For larger spills, better coordination among existing surveillance systems would assist in understanding the risk factors and in developing effective prevention efforts.
For sufficiently large spills, the overall Spill Task Force may require activation.
However, Alun Lewis, a British oil-spill consultant who is an authority on the Bonn convention, said the method was specifically not recommended for analyzing large spills like the one in the Gulf of Mexico, since the thickness was too difficult to judge in such a case.
Clear spatial dependence patterns are found for the effects of these attributes, with further evidence of large spill-over effects for neighbouring areas in the case of proximity to either a peat bog or an area subject to a ban on the sale of smoky coal.
As a result of the perturbation solutions, the combined model, which consists of the continuous model and the subsequent instantaneous model, is necessary for a large spill source rate, whereas the continuous model is only required for a small spill source rate.
"We have never tried so many different methods for a large spill on the surface as we have during this, and I have been doing oil spill response for 30 years," Admiral Allen said.
That estimate was made by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration using methods not recommended for large oil spills, and it came under attack from professors and advocacy groups who said the spill had to be larger.
Production-well accidents have also resulted in several large spills.
In the Netherlands, measurements have also been taken after large spills.
But the American Petroleum Institute called dispersants "the most effective technique for combating larger spills in offshorewaters," and questioned whether a laboratory study could reflect "what is experienced in the real world".
