Ecosystems Research EROS Page

Introduction: Oil spilled into aquatic environments is subject to a number of fates, including natural dispersion, emulsification and weathering. An oil slick moves due to the inherent spreading of the oil, currents, winds and waves. These processes influence the impacts of the oil on the environment. Various treatments can be used to attempt to clean up oil spills. These include recovery, burning, and the application of chemical dispersants to the slicks. Because of the complexity of the physical, chemical and biological interactions, models are needed to study the effect of each parameter on contaminant concentrations resulting from various hypothetical spills and dispersant treatments. This project is intended to develop and test a model for oil spills that includes the comparative impacts of dispersants on spilled oils. The model will consist of a multicomponent mass balance model for the oil slick, a model of oil spreading and drift, and dissolution and transport in the aquatic environment model.

Objective: The objective of this research is to develop a multicomponent mass balance based model for simulating transport of spilled oils with and without dispersant treatments.

As part of our oil spill work we are studying the flow characteristics of a tidal marsh through field, laboratory and modeling studies.

Data needs for modeling dispersants and oil spills include composition and properties of spilled oil, and data on effectiveness of dispersants. We are working with the Environmental Technology Centre/Centre de Technologie Environmententale of Environment Canada to extend their database on oil composition and properties. Chemical properties of oil components can be estimated using the SPARC Performs Automated Reasoning in Chemicstry (SPARC) calculator. Properties may need estimation if literature values are not available, or if temperature dependence is needed. Temperature variation may be important for estimating the effects of dispersants on oil slicks because the physical properties of oils can change with temperature and dispersant effectiveness can also be temperature dependent, perhaps partly due to its dependence on physical properties and partly due to temperature dependence of the dispersant interactions themselves.

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