skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Physical oceanography of oil spills

Abstract

The introduction of petroleum products and crude oil from ship accidents and damaged platforms into the ocean remains a significant problem. Weather systems of nearly all sizes and time scales may have strong effects on oil slick movement and dispersal. Thunderstorms, local weather systems, mid-latitude high- and low-pressure systems, tropical cyclones, and the trade winds and prevailing westerlies of the planetary wind system are all potentially important agents in the movement and dispersal of oil slicks. Currents driven by these wind systems are influenced by the rotation of the earth, which causes them to veer to the right of the wind in the northern hemisphere. Wind shifts or sudden decreases in wind stress induce circular or inertial oscillations whose period varies with latitude. Near the shore these effects are severely damped by the blocking action of the coast, causing the flow to run more or less parallel to the coastal boundary. All these effects will in turn exert significant control over the movement of entrained oil slicks. In the near-field region of an oil spill tidal currents can also be of considerable importance. Rotary currents, characteristic of open-shelf waters and effective dispersal agents of oil, arise from the influence ofmore » the rotation of the earth on the tidal current. Another such interaction between rotation of the earth and the tide produces Kelvin waves, which result in unusually high tidal ranges along the coast to the right of the tidal wave propagation. Both effects have been important in recent oil spills. All these oceanographic processes, reviewed in this talk, have played key roles in major spills over the last 15 years from the Torrey Canyon to the Mega-Borg.« less

Authors:
 [1]
  1. Louisiana State Univ., Baton Rouge (United States)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
7271265
Report Number(s):
CONF-910403-
Journal ID: ISSN 0149-1423; CODEN: AABUD
Resource Type:
Conference
Journal Name:
AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (United States)
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 75:3; Conference: Annual meeting of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), Dallas, TX (United States), 7-10 Apr 1991; Journal ID: ISSN 0149-1423
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
02 PETROLEUM; 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; OIL SPILLS; ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT; SEAS; OCEANIC CIRCULATION; GENERAL CIRCULATION MODELS; OCEANOGRAPHY; WATER CURRENTS; WEATHER; CURRENTS; MASS TRANSFER; MATHEMATICAL MODELS; SURFACE WATERS; 020900* - Petroleum- Environmental Aspects; 540120 - Environment, Atmospheric- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)

Citation Formats

Murray, S P. Physical oceanography of oil spills. United States: N. p., 1991. Web.
Murray, S P. Physical oceanography of oil spills. United States.
Murray, S P. 1991. "Physical oceanography of oil spills". United States.
@article{osti_7271265,
title = {Physical oceanography of oil spills},
author = {Murray, S P},
abstractNote = {The introduction of petroleum products and crude oil from ship accidents and damaged platforms into the ocean remains a significant problem. Weather systems of nearly all sizes and time scales may have strong effects on oil slick movement and dispersal. Thunderstorms, local weather systems, mid-latitude high- and low-pressure systems, tropical cyclones, and the trade winds and prevailing westerlies of the planetary wind system are all potentially important agents in the movement and dispersal of oil slicks. Currents driven by these wind systems are influenced by the rotation of the earth, which causes them to veer to the right of the wind in the northern hemisphere. Wind shifts or sudden decreases in wind stress induce circular or inertial oscillations whose period varies with latitude. Near the shore these effects are severely damped by the blocking action of the coast, causing the flow to run more or less parallel to the coastal boundary. All these effects will in turn exert significant control over the movement of entrained oil slicks. In the near-field region of an oil spill tidal currents can also be of considerable importance. Rotary currents, characteristic of open-shelf waters and effective dispersal agents of oil, arise from the influence of the rotation of the earth on the tidal current. Another such interaction between rotation of the earth and the tide produces Kelvin waves, which result in unusually high tidal ranges along the coast to the right of the tidal wave propagation. Both effects have been important in recent oil spills. All these oceanographic processes, reviewed in this talk, have played key roles in major spills over the last 15 years from the Torrey Canyon to the Mega-Borg.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/7271265}, journal = {AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (United States)},
issn = {0149-1423},
number = ,
volume = 75:3,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1991},
month = {Fri Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1991}
}

Conference:
Other availability
Please see Document Availability for additional information on obtaining the full-text document. Library patrons may search WorldCat to identify libraries that hold this conference proceeding.

Save / Share: