The culmination of a five-year, US $12 million research project was recently presented to a skeptical audience in Anchorage, Alaska (USA). The research concluded that cleaning up oil spills on and around Arctic ice may actually be easier than cleaning up oil spills in open ocean conditions. Although these findings are contrary to conventional wisdom on the subject, the reason is simple. Oil spilled in open water quickly spreads and ultimately contaminates shorelines. Ice, in contrast, can act as a natural containment boom, allowing responders more time to clean up a spill before it spreads.
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