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Techreport Reference D4.3 - Models intercomparison
Maritime transport represents more than 80% of the international trade volume (UNCTAD, 2017). Apart from crude oil, tanker trades of refined petroleum products, chemicals and gas have increased by 4% over the 2019-2021 period, with a 5.6% growth in Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) trade (UNCTAD, 2022). The volume of hazardous and noxious substances (HNS) is thus constantly rising with an increased risk of accidental spillages potentially associated with marine pollutions, whether in ports or in the open sea. In the event of an incident and a spill in the environment, information on the fate of the chemical(s) involved is essential to better anticipate the risks incurred by responders and populations, the impacts on the environment as well as the appropriate response techniques (Mamaca et al., 2009). Chemicals accidentally spilled into the marine or aquatic environment generally undergo physical-chemical modifications that will characterize their behaviour and fate. As observed by Mamaca et al. (2004) and Le Floch et al. (2011), these modifications are dependent on the intrinsic parameters of the product involved, the in situ environmental parameters (temperature, density and salinity of the water) and the met-ocean conditions (e.g. sea state, wind speed, marine currents). A few hours following the spill short-term effects may thus occur such as spreading, natural dispersion in the water column (dissolution, emulsification) and evaporation into the atmosphere. Longer term degradation (e.g. polymerisation, biodegradation) and sedimentation processes can then follow, depending on the persistence and the nature of the substance. One of the main concerns is that around 2,000 different types of HNS are regularly shipped in bulk or package forms (Purnell, 2009) which thus make difficult to capture their behaviour if accidentally released in the environment. Of the wide variety of HNS traded, volatile and gaseous substances are particularly problematic for marine pollution response authorities. The release of such substances at sea can indeed lead to the formation of toxic, flammable, or explosive gas plumes – sometimes invisible to the naked eye – that can travel large distances and pose risks over a wide area in relatively short timescales. Yet, key information on the risks that responders or rescue teams could take when intervening, or those that could impact coastal communities and the environment when allowing a shipping casualty to dock at a place of refuge remain poorly known. The MANIFESTS EU-project is part of this context.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023 OA
Techreport Reference D4.4 - Model validation
The transportation of hazardous and noxious substances (HNS) on ships has been on the rise in recent years, posing a significant threat to both human health and the environment. The spill of these chemicals can have far-reaching consequences, particularly when dealing with highly volatile substances that can spread rapidly and unpredictably. The MANIFESTS project has been established with the goal of better understanding the behaviour of these substances to improve response capabilities in the event of a spill. Through research and analysis, the project aims to improve already existing models for predicting the behaviour of HNS in various environments, and to validate these models through a series of experiments and real-world scenarios. Models are essential tools to understand and predict the behaviour of HNS in the event of a spill. However, they are not perfect and have limitations in terms of accuracy, which must be considered by the users. During the MANIFESTS project, the models CHEMMAP, OpenDrift, OSERIT, and MOHID, have been utilized and compared against separate sets of data. These models will be introduced briefly in the next section. This report consists of three validation sections. The first section compares a small-scale laboratory experiment that visualizes the competition between evaporation, dissolution, and volatilization, and assesses the model's ability to simulate these processes. The second section investigates the impact of wind on the evaporation rate and provides as much environmental data as possible to the model, using a wind tunnel. The two last section of this report compares the models' simulation with the sea trials that took place at the end of May 2022. These sections compare both the drift in the water and the air dispersion against field data. By analysing these different experiments, we can understand the capabilities and limitations of the models used in this project.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023 OA
Techreport Reference D5.2 - MANIFESTS DSS - Installation guides
This technical deliverable explains the installation details of the decision support tools developped during the MANIFESTS project "MANaging risks and Impacts From Evaporating and gaseous Substances To population Safety". These tools includes: - The MANIFESTS Common Operational Picture and its viewer (COP tool) - The MANIFESTS models web application
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023 OA
Techreport Reference D5.3 - MANIFESTS DSS - User guides
This technical deliverable explains the utilisation of the decision support tools developped during the MANIFESTS project "MANaging risks and Impacts From Evaporating and gaseous Substances To population Safety". These tools includes: - The MANIFESTS Common Operational Picture and its viewer (COP tool) - The MANIFESTS models web application for the fire module, explosion module and for OSERIT HNS - The HNS database
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023 OA
Techreport Reference D5.4 - Proof of concept of MANIFESTS DSS
This technical report is a proof of the availability of the service developed and improved during the MANIFESTS project "MANaging risks and Impacts From Evaporating and gaseous Substances To population Safety". It include the models for the fire, explosion, OSERIT object, OSERIT HNS and OSERIT OIL
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023 OA
Unpublished Reference Preliminary report on weathering
This is a list of several parametrizations related to the weathering of oil. This is mainly a work document with references.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2022 OA
Article Reference Middeleeuwse landbouw in Brussel: een natuurwetenschappelijke kijk (BHG)
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2018
Article Reference New specimens of the mesonychid Dissacus praenuntius from the early Eocene of Wyoming and evaluation of body size through the PETM in North America
The Mesonychia is a group of archaic carnivorous mammals of uncertain phylogenetic affinities with a Holarctic distribution during the Paleogene. Intensive fossil collecting efforts in the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, have resulted in recovery of the largest sample and most complete specimens yet known of the mesonychid Dissacus praenuntius from the second biozone of the Wasatchian North American Land Mammal Age (Wa-0). The Wa-0 biozone corresponds to the body of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), a brief but intense global warming event that occurred ~56 myr ago that significantly impacted terrestrial mammal faunas, including dwarfing in many mammal lineages. To evaluate the potential response of this lineage to climate change, we compared the PETM sample of D. praenuntius with those recovered from just before the PETM in the last biozone of the Clarkforkian North American Land Mammal Age (Cf-3) and just after the PETM in the Wa-1 biozone. While the sample size is still too small to say with certainty, tooth size (as a proxy for body weight) of D. praenuntius appears to be smaller during the late PETM than during either the pre-PETM Cf-3, or post-PETM Wa-1 biozones, suggesting the possibility of a muted dwarfing response to the PETM. However, the pattern observed for D. praenuntius differs from that of many other PETM mammals, as the shift to smaller body size is less pronounced and may have only occurred in late Wa-0.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Article Reference A reassessment of the Oligocene hyracoid mammals from Malembo, Cabinda, Angola
The Oligocene Malembo locality, Cabinda exclave, Angola, has yielded a rich vertebrate fauna represented by fragmentary remains. This fossiliferous locality is the only definite occurrence of Oligocene terrestrial mammals in sub-Saharan West Africa. The hyracoids from Malembo have only been very succinctly described and compared thus far, so that their systematic attribution is not consensual among specialists. A revision now allows the identification of three (or four) medium to large-sized species represented by Geniohyus dartevellei, Pachyhyrax cf. crassidentatus, and two undetermined taxa. The species G. dartevellei is revived for the holotype of Palaeochoerus dartevellei Hooijer, 1963; this species is unique to Malembo but appears close to Geniohyus mirus, a species only known from the early Oligocene of the Fayum, Egypt. Other species of Geniohyus and Pachyhyrax crassidentatus are also only known from the early Oligocene of the Fayum. The presence of Geniohyus and Pachyhyrax cf. crassidentatus at Malembo thus supports an early Oligocene age for the fauna.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Article Reference A late early to early middle Eocene mammal assemblage from Bayan Ulan (Inner Mongolia, China): Implication for the reassessment of the Arshantan Asian Land Mammal Age
Paleogene mammal localities of North China are particularly well represented in the Erlian Basin, Inner Mongolia. Among them, the locality of Bayan Ulan is most famous for its late Paleocene Gashatan fauna. However, the younger Arshantan fauna of the same site is not well known, since no extensive study has been done so far. Here, we present a small mammal assemblage based on dental and tarsal material from a new Arshantan collection retrieved from the red beds of the late early to early middle Eocene Arshanto Formation at Bayan Ulan. It consists of at least six different taxa: the basal lagomorph Dawsonolagus antiquus, the large pantodont Pantolambdodon sp., the tapiroid Schlosseria magister, and the rhinocerotoids Hyrachyus crista and Rhodopagus guoi nov. sp. The assemblage is dominated by perissodactyls, especially Lophialetidae and Hyracodontidae. For the first time, p4-m1 of Dawsonolagus antiquus, tarsal material from Pantolambdodon sp., and lower dentition and tarsals of Hyrachyus crista are described and illustrated. Unlike other described Arshantan faunas, the Bayan Ulan Arshantan mammal assemblage has been collected exclusively from a single locality, which contributes to the reassessment of the misunderstood Arshantan Asian Land Mammal Age.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021