Abstract
We present a Compositional Eulerian model to forecast the evolution of oil spills in the sea. The model allows studying the fate of not only the oil concentration but also of each component (e.g., volatile, non-volatile, water in the oil). Therefore, the problem is formulated as a conservation equation for each component, plus an equation to estimate the age of the oil, which allows us to assess weathering processes (e.g., evaporation, natural dispersion, emulsion) and the associated changes in oil properties. We describe an efficient implementation, using second order numerical schemes for advection and nonlinear diffusion terms, to reduce numerical diffusion. We perform numerical experiments, based on real and synthetic cases, to illustrate and validate the capabilities of our model to forecast the evolution of oil spills and to perform environmental risk analysis in the case of a potential accident.
Highlights
Oil spills in the ocean receive significant public attention and their remediation is costly
We have presented a new Compositional Eulerian formulation to simulate the transport and fate of an oil spill in the sea
The resulting Partial Differential Equations (PDEs) system includes an equation that describes the age of the slick in a continuous way
Summary
Oil spills in the ocean receive significant public attention and their remediation is costly. Forecasting by means of oil spill fate models is needed both to ‘‘get ahead of questions and concerns by the public’’ (Fingas, 2016) and to generate the information needed for the control and management of the spill (Comerma et al, 2006). Both needs imply that forecast has to be done as fast and accurately as possible. Oil spill modeling is complex because numerous processes are involved and because mathematical representation of each process is in itself complex This complexity has led to specialists talking of ‘‘oil spill science’’ (Fingas, 2013). Fate is affected by weathering processes such as evaporation (i.e., transfer of oil to the atmosphere), dispersion (i.e., transfer of oil to the water column as oil droplets), dissolution (i.e., transfer of oil to the water column as solutes), emulsification (i.e., dispersion of water droplets into the oil, forming a new phase, ‘‘chapapote’’), photo-oxidation (i.e., oxidation of oil by sun light), biodegradation (i.e., oxidation of oil by microorganisms), etc. (for detailed descriptions of these processes see e.g., Comerma et al (2008), Reed et al (2017) and Ward et al (2018))
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