The Oil Spill Science Triad: Viewpoint on the Coexistence and Optimization of Models, Laboratory Tests, and Empirical Field Observations and Data for Natural Resource Damage Assessments

Abstract

This paper provides a viewpoint on ways to blend and optimize the use of various scientific tools to address information needs as part of oil spill natural resource damage assessments (NRDAs). Oil spills are complex events of multidisciplinary interest, requiring the application of a blend of established, generally accepted approaches to answer the many scientific questions related to oil spill response and NRDAs arising during and after each spill. Each spill scenario is unique and demands different information, but central to all assessment strategies are questions around the needs for and the feasibility of collecting adequate representative field data versus (or more productively in concert with) the application of spill models, remembering that models alone can't create facts. Useful information also comes from considering the degree to which the processes and ambient measures in a new spill can be represented by extrapolations of data and information from prior spills. Through a discussion of a three-part “toolkit” or “triad” applied to different types of oil spill NRDAs, this discussion offers insights and suggestions, largely from a strategic scientific perspective, for optimizing the blend of these tools to sufficiently address the assessment of injuries to natural resources so restoration can be appropriately evaluated, scaled, planned, and implemented.