A case study of the Suez Gulf: Modelling of the oil spill behavior in the marine environment

Abstract

The marine environment is a dynamic and diversified network of habitats and species. The more oil explorations occur in the marine environment, the more strategies of preparedness and response to oil spills should be designed.Once the oil is introduced to the marine environment, it undergoes a series of natural processes known as 'weathering.' For a successful response operations and protection, it is critical to precisely estimate the behavior of the spilled oil.Twenty-four simulated scenarios were created (12 Regular and 12 Worst Cases Scenarios) and run into the licensed Canadian SL-Ross predictive mathematical oil spill model, which successfully was used as a decision support and response tool to investigate the oil spill trajectory, beaching of oil, and its fate from the expected oil drilling rig source near Ras Gharib area in the Red Sea Region.Twenty-four oil spill trajectories maps were developed, which predicted all possibilities and probabilities of oil spill movements. Accordingly, the oil spill trajectories varied not only in magnitude and directions, but also in the shoreline interaction time (hrs.).The weathering processes are shown in ten graphs, which provided output data regarding the change in the spill's total area of slick (km2), the volume of slick (bbl.), the emulsion water content percentage, the rate of evaporation percentage, and the rate of natural dispersion percentage.