A CFD Model to Evaluate Near-Surface Oil Spill from a Broken Loading Pipe in Shallow Coastal Waters

Oil spills continue to generate various issues and concerns regarding their effect and behavior in the marine environment,owing to the related potential for detrimental environmental,economic and social implications.It is essential to have a solid understanding of the ways in which oil interacts with the water and the coastal ecosystems that are located nearby.This study proposes a simplified model for predicting the plume-like transport behavior of heavy Bunker C fuel oil discharging downward from an acutely-angled broken pipeline located on the water surface.The results show that the spill overall profile is articulated in three major flow areas.The first,is the source field,i.e.,a region near the origin of the initial jet,followed by the intermediate or transport field,namely,the region where the jet oil flow transitions into an underwater oil plume flow and starts to move horizontally,and finally,the far-field,where the oil re-surface and spreads onto the shore at a significant distance from the spill site.The behavior of the oil in the intermediate field is investigated using a simplified injection-type oil spill model capable of mimicking the undersea trapping and lateral migration of an oil plume originating from a negatively buoyant jet spill.A rectangular domain with proper boundary conditions is used to implement the model.The Projection approach is used to discretize a modified version of the Navier-Stokes equations in two dimensions.A benchmark fluid flow issue is used to verify the model and the results indicate a reasonable relationship between specific gravity and depth as well as agreement with the aerial data and a vertical temperature profile plot.

Severity Risk Analysis Matrix Ranking (SRAMR) for Oil-Spill Contingency Planning: Asemoku-Agip Pipeline in Perspective

One of the down sides of crude oil exploration and exploitation in the developing nations is its impacts on the environment. A major manifestation of poor crude oil management is oil-spillages. Mitigation strategies have been too expensive, but a cheaper recent way of managing crude-spills is by developing a severity risk analysis matrix ranking (SRAMR). The spatial data-sets deployed in this study were acquired from the USGS, Google Earth Pro, and NOSDRA. A buffer zone of 100 - 400 meters was created to characterize the LULC characteristics of the area. Also, this was to help develop a risk sensitivity characteristic. The study found that the vegetal cover was the environmental resource at high risk to crude-spills in the area, while other land-uses were at low risk of crude-spill. It is hoped that the finding from this study informs policy development and planning for crude oil spill incidents.

Oil Spill Risk Assessment of Offshore Pipeline in the Bohai Sea Under the Perspective of Ecological Protection

In recent decades,the exploration and development of marine oil and gas resources have increased significantly to meet the increasing energy demand of mankind.The Bohai Sea is a semi-closed continental sea that has a weak water exchange capacity and high ecological fragility.However,at present,more than 200 oil platforms have been built in the Bohai Sea,with more than 270 offshore oil pipelines having a length exceeding 1600 km.The oil spill pollution of offshore platforms has a great impact on the marine environment and ecosystems.Therefore,a comprehensive assessment of its risks is of great practical significance.This paper systematically constructs a comprehensive oil spill risk assessment model that combines the oil spill risk probability model and the ocean hydrodynamic model.This paper uses the Bohai Sea offshore pipeline as an example to assess its oil spill risk.The high-risk-value areas of the Bohai Sea offshore pipeline are mainly distributed at the bottom of Liaodong Bay,the bottom of Bohai Bay,near the Caofeidian area,and the northern part of the Yellow River Estuary.

Transport and behavior of marine oil spill containing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in mesocosm experiments

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons(PAHs)are one of the most important groups in oil,and re sponsible for major toxic and/or carcinogenic impact on humans and wildlife.It is important to understand the behavior of PAHs in marine environment after an oil-spill incident.However,interaction between petroleum PAHs and microbial communities in a marine environment remains unclear.Therefore,a series of mesocosm experiments were conducted.in which water-accommodated fraction(WAF)of oil was generated to simulate an oil-spill scenario and to analyze the transport and behavior of marine oil spill containing PAHs with and without dispersants.Results indicate that the application of dispersant could increase the concentration of total PAHs in water column due mainly to significant increase in the concentration of highmolecular weight(HMW)PAHs at a lower removal rate.At the end of the 7-day experiment,significant amount of HMW PAHs were accumulated in sediment.In general,the application of dispersant did not increase the sediment uptake of PAHs but increased the PAHs concentration in water column.

Parameterization Method of Wind Drift Factor Based on Deep Learning in the Oil Spill Model

Oil spill prediction is critical for reducing the detrimental impact of oil spills on marine ecosystems,and the wind strong-ly influences the performance of oil spill models.However,the wind drift factor is assumed to be constant or parameterized by linear regression and other methods in existing studies,which may limit the accuracy of the oil spill simulation.A parameterization method for wind drift factor(PMOWDF)based on deep learning,which can effectively extract the time-varying characteristics on a regional scale,is proposed in this paper.The method was adopted to forecast the oil spill in the East China Sea.The discrepancies between predicted positions and actual measurement locations of the drifters are obtained using seasonal statistical analysis.Results reveal that PMOWDF can improve the accuracy of oil spill simulation compared with the traditional method.Furthermore,the parameteriza-tion method is validated with satellite observations of the Sanchi oil spill in 2018.

Application of Vegetation Indices for Detection and Monitoring Oil Spills in Ahoada West Local Government Area of Rivers State,Nigeria

The study evaluated the environmental effects of an oil spill in Joinkrama 4 and Akimima Ahoada West LGA,Rivers State,Nigeria,using various vegetation indices.Location data for the spill were obtained from the Nigeria Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency,and Landsat imagery was acquired from the United States Geological Survey.Three soil samples were collected from the affected area,and their analysis included measuring total petroleum hydrocarbons(TPH),total hydrocarbons(THC),and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons(PAH).The obtained data were processed with ArcGIS software,utilizing different vegetation indices such as the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index(NDVI),Atmospheric Resistant Vegetation Index(ARVI),Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index(SAVI),Green Short Wave Infrared(GSWIR),and Green Near Infrared(GNIR).Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS and Microsoft Excel.The results consistently indicated a negative impact on the environment resulting from the oil spill.A comparison of spectral reflectance values between the oil spill site and the non-oil spill site showed lower values at the oil spill site across all vegetation indices(NDVI 0.0665-0.2622,ARVI-0.0495-0.1268,SAVI 0.0333-0.1311,GSWIR-0.183-0.0517,GNIR-0.0104--0.1980),indicating damage to vegetation.Additionally,the study examined the correlation between vegetation indices and environmental parameters associated with the oil spill,revealing significant relationships with TPH,THC,and PAH.A t-test with a significance level of p<0.05 indicated significantly higher vegetation index values at the non-oil spill site compared to the oil spill site,suggesting a potential disparity in vegetation health between the two areas.Hence,this study emphasizes the harmful effect of oil spills on vegetation and highlights the importance of utilizing vegetation indices and spectral reflectance analysis to detect and monitor the impact of oil spills on vegetation.

Development and Application of Oil-Spill Risk Assessment Model for Offshore Pipeline

To the potential oil-spill risk caused by offshore pipeline more attention has been paid after the Dalian oil spill incident from oil-pipeline explosion. Since then an issue about how to prevent and control the sudden oil-spill from the offshore pipeline has been raised. In this paper, we proposed an optimized model to analyze the main causes(probability) of spill and the consequence with the fuzzy comprehensive assessment model. Considering the complicated assessment process for oil-spill, the assessment factor system involving the spill probability and consequence was established based on the operative manual and statistic leakage/damage data of offshore pipeline in order to estimate the integrated spill risk score automatically. The evaluated factors of spill probability could be grouped into five aspects: corrosion, fatigue, national damage, third party, and operational fault; the consequence evaluated factors of spill included hazard of oil and impact-controlling capability. With some modifications based on experts' opinions, each of the evaluated factors in our work was developed with a relative weight and evaluation criterion. A test example for an offshore pipeline in the Bohai waters was described to show how the model can be used for an actual case in more detail. By using the oil-spill risk assessment model, it is easy to determine the risk level associated with the ongoing activity and management level and hence to take the risk mitigation action immediately.

A review of numerical modeling research on the marine oil spill

Recently, as the oceanic activities are more and more frequently carried out, marine oil spill accidents bring to enormous harm to the economy and society in China, especially in the Offshore China. Marine oil spill is one kind of serious disasters which severely damages the marine environment. Aiming at the improvement of the emergency response system and response ability for the oil spill, the relative technologies on oil spill response are developed. This paper briefly introduces the developments and achievements of the oil spill numerical models, including the oil spill spreading model, the oil spill transport model, the oil particle model as well as the oil spill weathering model, which provide the theoretic criterions for the future work on the oil spill predicting and response.

Value evaluation of ecological risk of marine chemical spills

The environmental risk of chemical spills near coastal zones threatens abundant marine ecological resources. By appraising the ecological damage value of the environmental risk of marine chemical spills, we can facilitate decision-making for the development of a coastal zone and establishment of economic policy on coastal zone management. In this study, the ecological effect of the environmental risk of a chemical spill in the Haicang chemical industrial park in Xiamen was identified, after which its impact was forecasted and its ecological damage value was assessed. The information generated in this study will be useful in future studies evaluating marine ecological compensation based on environmental risk analysis.

Research on the risk-based model for regional emergency resource allocation for ship-source oil spill

The key point for rational allocation of emergency resources is to match the oil spill response capacity with the risk of oil spill. This paper proposes an innovative risk-based model for quantitative regional emergency resource allocation, which comprehensively analyzes the factors such as oil spill probability, hazard consequences, oil properties, weathering process and operation efficiency, etc. The model calculates three major resources, i.e., mechanical recovery, dispersion and absorption, according to the results of risk assessment. In a field application in Xiaohu Port, Guangzhou, China, and the model achieved scientific and rational allocation of emergency resources by matching the assessed risk with the regional capacity, and allocating emergency resources according to capability target. The model is considered to be beneficial to enhancing the resource efficiency and may contribute to the planning of capacity-building programs in high-risk areas.

Sensitive Resource and Traffic Density Risk Analysis of Marine Spill Accidents Using Automated Identification System Big Data

This study developed a new methodology for analyzing the risk level of marine spill accidents from two perspectives,namely,marine traffic density and sensitive resources.Through a case study conducted in Busan,South Korea,detailed procedures of the methodology were proposed and its scalability was confirmed.To analyze the risk from a more detailed and microscopic viewpoint,vessel routes as hazard sources were delineated on the basis of automated identification system(AIS)big data.The outliers and errors of AIS big data were removed using the density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise algorithm,and a marine traffic density map was evaluated by combining all of the gridded routes.Vulnerability of marine environment was identified on the basis of the sensitive resource map constructed by the Korea Coast Guard in a similar manner to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration environmental sensitivity index approach.In this study,aquaculture sites,water intake facilities of power plants,and beach/resort areas were selected as representative indicators for each category.The vulnerability values of neighboring cells decreased according to the Euclidean distance from the resource cells.Two resulting maps were aggregated to construct a final sensitive resource and traffic density(SRTD)risk analysis map of the Busan–Ulsan sea areas.We confirmed the effectiveness of SRTD risk analysis by comparing it with the actual marine spill accident records.Results show that all of the marine spill accidents in 2018 occurred within 2 km of high-risk cells(level 6 and above).Thus,if accident management and monitoring capabilities are concentrated on high-risk cells,which account for only 6.45%of the total study area,then it is expected that it will be possible to cope with most marine spill accidents effectively.

Experimental study of C-band microwave scattering characteristics during the emulsification process of oil spills

In this study,oil spill experiments were performed in a water tank to determine changes in the surface scattering characteristics during the emulsification of oil spills.A C-band fully-polarimetric microwave scatterometer and a vector network analyzer were used to observe films of the following oils:crude oil with an asphalt content below3%that is prone to emulsification(type A),fresh crude oil extracted from an oilfield(type B),and industrial crude oil that was dehydrated and purified(type C).The difference in the backscatter results between the emulsified oil film and the calm water surface under C-band microwaves and the influence of the emulsification of the oil film on the backscatter were analyzed in detail.The results demonstrate that under a low-wind and no-waves condition(the maximum wave height was below than 3 mm),the emulsification of crude oil could modulated the backscatter through changes in the surface roughness and the dielectric constant,where the surface roughness had the dominant effect.The surface backscatters of the type B oil were greater than that of the type C oil in both the emulsified and non-emulsified states.In the non-emulsified state,the average differences in the backscatter between the type B and C oils were 2.19 dB,2.63 dB,and 2.21 dB for the polarization modes of VV,HH,and HV/VH,respectively.Smaller corresponding average differences of 0.98 dB,1.49 dB,and 1.5 dB were found for the emulsified state with a 20%moisture constant for the oil film.The results demonstrated that the surface roughness of the different oil films could vary due to the differences in the oil compositions and the oil film properties,which in turn affect the backscatter of the oil film surface.

Oil Spill Dispersion Forecasting with the Aid of a 3D Simulation Model

The simulation of the transport and fate of an oil slick, accidentally introduced in the marine environment, is the focus of this research. An oil spill dispersion forecasting system （DIAVLOS forecasting system）, based on wind, wave and ocean circulation forecasting models is developed. The 3-D oil spill model, by the University of Thessaloniki, is based on a Lagrangian （tracer） model that accounts for the transport-diffusion-dispersion and physicochemical evolution of an oil slick. The high resolution meteorological, hydrodynamic and wave models are coupled with the operational systems ALERMO and SKIRON of the University of Athens. The modelling system was successfully assembled and tested under theoretical and realistic scenarios, in order to be applied in forecasting mode and be used by local authorities when an accident occurs. As a result, a 48-hours oil spill dispersion forecasting system was synthesized aiming primarily at the oil spill management at the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil-pipe terminal, part of a greater busy coastal basin in North Aegean.

Characterization of water-in-crude oil emulsions in oil spill response

The formation of water in crude oil emulsions occurs when crude oils are spilled into sea. The water in crude oil emulsions significantly change the properties of the spilled crude oils and in turn influence the choices made relating to oil spill countermeasures. The water in crude oil emulsions were characterized using various techniques in this study. The environmental scanning electron microscopy observation of water droplets in the emulsions is also presented. It is a powerful tool in emulsion observations.

The Impact of Diferent Vertical Difusion Schemes in a Three-Dimensional Oil Spill Model in the Bohai Sea

Vertical transport is critical to the movement of oil spills in seawater. Breaking waves play an important role by developing a well-defined mixing layer in the upper part of the water column. A three-dimensional （3-D） Lagrangian random walk oil spill model was used here to study the influence of sea surface waves on the vertical turbulence movement of oil particles. Three vertical diffusion schemes were utilized in the model to compare their impact on oil dispersion and transportation. The first scheme calculated the vertical eddy viscosity semi-empirically. In the second scheme, the vertical diffusion coefficient was obtained directly from an Eulerian hydrodynamic model （Princeton Ocean Model, POM2k） while considering wave- caused turbulence. The third scheme was formulated by solving the Langevin equation. The trajectories, percentages of oil particles intruding into water, and the vertical distribution structures of oil particles were analyzed for a series of numerical experiments with different wind magnitudes. The results showed that the different vertical diffusion schemes could generate different horizontal trajectories and spatial distributions of oil spills on the sea surface. The vertical diffusion schemes caused different water-intruding and resurfacing oil particle behaviors, leading to different horizontal transport of oil particles at the surface and subsurface of the ocean. The vertical diffusion schemes were also applied to a realistic oil spill simulation, and these results were compared to satellite observations. All three schemes yielded acceptable results, and those of the third scheme most closely simulated the observed data.

A study of oil spill detection using ASAR images

The oil spilled worldwide causes ecological disasters that result in enormous damages to the quality of marine environment, and great expenses on clear-up operations are needed. Due to its wide coverage and day-night all-weather observation capability, Synthetic Aperture Radar （SAR） is an important tool for oil spill monitoring and detection. C-band SAR is well adapted to detect oil pollution because oil slicks dampen the Bragg waves and reduce radar backscattering coefficients. In order to detect the area of oil slicks, the algorithm consists of these steps： Preprocessing, Masking of land areas, Detection of dark spots, Spot feature extraction, Dark spot classification. In this paper, the authors examined two coastal regions around Hong Kong and Yantai, China. The obtained results performed on Envisat ASAR images have demonstrated that it is efficient to detect oil spill around the coastal regions. The methodology still needs to be refined with the collection of more SAR data in the near future.

Bioremediation of Oil Spills in Cold Environments: A Review

Oil spills have become a serious problem in cold environments with the ever-increasing resource exploitation, transportation, storage, and accidental leakage of oil. Several techniques, including physical, chemical, and biological methods, are used to recover spilled oil from the environment. Bioremediation is a promising option for remediation since it is effective and economic in removing oil with less undue environmental damages. However, it is a relatively slow process in cold regions and the degree of success depends on a number of factors, including the properties and fate of oil spilled in cold environments, and the major microbial and environmental limitations of bioremediation. The microbial factors include bioavailability of hydrocarbons, mass transfer through the cell membrane, and metabolic limitations. As for the environmental limitations in the cold regions, the emphasis is on soil temperatures, freeze-thaw processes, oxygen and nutrients availability, toxicity, and electron acceptors. There have been several cases of success in the polar regions, particularly in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. However, the challenges and constraints for bioremediation in cold environments remain large.

Spilled gallstones mimicking a retroperitoneal sarcoma following laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy has become a standard treatment of symptomatic gallstone disease. Although spilled gallstones are considered harmless, unretrieved gallstones can result in intra-abdominal abscess. We report a case of abscess formation due to spilled gallstones after laparoscopic cholecystectomy mimicking a retroperitoneal sarcoma on radiologic imaging. A 59-year-old male with a surgical history of a laparoscopic cholecystectomy complicated by gallstones spillage presented with a 1 mo history of constant right-sided abdominal pain and tenderness. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated a retroperitoneal sarcoma at the sub-hepatic space. On open exploration a 5 cm × 5 cm retroperitoneal mass was excised. The mass contained purulent material and gallstones. Final pathology revealed abscess formation and foreign body granuloma. Vigilance concerning the possibility of lost gallstones during laparoscopic cholecystectomy is important. If possible, every spilled gallstone during surgery should be retrieved to prevent this rare complication.

The error source analysis of oil spill transport modeling: a case study

Numerical modeling is an important tool to study and predict the transport of oil spills. However, the accu- racy of numerical models is not always good enough to provide reliable information for oil spill transport. It is necessary to analyze and identify major error sources for the models. A case study was conducted to analyze error sources of a three-dimensional oil spill model that was used operationally for oil spill forecast- ing in the National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center （NMEFC）, the State Oceanic Administration, China. On June 4, 2011, oil from sea bed spilled into seawater in Penglai 19-3 region, the largest offshore oil field of China, and polluted an area of thousands of square kilometers in the Bohai Sea. Satellite remote sensing images were collected to locate oil slicks. By performing a series of model sensitivity experiments with different wind and current forcings and comparing the model results with the satellite images, it was identified that the major errors of the long-term simulation for oil spill transport were from the wind fields, and the wind-induced surface currents. An inverse model was developed to estimate the temporal variabil- ity of emission intensity at the oil spill source, which revealed the importance of the accuracy in oil spill source emission time function.

Field Experiments of Multi-Channel Oceanographic Fluorescence Lidar for Oil Spill and Chlorophyll-a Detection

A Multi-channel Oceanographic Fluorescence Lidar(MOFL), with a UV excitation at 355 nm and multiple receiving channels at typical wavelengths of fluorescence from oil spills and chlorophyll-a(Chl-a), has been developed using the Laser- induced Fluorescence(LIF) technique. The sketch of the MOFL system equipped with a compact multi-channel photomultiplier tube(MPMT) is introduced in the paper. The methods of differentiating the oil fluorescence from the background water fluorescence and evaluating the Chl-a concentration are described. Two field experiments were carried out to investigate the field performance of the system, i.e., an experiment in coastal areas for oil pollution detection and an experiment over the Yellow Sea for Chl-a monitoring. In the coastal experiment, several oil samples and other fluorescence substances were used to analyze the fluorescence spectral characteristics for oil identification, and to estimate the thickness of oil films at the water surface. The experiment shows that both the spectral shape of fluorescence induced from surface water and the intensity ratio of two channels(I495/I405) are essential to determine oil-spill occurrence. In the airborne experiment, MOFL was applied to measure relative Chl-a concentrations in the upper layer of the ocean. A comparison of relative Chl-a concentration measurements by MOFL and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS) indicates that the two datasets are in good agreement. The results show that the MOFL system is capable of monitoring oil spills and Chl-a in the upper layer of ocean water.