ASBD

Abiotic

Non living environmental variables, such as salinity, temperature or sediment grain size.

Anaerobic

Without oxygen.

ASBD

Arctic Seas Biodiversity. Research program on biodiversity issues initiated by Eni Norge in 2007.

ASBD area

The coastal and off shore waters of Troms and Finmark Counties, Northern Norway, within which ASBD fieldwork has been carried out and to which recommendations are valid.

BAP

Biodiversity Action Plan, at set of actions enforced to mitigate any effects of an activity on biodiversity

The Baseline

A straight line drawn between the outermost coastal islands, capes and skerries, defining the inner Norwegian Waters, and providing base for the 12 n. miles territorial waters. The fjords, including large fjords such as Vestfjorden, Sognefjorden or Porsanger are located within the Baseline, and are defined as inner Norwegian Waters.

Baseline survey

An investigation carried out to provide basis for future monitoring

BES

Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

Biodiversity

As biological diversity

Biological diversity

Biological diversity: the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems. (Convention on Biological Diversity) Sub-definitions according to MarBEF (www.marbef.org)

Genetic diversity – (not considered within the ASBD project) is the variation in the genetic composition among individuals of a population, a species, an assemblage, or a community. Diversity on a genetic level is a reflection of the similarities and differences in the genes (segments of DNA on chromosomes) of individuals.

Ecosystem diversity - is a term that incorporates both habitat and community diversity. A habitat is the environment in which an organism or species lives and includes the physical characteristics (e.g., climate or the availability of suitable food and shelter) that make it especially well suited to meet the life cycle needs of that species. A community consists of the assemblage of populations of plants and animals that occupy an area and their interactions with each other and their environment. An ecosystem is a unique combination of plant, animal and microorganism communities and their non-living physical characteristics interacting as a functional unit. Inherent in ecosystem diversity are thus both biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living) components, which makes it different from both genetic and species diversity.

Species diversity - is a measure of the number and frequency of species in a community. Biodiversity is most commonly described in terms of species diversity, and particularly in terms of species richness (the number of species in a given habitat).

BOD

Biological Oxygen Demand, the amount of oxygen required for biological degradation of an organic compound (usually specified as BOD5 or BOD7, specifying 5 or 7 days incubation at a specific temperature).

BOP

Blow out Preventer. Safety valve normally placed at the seabed to prevent discharges from a well.

Deep Sea

Area beyond the continental shelf margin. Comment: In practice we refer to deep-sea as depths below 750 m, as defined by the Norwegian Deep-Sea working group. At these depths, methods for carrying out sea-floor surveys differ somewhat from those prescribed by standard off-shore guidelines. See also ISO 16665 for implications for benthic sampling.

DN

The Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management. DN is a directorate under the ministry of the Environment, being responsible for managing of biological diversity.

DP

Dynamic positioning. Enables a ship to be kept at an exact position using thrusters and engines (opposed to an anchored ship).

E&P

Exploration and Production (of oil and gas)

EEA

The EEA (European Economic Area). This agreement of 1994 is the major co-operation agreement between EU and the former EFTA countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

ERA

Environmental Risk Assessment. A method to calculate and present a theoretical risk that a planned operation will impose to sensitive environmental resources.

FPSO

Floating Production Storage and Offloading. An offshore installation producing the well stream form an oilfield, and storing oil for regular offloading to tankers.

GBS

Gravity Based Structure. Petroleum installation standing at the seabed.

H₂S

Hydrogen Sulphide, smelly nerve toxin produced by anaerobic decomposition of organic material.

IPIECA

The global oil and gas industry association for environmental and social issues. http://www.ipieca.org/

MAREANO

Norwegian State financed program initiated to obtain better knowledge of seabed topography, biodiversity and bottom relief in the Lofoten – Barents Sea area. The program is implemented by Norwegian Geological Survey (NGU), Institute of Marine Research (IMR) and the State Mapping Authority.

MD

Norwegian Ministry of the Environment

MIRA

Miljørettet Risikoanalyse, a method widely applied in ERA on the Norwegian offshore Monitoring The recurrent collection of data on particular ecosystem components with the presumption of taking mitigating measures in case threshold values are exceeded

MSFD

Marine Strategy Framework Directive is an EU directive requiring Member States (MSs) and in Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland through the EEA agreement, to prepare national strategies to manage their seas to achieve or maintain Good Environmental Status (GES) by 2020.

MMO

Marine Mammals Observer. A person onboard a seismic vessel responsible for looking out for marine mammals in the operations area

NAO

The North Atlantic Oscillation is the difference between air pressure over the sea outside Spain and the air pressure over the waters off Iceland. The index indicates the weather conditions in Scandinavia; negative NAO indicate cold and dry weather, while positive NAO is accompanied by mild and humid weather

NEEZ

Norwegian Exclusive Economic Zone. A 200 nautical miles zone on the seaward side of the baseline, within which Norwegian legislation for resource exploitation is enforced.

OED

Norwegian Ministry of Oil and Energy.

OLF

The Norwegian Oil Industry Association, a pressure group for oil companies

PDA

Predefined Areas (In Norwegian: forhåndsdefinerte områder), mature areas of the Norwegian EEZ in which production Licences can be awarded directly from the Oil And Energy Department following a less extensive licensing procedure. PDO Plan for development and operation. The operators planned development of a field. Has to be approved by the authorities.

PL

Production Licence. Licence for exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons in a specified area on the Norwegian Offshore.

PVA

Particularly Valuable Areas (Norwegian SVO: Spesielt verdifulle områder). Marine areas which at a national and international scale are important to one or more species or stocks of species.

Resilience

The ability of a species, or variety or breed of species, to respond and adapt to external environmental stresses.

SEAPOP

A long term monitoring and mapping programme for Norwegian seabird populations started in 2005. SEAPOP is implemented by Norwegian Institute of Nature Research (NINA) in cooperation with Norwegian Polar Institute (NP) and Tromsø Museum (TMU). The program is sponsored by the Ministry of the Environment, The Ministry of Oil and Energy and OLF.

Sensitivity

(working definition under development) The degree and extent to which an individual, community or system responds to an event or change in surroundings, and whether it readily returns to its original state or remains changed.

Surveillance

Collection of data on ecosystem components without any presumptions of management actions (cf. Monitoring). Sverdrup Unit for measuring the volume of water transported in a marine current. One Sverdrup is 1 million m3 water x Second-1.

TOC

Total Organic Contents, contents of Carbon chemically bound in organic material in e.g. a sediment sample.

VEC

Valued Ecosystem Component – A resource or an environmental feature of the ecosystem which, if altered from present condition, will be important for the evaluation of environmental impact and be the focus of administrative or amending measures.

Vulnerability

The likelihood of significant change if exposed to negative external pressures