A SURVEY OF OIL SPILL TRANSPORT ON THE SURFACE OF THE OCEAN

Recent biological studies have indicated that the principal cause of mortality to marine life forms from oil spills is due to the toxicity of the lower boiling aromatic fractions of the oil. Other field studies on the initial spreading of oil indicate that there appears to be a strong tendency for the oil to fractionate. These observations indicate that the present physical models of the oil, in which the oil is treated as a homogeneous substance, may be of only limited usefulness in assessing spill impact on ecological parameters. The problem is discussed and conclusions drawn with respect to the specification of the appropriate transport mechanisms. Further, literature on oil spill transport by wind and waves is surveyed and conclusions are drawn regarding the form of the appropriate predictive equations. The tanker ARROW spill of 4 February 1970 is reanalyzed based on these considerations, demonstrating that the coriolis force-dominated analysis recently executed by other investigators is probably inappropriate in light of subsequently published current data.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Presented at the New England Section Meeting of SNAME.
• Corporate Authors:

  Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers

  601 Pavonia Avenue
  Jersey City, NJ  United States  07306-2907
• Authors:
  • Stewart, R J
• Publication Date: 1973-9

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: 33 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Dispersers; Dynamics; Oil spill cleanup; Oil spills; Transport properties (Physics)
• Uncontrolled Terms: Transport properties
• Old TRIS Terms: Oil dispersal; Oil spill behavior; Oil spreading dynamics
• Subject Areas: Environment; Marine Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00054181
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: May 7 1974 12:00AM