Extended oil spill spreading with Langmuir circulation

- Review of oil spill spreading models
- Langmuir circulation model simulates merging and breakup of surface oil.
- Comparison of extended spreading model with field measurements

When spilled in the ocean, most crude oils quickly spread into a thin film that ruptures into smaller slicks distributed over a larger area. Observers have also reported the film tearing apart into streaks that eventually merge forming fewer but longer bands of floating oil. Understanding this process is important to model oil spill transport. First, slick area is calculated using a spreading model. Next, Langmuir circulation models are used to approximate the merging of oiled bands. Calculations are performed on Troll blended and Alaska North Slope crude oils and results compared with measurements from the 1990s North Sea field experiments. Langmuir circulation increases the oil area but decreases the surface coverage of oil. This work modifies existing oil spreading formulas by providing a surface area correction due to the effects of Langmuir circulation. The model's simplicity is advantageous in situations with limited data, such as emergency oil spill response.