Ice & Fire: the Burning Question

With the Arctic opening up to new shipping routes and increased oil exploration and production due to climate change, the risk of an Arctic oil spill is increasing. Of the classic oil spill response methods (mechanical recovery, dispersants and in-situ burning), in-situ burning is considered to be particularly a suitable response method in the Arctic.

In-situ burning aims to remove the oil from the marine environment by burning it from the water surface. A recent Ph.D. thesis from the Technical University of Denmark has provided some new insights with respect to the fire science behind this response method.