the potential of major marine pollution accidents in this area. It is anticipated that the risks become higher because power plants and offshore oil platforms are extending gradually. Therefore, the ways to seek the joint marine environmental protection agreement focused on regulation of nuclear power plant and offshore oil platform have to be considered. In this paper, we try to find the way to make joint development and joint environmental protection agreement in Northeast Asian seas. We concentrate on the measure to drive joint development of seabed petroleum deposits in East China Sea's overlap area, despite of maritime delimitation and territorial disputes, and we try to drive joint marine environmental protection system to respond to marine pollution and accidents due to offshore oil platform and nuclear power plants. Through these consideration, we seek solutions to deal with lack of energy, disputes of maritime territorial and boundary delimitation, and marine pollution in Northeast Asia.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.37 no.6_1
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• pp.1773-1784
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• 2021

In order to minimize damage to oil spill accidents in the ocean, it is essential to collect a spilled area as soon as possible. Thus satellite-based remote sensing is a powerful source to detect oil spills in the ocean. With the recent rapid increase in the number of available satellites, it has become possible to generate a status report of marine oil spills soon after the accident. In this study, the oil spill area was calculated using various satellite images for the Symphony oil spill accident that occurred off the coast of Qingdao Port, China, on April 27, 2021. In particular, improving the accuracy of oil spill area determination was applied using high-resolution commercial satellite images with a spatial resolution of 2m. Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2, LANDSAT-8, GEO-KOMPSAT-2B (GOCI-II) and Skysat satellite images were collected from April 27 to May 13, but five images were available considering the weather conditions. The spilled oil had spread northeastward, bound for coastal region of China. This trend was confirmed in the Skysat image and also similar to the movement prediction of oil particles from the accident location. From this result, the look-alike patch observed in the north area from the Sentinel-1A (2021.05.01) image was discriminated as a false alarm. Through the survey period, the spilled oil area tends to increase linearly after the accident. This study showed that high-resolution optical satellites can be used to calculate more accurately the distribution area of spilled oil and contribute to establishing efficient response strategies for oil spill accidents.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.603-612
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• 2017

Accidents associated with hazardous materials, including oil and HNS, in maritime transportation show increasing trend. Therefore, preventive countermeasures for such accidents should be provided. The purpose of this study is to analyze level of risk on human loss and potential damage to environment, using data on domestic marine accidents carrying hazardous materials (2002~2014), and identify high-risk accident types for urgent risk management which needs findings of accident causes and proper mitigation measures. High-risks on human loss are explosion and suffocation, occurred in process of ship maintenance and tank cleaning. On the other hand, high-risk on environmental damage is spill caused by ship accidents (collision, grounding and etc.). Especially, spill occurs during loading operation of oil and HNS onboard a ship. Strict operation supervision/management and safety education/training on a regular basis could prevent accidents, because human factors such as not wearing safety gear and careless cargo handling cause most of the marine accidents.