Modeling oil dispersion under breaking waves. Part I: Wave hydrodynamics

Cui, Fangda; Daskiran, Cosan; King, Thomas; Robinson, Brian; Lee, Kenneth; Katz, Joseph; Boufadel, Michel C.

doi:10.1007/s10652-020-09753-7

Cited by 14 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…These results indicate that not only the location where these compounds form is relevant for response and mitigation, but it is also vital to forecast where they accumulate during their transport as well as their final fate. Thus, future studies should explore not only changes in droplet's physicochemical properties, but also the influence of other physical mechanisms showed to alter oil distribution and droplet size at surface, such as waves (Zhao et al, 2014;Cui et al, 2020), and spatio-temporally explicit turbulence (Nordam et al, 2019;Boufadel et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Coupled Lagrangian-Earth System Model for Predicting Oil Photooxidation

2021

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During the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) blowout, photooxidation of surface oil led to the formation of persistent photooxidized compounds, still found in shoreline sediments a decade later. Studies demonstrated that photooxidation modified both biodegradation rates of the surface oil and the effectiveness of aerial dispersant applications. Despite the significant consequences of this weathering pathway, the lack of measurements prevented photooxidation to be accounted for in the DWH oil budget calculations and in most predictive models. Here we develop a Lagrangian photooxidation module that estimates the dose of solar radiation individual oil droplets receive while moving in the ocean, quantifies the likelihood of photooxidative changes, and continues to track the transport of these persistent photooxidized compounds. We estimate and track the likelihood of photooxidation of Lagrangian oil droplets in the upper layers of the water column for the DWH case by coupling the net shortwave radiation from NOGAPS to the oil application of the Connectivity Modeling System (oil-CMS). The dose of solar radiation upon a droplet is computed with the intensity of the incoming irradiance at the ocean’s surface, the light attenuation coefficient, and the depth of the oil droplets. Considering a range of DWH empirical irradiance thresholds, we find that photooxidation can happen at short time scales of hours to days, in agreement with the new paradigm of oil photooxidation. Furthermore, the oxidized compounds are likely to form in a 110 km radius around the response site, suggesting that the oil reaching the coastline was already photooxidized. This new dynamic coupling provides a powerful tool to test oil weathering hypotheses, refine the oil budget during the DWH, and ultimately inform rapid response in future oil spills.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Coupled Lagrangian-Earth System Model for Predicting Oil Photooxidation

2021

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“…On the other hand, predicting the dispersion of oil droplets in the water column is one of the major factors that needs further assessment in order to determine the impacts of spilled oil on the ecosystem and communities. For oil released on the ocean surface, breaking waves play an important role in the dispersion and fate of oil spills [156]. As studied by Tkalich and Chan [157] higher energy waves trigger more intensive breaking of the slick and dispersion.…”

Section: Shoreline Energymentioning

confidence: 99%

From Surface Water to the Deep Sea: A Review on Factors Affecting the Biodegradation of Spilled Oil in Marine Environment

Bacosa

Ancla

Arcadio

et al. 2022

JMSE

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Over the past century, the demand for petroleum products has increased rapidly, leading to higher oil extraction, processing and transportation, which result in numerous oil spills in coastal-marine environments. As the spilled oil can negatively affect the coastal-marine ecosystems, its transport and fates captured a significant interest of the scientific community and regulatory agencies. Typically, the environment has natural mechanisms (e.g., photooxidation, biodegradation, evaporation) to weather/degrade and remove the spilled oil from the environment. Among various oil weathering mechanisms, biodegradation by naturally occurring bacterial populations removes a majority of spilled oil, thus the focus on bioremediation has increased significantly. Helping in the marginal recognition of this promising technique for oil-spill degradation, this paper reviews recently published articles that will help broaden the understanding of the factors affecting biodegradation of spilled oil in coastal-marine environments. The goal of this review is to examine the effects of various environmental variables that contribute to oil degradation in the coastal-marine environments, as well as the factors that influence these processes. Physico-chemical parameters such as temperature, oxygen level, pressure, shoreline energy, salinity, and pH are taken into account. In general, increase in temperature, exposure to sunlight (photooxidation), dissolved oxygen (DO), nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium), shoreline energy (physical advection—waves) and diverse hydrocarbon-degrading microorganisms consortium were found to increase spilled oil degradation in marine environments. In contrast, higher initial oil concentration and seawater pressure can lower oil degradation rates. There is limited information on the influences of seawater pH and salinity on oil degradation, thus warranting additional research. This comprehensive review can be used as a guide for bioremediation modeling and mitigating future oil spill pollution in the marine environment by utilizing the bacteria adapted to certain conditions.

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“…Another method involves small-scale laboratory tests, primarily generating waves via agitators, allowing for precise control of environmental conditions such as water temperature and light, with a high degree of reproducibility [28,29]. Medium-scale tank tests, widely employed in the study of oil dispersion, can largely replicate on-site wave conditions [30,31]. Additionally, the method of regression analysis has often been employed to establish a mathematical relationship between oil dispersion and influencing factors, and this approach has been applied in this study [32,33].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Physical Properties and Environmental Conditions on the Natural Dispersion of Oil

Wang,

Han,

Zhang

et al. 2023

JMSE

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The natural dispersion of oil depends on the oil types, wave-mixing energy, and the temperature and salinity of water. Laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of these factors on oil dispersion. The results demonstrated that the increase in temperature significantly enhanced the oil dispersion efficiency, particularly for low-viscosity oils. At 30 °C, the dispersion efficiency is 2 times higher than that at 15 °C, while salinity has no significant effect on dispersion efficiency. Nonlinear fitting results revealed an exponential increase in dispersion efficiency with the energy dissipation rate. Furthermore, partial correlation analysis was employed to examine the effects of oil density, viscosity, and surface tension on dispersion efficiency. The results indicated a high correlation between density, viscosity, and dispersion efficiency (r = −0.801, r = −0.812), whereas the correlation coefficient of surface tension was low (r = −0.286). Based on these findings, linear and nonlinear regression models were established between dispersion efficiency and density and viscosity, enabling a rough estimation of oil spill dispersion efficiency under low sea state conditions.

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Modeling oil dispersion under breaking waves. Part I: Wave hydrodynamics

Cited by 14 publications

References 62 publications

A Coupled Lagrangian-Earth System Model for Predicting Oil Photooxidation

A Coupled Lagrangian-Earth System Model for Predicting Oil Photooxidation

From Surface Water to the Deep Sea: A Review on Factors Affecting the Biodegradation of Spilled Oil in Marine Environment

Effects of Physical Properties and Environmental Conditions on the Natural Dispersion of Oil

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