Shoreline Oil Cleanup, Recovery And Treatment Evaluation
The SOCRATES integrated management system provides a comprehensive information facility to support shoreline oil cleanup from planning through to documentation. SOCRATES, developed jointly by BMT and AEA Technology, combines fundamental research on the optimal cleanup of oiled shorelines with leading edge information systems technology. Version 2.0 builds on the previous success of SOCRATES and its implementation in several world regions for both oil companies and national governments.
Contingency Planning
Contingency Plan data can be viewed directly on the GIS displays and interrogated to access relevant supporting information and images. This data includes full listing of the physical and accessibility characteristics of different beaches, environmentally sensitive site information, beach access points and equipment storage inventories.
Operational Data Management
Careful documentation of the extent of shoreline impact and the methods and resources used to respond to the spill are acknowledged to be major factors in the acceptance of claims for cleanup costs as well as providing an audit trail for post-operation wash-up and analysis. Following the Sea Empress Spill a structured reporting and logging system has been provided through a process of consultation with responders.
Shoreline Cleanup Decision Support
Full-scale beach and inshore trials have been conducted by AEA Technology to assess the effectiveness of different cleanup methods over a range of beached and floating oil spill scenarios. Combining these results with information from the Contingency Plan database, SOCRATES is able to determine the optimum cleanup strategy for any oiling scenario. Estimates of the type and quantities of equipment required at each stage of the cleanup are provided. Once plans have been developed, SOCRATES procedures a structured report, ready for use on site or for event-logging.