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ballast tanks: Special tanks on large ships that are used to provide stability needed when a ship is carrying less than a full load of cargo and to keep it at the proper depth in the water. When the ship is loaded with cargo, the ballast tanks are emptied and its contents (usually sea water) are released to surrounding waters; when the ship is empty, the ballast tanks are filled with water (or other substance like soil or sand) to keep it upright.
barrel: A unit of volume used for crude oil or other petroleum products. A barrel is equal to exactly 42 U.S. gallons or approximately 35 Imperial (UK) gallons.
barrier or containment barrier: With respect to oil spill cleanup, any non-floating structure which is constructed to contain or divert spilled oil. Barriers are generally improvised and, unlike booms, are usually left in place until the cleanup program is complete. Sorbent materials may be used in the barrier construction to simultaneously recover spilled oil. Barriers are most frequently used in streams or ditches too shallow for conventional floating booms, and are almost always staked downstream of the spill site.
base: A substance that accepts hydrogen ions donated by an acid. Bases have a pH greater than 7. Contrast with acid.
bathymetric survey: The process of gathering information about navigable waters in order to map the sea floor elevations (topography) and the variations of water depth.
bbl: Abbreviation for barrel.
benthic: Animals dwelling on the bottom of a water body. These organisms inhabit the sediment on lake, river, or ocean bottoms, as well as the sediment in marshes, tidal flats, and other wetlands. Associated with sediments on the bottom of a water body. Contrast with pelagic.
berm: (1) A raised shoulder or dike around a tank or tank farm, providing a reservoir should any oil be discharged from the tanks.
(2) A low impermanent, nearly horizontal or landward-sloping beach, shelf, ledge, or narrow terrace on the back-shore of a beach, formed of material thrown up and deposited by storm waves; it is generally bounded on one side or the other by a beach ridge or beach scarp. Some beaches have no berm, others may have one or several.
bilge: The lowest point of a ship's inner hull. Water, waste oil, and other pollutants tend to collect in the bilge, and if flushed while at sea, the oil can form a slick on the ocean's surface and in turn cause incidental oiling of passing birds.
biodegradable: The property of a material to decompose naturally.
biodegradation: The chemical breakdown of materials by living organisms in the environment. Biodegradation depends on certain microorganisms, such as bacteria, yeast, and fungi, which break down molecules for use as food energy. Certain chemical structures are more susceptible to microbial breakdown than others; vegetable oils, for example, will biodegrade more rapidly than petroleum oils.
biological agent: Microorganisms (primarily bacteria) added to the water column or soil to increase the rate of biodegradation of spilled oil. Alternatively, nutrients added to the water (in the form of fertilization) to increase the growth and biodegradation capacity of microorganisms already present. Also, a type of weapon of mass destruction.
bioremediation: The act of adding fertilizers or other materials to contaminated environments, such as oil spill sites, to accelerate the natural biodegradation process. Three main types of bioremediation technologies are currently being developed or applied for treatment of oil spills: addition of fertilizer to oiled shorelines, addition of microbial products to oiled shorelines, and addition of fertilizer and/or microbial products to open-water oil slicks.
bivalve: Member of the invertebrate class Bivalvia, including the shellfish groups with two hinged shells, such as oysters.
black oil: A black or very dark brown layer of oil. Depending on the quantity spilled, oil tends to quickly spread out over the water surface to a thickness of about 1 millimeter (0.04 inches). However, from the air, it is impossible to tell how thick a black oil layer is.
BLEVE: Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion. BLEVEs typically occur in closed storage tanks that contain a liquefied gas, usually a gas that has been liquefied under pressure. A common BLEVE scenario happens when a container of liquefied gas is heated by fire, increasing the pressure within the container until the tank ruptures and fails. When the container fails, the chemical is released in an explosion. If the chemical is above its boiling point when the container fails, some or all of the liquid will flash-boil--that is, instantaneously become a gas. If the chemical is flammable, a burning gas cloud called a fireball may occur if a significant amount of the chemical flash-boils. Potential BLEVE hazards include thermal radiation, overpressure, hazardous fragments, smoke, and toxic byproducts from the fire. See also liquefied gases, liquified natural gas, and liquified petroleum gas.
blowout: An uncontrolled flow of gas, oil, or other fluids from a well into the atmosphere or into an underground formation. A well may blow out when formation pressure exceeds the pressure applied to it by the column of drilling fluid.
boiling point: The maximum temperature at which a substance's liquid phase can exist in equilibrium with its vapor phase. Above the boiling point, a liquid vaporizes completely. The boiling point depends on a chemical's composition and the applied pressure. As pressure increases, the boiling point of a substance also increases. The boiling point is also the temperature at which the vapor pressure of a liquid is equal to the applied atmospheric pressure.
boom (containment): A temporary floating barrier used to contain an oil spill. Booms are used to reduce the possibility of polluting shorelines and other resources, and to help make recovery easier. Booms help to concentrate oil in thicker surface layers so that skimmers, vacuums, or other collection methods can be used more effectively. They come in many shapes and sizes, with various levels of effectiveness in different types of water conditions.
boom failure: Failure of a boom to contain oil due to excessive winds, waves or currents, or improper deployment. Boom failure may be manifested in oil under-flow, oil splash-over or structural breakage.
brackish: Water with a salinity less than ocean or seawater (about 35 ppt) and greater than freshwater (0 ppt).
brown oil: Typically a 0.1mm - 1.0mm thick layer of water-in-oil emulsion (thickness can vary widely depending on wind and current conditions).
bulk carrier: An ocean-going vessel specifically designed to transport large quantities of a single product, such as grain or coal.
bunker fuel (or bunkers): Heavy, residual fuel oil used for a vessel's own engines or boilers. Bunker fuel gets its name from the containers on ships and in ports that it is stored in, called bunkers. Bunker A (a lighter fuel oil, such as No. 2 fuel) is distilled from crude oil; bunker B is relatively viscous oil (No. 4 or No. 5 fuel); and bunker C is very viscous (No. 6 fuel). Since No. 6 is the most common, "bunker fuel" is often used as a synonym for No. 6.
buoy: A floating object that is generally anchored to the bottom of the sea. It is often used as a navigational aid and to mark a mooring location.

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