Bohai Sea oil spill model: a numerical case study

An Oil spill Trajectory model for the South China Sea was applied for use in the Upper Gulf of Thailand. The model is based on an assumption that spilled oil will act as a floating object on the sea surface moving in the direction of net forcing composed of Ekman current, Stoke drift motion, residual current, and tidal current. Testing was carried out on July 3, 1999 near Sichang Island and October 15, 1999 in the central part of the Upper Gulf. Laminated drift cards representing an oil slick were released on the sea surface and then tracked. Positions were compared to the computational results from model, with measured wind and tidal current from a hydrodynamic model used as input. Results show agreement, assuming correct tidal current. This model can be modified in the future for oil spill emergency response in shallow seas like the Gulf of Thailand.

Marine pollution bulletin, 2016

An analysis of the effects of potential oil spills will provide data in support of decisions related to improving the response to oil spills and its emergency management. We selected the Chinese Bohai Sea, especially the Bohai Strait, as our investigation region to provide an assessment of the effects of pollution from ship-related oil spills on adjacent coastal zones. Ship-related accidents are one of the major factors causing potential oil spills in this area. A three dimensional oil transport and transformation model was developed using the Estuary, Coastal, and Ocean Model. This proposed model was run 90 times and each run lasted for 15days to simulate the spread and weathering processes of oil for each of four potential spill sites, which represented potential sites of ship collisions along heavy traffic lanes in the Bohai Sea. Ten neighboring coastal areas were also considered as target zones that potentially could receive pollutants once oil spilled in the study areas. The st...

Oil Spill Environmental Forensics, 2007

In 2011, an oil spill occurred off Lach Huyen port in the Northeast of Vietnam, due to vessels collision. The results of collision caused pollution on wide area and surrounding areas. This paper was used MIKE 21 SA model to simulate oil spill transport with five scenarios. The results of simulation showed that spill trajectory and slick area depend on analysis hydraulic regime, wind direction and wave in the study area. This paper presents the model application for simulation spill scenarios. It helps in selecting eco-sensitive regions for preparedness and planning suitable response strategies whenever spill incident occurred.

Spill Science & Technology Bulletin, 1994

A state-of-the-art, three-dimensional oil spill model (WOSM]OILMAP) was applied to hindcast the transport and fate of the Braer oil spill, which occurred off the southern coast of Shetland Island in January 1993. The model included advection, spreading, evaporation, emulsification, entrainment, oil-shoreline interaction, and subsurface transport. Tidal and winter residual flow data necessary as input to the model were derived from prior hydrodynamic modeling studies of the area. Wind data were obtained from observations at the Sumburgh Airport for the time period of interest. Model predictions of the surface and subsurface oil paths, shoreline oiling, and subsurface oil distributions are generally in reasonable agreement with available observations. The simulations clearly show the importance of entrainment, subsurface transport, and resurfacing of oil and accurate representations of the current field in the vicinity of the grounding site and to the south of Shetland Island in accurately hindcasting the spill.

Ecology and the Environment, 2006

An assessment system of the marine environment in the Japan Sea is being developed at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency. This study aims to confirm the validity of the assessment system by reproducing the oil spill at the incident of Russian tanker Nakhodka in January 1997. As a main subject, one of the data assimilation techniques, an approximate Kalman filter, was applied to the assessment system by combining an ocean general circulation model with sea level measurements of satellite data. Using calculated ocean currents, simulations of the behaviour of spilled oil were performed with a particle random-walk model. A number of experiments with different parameters and situations showed that the assimilated daily ocean currents with wind drift were for the simulation for movement of spilled oil.

Earth Science Research, 2012

This paper describes the development of an oil spill modeling system that is operational on a global scale and can be used for both real-time response, forecast simulations and probabilistic risk analysis based on climatological wind and ocean current data. For ocean and estuarine spills, the system makes use of the General NOAA Operational Modeling Environment (GNOME) oil spill model, Trajectory Analysis Planner and the Automated Data Inquiry for Oil Spills weathering model. Hydrodynamic and meteorological data is obtained from the US Navy and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Data access is provided through the Naval Oceanographic Office, the Fleet Numerical Meteorological and Oceanographic Center and the GNOME Online Oceanographic Data Server. For riverine spills, the GeoSpatial Stream Flow Model and the Incident Command Tool for Drinking Water Protection are used to respectively, build river networks with associated flows and velocities and, transport and disperse oil spill contamination downstream. Case study examples are presented for both forecast simulations and probabilistic risk analysis.

Spill Science & Technology Bulletin, 1996

Journal of Marine Systems, 2008

This contribution describes the procedure used during the Prestige oil-spillage event, by means of an Operational Oceanography System, and the behaviour of the present prediction tools (hydrodynamic and dispersion models) applied to it. The accuracy of these tools is estimated by a reanalysis of field data transmitted by a sea surface drifting buoy, released at the time of the oil spill. The numerical models applied were the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS), fed by the available six-hourly NCEP atmospheric information, together with a Lagrangian Particle-Tracking Model (LPTM). ROMS has been used to estimate the current fields for the Bay of Biscay, whilst the LPTM has provided the oil spill trajectories. The results demonstrate that the accuracy of the numerical models depends upon the quality of the meteorological input data. In this case, the current fields at the sea surface, derived by ROMS, have been underestimated by the wind fields of the NCEP reanalysis data. An efficient calibration of these wind fields, with data provided by the Gascony buoy (fixed oceanic and atmospheric station), achieves more realistic looking results; this is reflected in the comparison between the buoy trajectory predicted numerically and the tracked movements of the drifting buoy.

Advances in Difference Equations, 2019

Oil spill is the most important cause of marine pollution. It affects marine ecosystem, an economic system, and human society. The main chemical and physical properties are the so-called oil weathering processes; spreading is one of the processes. In this research, the spreading is mainly considered because it is the most dominant process at the beginning of an oil spill incident. A mathematical model for oil prediction, based on Fay's hypothesis and Lehr's formula, is used to simulate the spreading of oil spill. The model needs wind speed as the main factor. In this paper, the wave model, namely WAM, is used for simulation of atmospheric and oceanographic states. The wave model is based on the wave spectral balance equation. The numerical results from the oil spill model based on ocean wave modeling are shown to study oil spill incident at three different locations in the Gulf of Thailand.

Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 2008

To meet the growing energy demand worldwide, oil and gas exploration and production activities have increased rapidly both in onshore and offshore areas. The produced oil from the ocean bed is transported onshore either by ship or pipeline. This has increased the risk of oil spill in the coastal area. In order to prepare an emergency preparedness plan and to assess the magnitude of risk involved in transporting and offloading oil, oil spill simulation studies play an important role. This paper describes a simulation of oil spill in coastal bay of Arabian Gulf where new developments are taking place using MIKE 21 model. The developments include a diesel based thermal power plant near Sir Baniyas Island, which is an ecological fragile area. Based on the project activity, two probable scenarios, one for diesel leak (250 m 3 /h) for 1 h and the other for instantaneous spill (500 m 3) are considered. The MIKE 21 model was calibrated for hydrodynamics using measured field data followed by diesel-spill simulation to track its movement in the Arabian Gulf. The results for both leak and instantaneous spill indicate that spilled diesel will not move towards the Sir Banyas Island and more than 45% of the diesel will be evaporated within 48 h of oil spill. Based on the results, a clean up and contingency plan is proposed to mitigate the adverse impacts arising due to diesel spill in the study area.