Online Observer

W. Scott Pegau wasn’t born in Alaska, but it’s the place that feels like home.

When Pegau was a kid, his family moved to Alaska so his dad could attend the University of Alaska Fairbanks, or UAF. His dad was later hired by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, so the family stayed.

After graduating from high school in Nome, Pegau joined the Navy for 6 years, then headed to his dad’s alma mater, UAF, and later Oregon State University for graduate school. Pegau chose to major in physics.

“I avoided the natural sciences,” Pegau says. “So we both got a good laugh, because when I did come back up to Alaska, I was hired as a fisheries biologist.”

His journey from physics to fisheries is what makes his background particularly helpful in his role as a member of the Council’s Scientific Advisory Committee.

Atmospheric physics to ocean physics

For a while after undergrad, Pegau worked with atmospheric models at UAF’s Geophysical Institute. He liked the work but found that he missed being close to the ocean. He also found himself interested in the physics of light.

He combined these interests in a Ph.D. in oceanography from Oregon State University, where he focused on how light interacts with ocean water. He also studied how to use remote sensing technologies to gather ocean data.

He uses the colors of the sky and the ocean to explain how light can provide information. Blue light waves scatter across the atmosphere when they encounter particles.

“So when you look up, you see blue.”

He says sunrises and sunsets appear red because red light waves make it far enough into the atmosphere to reach the clouds. Pegau says the ocean appears blue for a different reason.

“Blue light has the greatest chance of reflecting back out of the water because it’s least absorbed.”

He says the light interacts differently according to what’s in the water. Particles or features in the water such as sediments or plankton can be identified by examining how light waves are reflected or absorbed.

“Each particle has a different kind of scattering characteristic,” he says. “If you’re trying to figure out how light transmits through the ocean, you’re trying to put those two things together: How is it being absorbed and how is it being scattered?”

Over the years, he traveled all over the northern hemisphere studying the optical properties of the oceans and looking at remote sensing methods to gain more understanding of the ocean, its currents, and inhabitants.

North to Alaska

In the early 2000s, he came back to a job at Homer’s Kachemak Bay Research Reserve. Finally settling in Cordova, he has coordinated and managed research projects for the Oil Spill Recovery Institute for the last 18 years.

Born out of the aftermath of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the institute funds research projects that improve oil spill response and seeks to better understand spills’ impacts to people and wildlife.

He’s also authored or co-authored papers on topics including remote sensing of spilled oil, the circulation of ocean currents, and the effects of crude oil on herring. The herring fishery in Prince William Sound disappeared a few years after the Exxon Valdez oil spill and has never fully recovered.

As he now prepares to retire, he’s excited to finish up a study on how the atmosphere and ocean conditions affect herring populations.

“I’ve really wanted to work on this particular project,” Pegau says. “I’m trying to determine what makes for a good herring year. Different factors come into play. Are the winds holding the larvae near the shore? Is the food the right size or the right type for the larvae?”

Volunteering for the Council

Pegau has been an ex officio member of the Council for many years as part of his work for the institute. He joined the Scientific Advisory Committee this past year, answering the committee’s call for an oceanographer.

He says he’s always appreciated the committee’s commitment to good science. He says their work is important for keeping Prince William Sound safe from spilled oil.

“If you want to protect resources, you better have good information.”

Volunteer Spotlight

Matt Melton, like many others born and raised in Alaska, received an early education in oil spills. He was in fifth grade when he saw people on TV scooping up oil in buckets after the Exxon Valdez spill. His first instinct was to help. He asked his mom to take him to the cleanup but was told there were no hotel rooms in Valdez.

“Little did I know that this incident was going to have such an impact on my career,” he said.

Melton went on to study environmental science and technology at New England College during his undergraduate years, and later a master’s degree in organizational management at the same school. Then the 9/11 attacks happened.
“That was my first exposure to incident management,” Melton said.

New England College was close enough to New York that many students and the surrounding community were affected as many were during that time. As part of his studies, Melton assisted the campus operations team with crisis management planning. That experience set him on a career path in emergency response.

Today, Melton works in emergency response planning and training for PCCI, Inc., a Virginia-based company who maintains response equipment and conducts hazards training and exercises with global response teams.

Incident management, according to Melton, is a simple concept: assess, adapt, adjust, document, execute, and do it again. “It’s about preparing people to quickly and effectively solve complex problems during high-pressure emergencies,” he said.

Melton has responded to emergencies across different industries, ranging from oil spills to the COVID-19 pandemic. A key feature of a response is the Incident Command System, or ICS, a standardized emergency management structure first developed in the early 1970s to coordinate wildfire response. It has since been adopted for all types of emergency management.

Each response is different, and it’s impossible to plan for every detail in advance. He emphasizes that having the right people with the knowledge and experience to adapt is important.

“As soon as we’re done, we’re going to know how to do it,” Melton jokingly tells his trainees.

He pointed to the recent collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore as an example of large-scale emergency coordination. A ship lost power and collided with the bridge. The incident had the potential for major disruptions to regional and national transportation and economics.

“That was a massive collaboration of different entities. There were multiple entities represented in the Unified Command. You would think it would be crazy, but it went really smooth.”

Melton says training plays a critical role in effective response.

“People who don’t understand ICS get hung up on little things or let ego get in the way,” he said. “In Alaska, we train so much and focus on key operational aspects to achieve the objectives of the response.”

Melton sees a similar commitment to preparedness in the Council, where he serves as vice chair of the Oil Spill Prevention and Response Committee.

“We have a range of maritime and response experts who work who work hard to support the committee’s mission,” he said.

Melton volunteers for the Council because of what’s at stake.

“That pipeline and the ships that come in and out of Port Valdez represent a piece of the financial lifeblood of Alaska,” he said. “After any response, especially the Exxon Valdez, we learn a lot of hard lessons,” he said. “The RCACs, whether it’s Cook Inlet or Prince William Sound, don’t let folks forget where we ended and how we don’t want to go back there again.”

Melton adds that the industry and regulatory representatives who participate in the committee’s meetings are an important part of the process.

“They’re some of the biggest advocates for the environment and the people because they understand how critical it is to keep oil safely in the pipeline and on the ships,” he adds. “They don’t want spills any more than we do.”