General trends in the soft bottom environment of the Ekofisk region, Norwegian sector

摘要

The environment in the North Sea has been investigated over several years and since 1996 the environmental monitoring of the oil activity in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea and the North Atlantic has been performed in regions, covering large areas. This paper gives an overview of the general trends over years in Region I, the Ekofisk area. The benthic macro fauna community in this region is disturbed to varying extents, which seems to be a consequence of the activities in the area, physical disturbances and a diffuse organic load from various sources affecting the North Sea. The trend analyses of fauna communities in Region I indicate reduced supplies of available organic material and a positive development in the fauna community that reveals an ongoing improvement in the environment until at least 500 m from the oil field centres.