FOR RELEASE: October 27, 1994                 CONTACT:  Lee Scurry
                                                    (202) 208-3983

              NATIONAL OIL SPILL RESPONSE TEST FACILITY
                 COMPLETES TESTING ON REMOTE SENSOR (#40081)

     The National Oil Spill Response Test Facility in New Jersey
has completed testing on a promising new remote sensor, developed
to estimate the thickness and condition of an oil slick, the U.S.
Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service (MMS)
announced today.

     "The MMS facility features an open-air tank where
environmentally safe testing of oil spill response equipment and
procedures can be conducted in the presence of oil," said MMS
Acting Director Cynthia Quarterman.  "The facility was recently
used to evaluate a Frequency-Scanning Microwave Radiometer (FSR). 
Installed in an aircraft, it estimates oil slick thickness and
state of weathering.

     "Determining the thickest area of an oil slick is important
for emergency response teams to better position equipment and
recover more oil," Quarterman said.  "Testing at the MMS facility
involved controlled spills with five different types of oils --
including a Canadian crude oil that clumps in cold water.  The FSR
sensor was attached to the tank bridge and performed extremely
well."

     The FSR sensor is designed to be mounted on an aircraft, from
which a laser scans the radiometric temperature of an oil slick
over a wide frequency band.  This unique approach to oil thickness
sensing was developed and patented, under Coast Guard sponsorship,
by Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Lincoln Laboratory. 
Final results from MMS' test facility are essential in determining
feasibility and probable effectiveness.

     The facility is managed by MMS, and operated and maintained by
MAR Inc. under contract to MMS.  For more information, call Joe
Attard or Joe Mullin at (703) 787-1580.  For more information about
the FSR sensor, call Gary Hover, Coast Guard Research and
Development Center, at (203) 441-2818.

     MMS is the federal agency that manages and regulates the
nation's natural gas, oil and other mineral resources on the Outer
Continental Shelf, and collects and disburses revenues from
offshore federal mineral leases and from onshore mineral leases on
federal and Indian lands.

                                -MMS-

Subject: PR-10/27/94 OHMSETT/National Oil Spill Response Test
Facility Completes Testing On Remote Sensor (#40081)