Coastline in-situ burning of oil spills in the Arctic. Studies of the environmental impacts on the littoral zone community

Highlights: • Coastline in-situ burning (cISB) on an Arctic rocky shore in Greenland • Environmental impact investigation of the littoral zone community • High degree of natural variation in littoral community biomasses and abundance • Short-term (days) persistence of vegetation in mid and low littoral zone level • Long-term (year) littoral zone high level impacts on coverage, biomass, abundance In-situ burning (ISB) has been an oil combat technique studied since the 1950s. However, burning of the oil on the sea surface along the coastline, coastline ISB (cISB), is novel and was tested for the first time in the Arctic along a rocky coast in the summer 2017. A light crude oil was burned and effects of the cISB operation on the littoral zone communities investigated. The impact on macroalgal vegetation and associated fauna was analysed in three littoral zone levels. The analyses revealed limited effects on the littoral community, and that variation between sample plots and years in macroalgal biomass and coverage, as well as fauna biomass and abundance was higher than the impact from cISB. Therefore, it is concluded that cISB in the Arctic along a rocky shore may be an oil spill response option with relatively low environmental side effects for the specific oil type used.