1 . INTRODUCTION 



1.1 Purpose of Report 



The purpose of this document is to provide a preliminary account of the 

 physical, chemical, and biological studies initiated by numerous federal and 

 state agencies, and private institutions during the period immediately fol- 

 lowing the grounding of the Argo Merchant on Nantucket Shoals on December 15, 

 1976. 



At 0600 EST, December 15, 1976, Argo Merchant, carrying 7,700,000 gal- 

 lons of No. 6 fuel oil, went aground on Fishing Rip, 29 nautical miles south- 

 east of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts. Despite attempts to refloat the 

 tanker, it began to leak oil, and at 0835 on December 21 the battered tanker 

 broke in two. The subsequent oil spill was one of the largest in United 

 States history. 



The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has estab- 

 lished a NOAA-U. S. Coast Guard Spilled Oil Research (SOR) Team to provide 

 rapid research response in the event of accidental oil spills within the 

 continental United States by studying the physical-chemical movement of 

 various classes of oil at sea under a variety of oceanographic and meteorol- 

 ogical conditions, in support of both predictive and operational oil spill 

 trajectory models. The SOR Team is made up of scientists from NOAA, the U. S. 

 Coast Guard and the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. Within 

 4 hours of the grounding of the Argo Merchant, the SOR Team was notified of 

 the potential major oil spill. 



After arrival on the scene, the first team members were informed that 

 the USCG would provide logistics supporting research. In return, the SOR 

 Team would provide information to the On-Scene Coordinator, as well as assist- 

 ance in coordination between the On-Scene Coordinator and the scientific 

 community involved in research during the spill. Numerous federal and state 

 agencies, as well as state and private research organizations, participated 

 in a combined research effort. 



This report documents the cooperative investigations that were under- 

 taken immediately following the grounding of "the Argo Merchant. It describes 

 completed and continuing research on the physical, chemical, and biological 

 processes associated with the spill, and provides a preliminary assessment of 

 the spill. 



1.2 Historical Background 



In order to place the Argo Merchant spill into proper perspective, it is 

 worthwhile to digress somewhat and examine marine oil pollution in its en- 

 tirety. Sightings of tar balls at sea, oil slicks of unknown origin, and 

 beach pollution by oil have been reported with increasing frequency in the 

 pages of scientific journals and daily newspapers since 1967. After the 1967 



