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small noaa logo Home | Students and Teachers | Responding to Oil Spills
Information to support effective and safe responses to oil spills in the coastal environment.
Featured:Software & Data SetsWeb Portals
Coral Reefs and Oil Spills: A Guided Tour Get a basic overview of coral ecology, learn what types of things can harm coral, and see how responders must handle fragile coral reefs in their response and restoration efforts.
Dispersants: A Guided Tour Dispersants are one kind of countermeasure to oil spills. Here's a basic explanation of what they are and how they work.
exxon valdez Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Overview of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska. Includes links to many related resources, including photo galleries.
Guided Tours
Learn about oil spills, chemical releases, hazardous waste sites, and some of the NOAA software and systems that emergency responders use to protect the public and sensitive environments.
Oil Spills: A Guided Tour A number of things can result in the spill of a pollutant into the ocean.
Oil Trajectory Prediction Here's how our computer model predicted the oil spilled from the Exxon Valdez would travel across Prince William Sound, Alaska, during the first week after that spill started in March 1989.
OR&R Drift Card Studies Drift card studies conducted by NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R), Emergency Response Division (ERD).
Tarballs What are tarballs, and how do they form?
What's the Story on Oil Spills? When we talk about oil spills, how much oil are we talking about?

Software & Data Sets for Students and Teachers supporting Responding to Oil Spills Pages on our site that provide access to software created by the Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R) to aid first responders, planners, and restoration practitioners.
Drawing of a sinking tanker, leaking oil into the water. GNOME
The GNOME Development team has released a Location File for New York Harbor, plus an updated GNOME 1.3.0!
Using Maps to Evaluate Environmental Tradeoffs
Instructions and materials for an exercise in which you plan a protection strategy for a coastline threatened by an oil spill.
icon for dispersant navigation. Spill Tools
A set of free programs designed for oil spill planners and responders, which you can download and use.
Spill Tools: An Oil Spill Response Exercise
A set of exercises to help responders and planners learn to use Spill Tools.
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Web Portals for Students and Teachers to sites about Responding to Oil Spills Pages on our site that provide information about and access to Web sites of closely-related agencies and programs.
Screenshot of the Incident News home page. IncidentNews
News and information on current and historical incidents, including the crash of US Air flight 1549 into the Hudson River on Jan. 15, 2009.
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Current News: Students and Teachers
Web Site Survey Take a voluntary Web site survey to indicate your level of satisfaction with OR&R's Web offerings. (updated: April 2, 2009)
Of Special Note: Students and Teachers
IncidentNews News and information on current and historical incidents, including the crash of US Air flight 1549 into the Hudson River on Jan. 15, 2009.
Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Overview of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska. Includes links to many related resources, including photo galleries.
NOAA Restoration Portal Web Site Provides centralized access to information about NOAA restoration resources, including restoration techniques and NOAA restoration references, through a single point-of-entry.
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