NEWS RELEASE
U.S. COAST GUARD
**************************
CLEVELAND — The U.S. Coast Guard Great Lakes Oil Spill Center of Expertise, located in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, announced its project funding for Fiscal Year 2025, Jan. 15, 2025. The nine projects will advance oil spill detection, response and mitigation strategies tailored to meet the challenges of the Great Lakes region. “The Great Lakes Oil Spill Center of Expertise is dedicated to enhancing oil spill preparedness, response, and research in the Great Lakes,” said U.S. Coast Guard Cmdr. Christopher Pace. “These projects represent a significant step forward in addressing the unique environmental and logistical challenges of oil spill preparedness and response in the Great Lakes.”
Funded projects include:
- High-frequency Electromagnetic Interference for oil detection in freshwater ice conditions: Experimental Study Exploring advanced electromagnetic interference technologies for oil spill detection in icy freshwater conditions. Awarded Partner: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Research and Development Center
- Additive manufacturing of drum-skimmer surface geometries, optimized for the Great Lakes region Leveraging 3D printing to enhance the efficiency of oil skimmers tailored to the region’s needs. Awarded Partner: Deep Analytics, LLC
- Preparing for non-conventional product incidents in the Great Lakes – Workshop Hosting a specialized workshop to prepare for unconventional spill scenarios in the region. Awarded Partner: NOAA Office of Response and Restoration
- Characterizing the properties and fate of synthetic fluids under varying environmental conditions Investigating the environmental impact of synthetic fluids from wind energy systems. Awarded Partner: U.S. Coast Guard Academy
- Physicochemical changes of oil during weathering processes in freshwater wetland mesocosms Studying oil weathering to improve understanding of its long-term effects in freshwater wetlands. Awarded Partner: Lake Superior State University
- Generating toxicology data to improve freshwater oil spill effect models under different environmental conditions Providing new data to enhance predictive models of oil spill toxicity in freshwater environments. Awarded Partner: Huntsman Marine Science Centre
- Biological responses to oil spills using Omics to assess kinetic exposures in streams Utilizing cutting-edge molecular biology techniques to evaluate ecological impacts of oil spills. Awarded Partner: International Institute for Sustainable Development
- Identifying the year-round magnitude, frequency, and extent of flow reversals in Great Lakes' river-to-lake transitions Mapping flow dynamics to predict and mitigate the spread of oil during spill events. Awarded Partner: U.S. Geological Survey
- Uncrewed detection of submerged oil using UV fluorometry – Phase 2 Developing uncrewed systems for enhanced underwater oil detection. Awarded Partner: Michigan Tech Research Institute – Ann Arbor
To track the progress of the projects and for information on future funding opportunities visit https://www.dco.uscg.mil/GLCOE/.
**************************
