Modelling oil plumes from subsurface spills

Robin Lardner; George Zodiatis

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.07.018

Modelling oil plumes from subsurface spills

Mar Pollut Bull. 2017 Nov 15;124(1):94-101. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.07.018. Epub 2017 Jul 11.

Authors

Robin Lardner¹, George Zodiatis²

Affiliations

¹ Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada; Oceanography Center, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus.
² Oceanography Center, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus. Electronic address: gzodiac@ucy.ac.cy.

PMID: 28709523
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.07.018

Abstract

An oil plume model to simulate the behavior of oil from spills located at any given depth below the sea surface is presented, following major modifications to a plume model developed earlier by Malačič (2001) and drawing on ideas in a paper by Yapa and Zheng (1997). The paper presents improvements in those models and numerical testing of the various parameters in the plume model. The plume model described in this paper is one of the numerous modules of the well-established MEDSLIK oil spill model. The deep blowout scenario of the MEDEXPOL 2013 oil spill modelling exercise, organized by REMPEC, has been applied using the improved oil plume module of the MEDSLIK model and inter-comparison with results having the oil spill source at the sea surface are discussed.

Keywords: Oil plume model; Oil spill model; Sub-surface oil spill model.

MeSH terms

Models, Theoretical*
Petroleum Pollution*
Seawater