U.S. Navy Ship Salvage Manual Volume 6 - Oil Spill Response

S0300-A6-MAN-060Percolation. The process by which water flows through the interstices of a sediment. Specifically,inwave phenomena, the process by which wave action forces water through the intersticesofthe bottom sediment. Tends to reduce wave heights.Performance. The ability of a boom to contain or deflect oil under a given set of environmentalconditions.Permeability. The characteristics of a material which allow a liquid or gas to pass through. Pourpoint. The lowest temperature at which a substance flows under specified conditions.Public vessel. Vessels owned or bareboat-chartered and operated by the U.S., or by a state orpolitical subdivision thereof, or by a foreign nation, except when such vessel is engaged in commerce.Reclamation. The processing of used oil to recover useful oil products.Regional Response Team (RRT). The Federal response network under the NRT consisting ofregional Federal agency and state representatives. There are 13 RRTs, one for each of the tenstandard Federal regions, a separate one for Alaska, one for Hawaii and the Pacific U.S. areas, andone for the Caribbean areas.Release. Any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting,escaping, leaching, dumping, or disposing into the environment (including the abandonment ofdiscarding of barrels, containers, and other closed receptacles containing any HS or pollutant orcontaminant). For NCP purposes, release also means threat of release.Reserve buoyancy. Gross buoyancy minus boom weight.Reserve buoyancy to weight ratio. Reserve buoyancy divided by boom weight.Response; oil spill response. Action taken to prevent, reduce, monitor, or combat oil pollution.Roll response. Rotation of the boom from rest due to wave, wind, or current forces.Sheen. An iridescent appearance on the surface of the water,Skirt. That continuous portion of the boom below the floats.Sounding tube. A pipe leading to the bottom of an oil or water tank, used to guide a soundingtape or jointed rod when measuring the depth of liquid in the tank; also called a sounding pipe.“Sour” crude. Crude oil that contains hydrogen sulfide (H2S), or a relatively high percentage ofsulfur.Special-purpose boom. A boom that departs from the general characteristics of “fence-type” and“curtain-type” booms, either in design or intended use.Glossary-10