Oil in the Sea IV Quick Guide for Practitioners and Researchers (2023) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
Fates: Where Does the Oil Go?
Fates: Where Does the Oil Go?
Pages 34-44
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From page 34... ...
Because many oil components do not mix with and are lighter than seawater, oil spills form slicks on the sea surface and droplets (or bubbles in the case of natural gas) in the ocean water column.
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From page 35... ...
TABLE 2 Major Processes Affecting Oil Fate Process Definition Promoting Conditions Spreading on water Movement of oil on the sea Low-viscosity oils spread surface that creates thin, more quickly than those floating pools of slicks and with high viscosity sheens Dispersion Incorporation of spilled oil Oil concentration into seawater decreases as oil mixes with seawater, with the degree of mixing influenced by turbulence and ocean currents Aerosolization Transfer of liquid petroleum Wind, waves, and white from the sea to surface to capping the atmosphere by particle formation Emulsification Formation of a mixture The amount of oil at the sea consisting of small droplets surface, wind, and wave of oil and water action (turbulence) , and the use of dispersants Evaporation Transfer of the slick or more Higher surface area of volatile substances from oil exposed to the air, the oil slick to the air by high fraction of volatile vaporization compounds in the oil, warm temperatures, wind and wave action (turbulence)
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From page 36... ...
Process Definition Promoting Conditions Dissolution Transfer of water-soluble High fraction of water compounds in oil into the soluble compounds in surrounding water the oil spilled, turbulence, and large interfacial area between petroleum fluid and the water Photo-oxidation Chemical reactions Oil at the surface of the occurring in the liquid- water, in the photic zone, phase petroleum and and on shorelines and weathered petroleum as beaches; sunlight; formation a result of sunlight in the of free radicals which in presence of oxygen turn react with oxygen to produce reactive oxygen species FIGURE 12 Summary of processes affecting the fate of oil in the sea. SOURCE: Image provided courtesy of the American Petroleum Institute, produced by Iron Octopus Productions, Inc.
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From page 37... ...
These findings have generated new questions about the quantity, identity, fate, and toxicity of photo-oxidation reaction products. THE ROLE OF ‘OMICS IN STUDYING MICROBIAL COMMUNITIES IN THE SEA Revolutionary advances in high-throughput DNA sequencing, bioinformatic software, and sequence databases (collectively termed ‘omics technologies)
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From page 38... ...
They can also serve as "final responders," continuing to biodegrade oil components that remain after other natural processes wane and human interventions are complete. Samples taken from the deep dispersed oil plume from the DWH spill revealed the magnitude of oil biodegradation in cold, deep ocean water.
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From page 39... ...
4. Isolating and sequencing total messenger RNA from a species (transcriptomics)
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From page 40... ...
Microbes abound even in the permanently dark and cold ocean depths, including longlived cells in ancient deep-sea sediments and abysses such as the Mariana Trench. Insights into Oil Fate Afforded by the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Prior to 2010, the majority of oil spill observations focused on the fate of oil spilled at the sea surface, but the DWH oil spill took place deep underwater, highlighting many oil behaviors and fates occurring in the ocean water column.
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From page 41... ...
Methods to connect equations-of-state with analyzed oil properties and models describing bubble and droplet breakup have evolved tremendously, and laboratory data have been used to calibrate and validate these new models. THE EFFECTS OF SSDI As well as being used to break up surface oil spills, chemical dispersants may also be used on subsea spills to make smaller oil droplets that can disperse into the water column.
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From page 42... ...
THE ROLE OF MARINE SNOW IN TRANSPORTING SPILLED OIL TO THE SEAFLOOR Marine snow is a common natural phenomenon in the sea and occurs when a shower of organic material -- including dead animals and plants, soot, and dust -- falls from upper waters to the deep water (see Figure 13)
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From page 43... ...
HOW TO SCALE MODELS TO PREDICT BUBBLE AND DROPLET SIZE IN FIELDSCALE EVENTS With new laboratory facilities and methods, significant progress has been made in measuring droplet size distributions for oil jet breakup and dispersion of floating oil, and these data have been used to develop and test models for oil droplet size distribution. However, these data were generated in reduced-scale laboratory experiments, which cannot accurately recreate all the parameters of field-scale oil spill events.
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From page 44... ...
products and low sulfur fuel oil and very low LSFOs and VLSFOs. Whereas some research has been conducted on the submergence and sinking potential of dilbit in various environments, there has not yet been a major marine spill of this two-component blend, and the fates of the diluent versus the weathered dilbit warrant further large-scale open-air experimentation to provide insight into potential behavior and fates.
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