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Oil Spill Model for Oil Pollution Control (5005)

Olusegun Badejo and Peter Nwilo (Nigeria)
Dr. Olusegun Badejo
Senior Lecturer
Department of Surveying and Geoinformatics
Faculty of Engineering
University of Lagos
Department of Surveying and Geoinformatics
University of Lagos
Lagos
Nigeria
 
Corresponding author Dr. Olusegun Badejo (email: shegunbadejo[at]yahoo.com, tel.: + 234 80636448)
 

[ abstract ] [ paper ] [ handouts ]

Published on the web 2011-03-16
Received 2010-11-22 / Accepted 2011-02-10
This paper is one of selection of papers published for the FIG Working Week 2011 in Marrakech, Morocco and has undergone the FIG Peer Review Process.

FIG Working Week 2011
ISBN 978-87-90907-92-1 ISSN 2307-4086
http://www.fig.net/resources/proceedings/fig_proceedings/fig2011/index.htm

Abstract

Few studies have been carried out on oil spill trajectory and fate modeling. Limited modeling and observation suggest that oil spill move as the bulk water moves and that the water moves in concert with mass circulation including the influence of currents and tides. Additional influences in the movement of oil spill include vertical mixing and sedimentation. A new oil spill trajectory model has been developed in this work. The relationship and the effect of waves induced current in the transport of oil spill on water was considered in the development of the model. Appropriate wave driven current equation was coupled with that of wind drift current, ocean current, tidal current and longshore current equations to generate a new model for advecting oil spill on coastal waters. Relevant equations for calculating the rate of spreading and evaporation of oil were also included in the oil spill model to enable the determination of the fate of oil spill. A hypothetical spill site around OPL 250 located about 150km off the Nigerian coastline and another site located around Idoho, about 25km from Nigerian coastline were used as study areas for this work. Oil spill simulations with the new model were made for wet and dry seasons for these study areas. Results from the new model indicate that for both wet and dry seasons, the ocean current is the major factor for moving the oil spill from the Atlantic Ocean to fairly deep waters. While the Longshore current and tides are the dominant forces that move the oil spill in shallow waters. Wind drift current and wave drift currents are secondary factors for moving the oil spill during wet and dry seasons. Statistical analysis using Hotelling’s T2 indicates that the effect of adding waves parameters does not significantly affect the oil spill result. However, the accuracy of the oil spill model is improved by adding the wave parameters. Results from this work show that the incorporation of wave parameters into the oil spill model causes the oil spill to get to the shore a few hours earlier than when the wave parameters were neglected in the model. There is a need for a better understanding of the coastal ecology so as to evaluate the significance of the impacts generated by oil spill incidents. The Federal Government in conjunction with oil parastatals and other non-governmental agencies should create more meteorological stations near the shoreline or on the coastal waters. The meteorological stations should provide real time or predicted meteorological data of the surrounding environment. This data would serve among other things as input data into oil spill models.
 
Keywords: Hydrography; Coastal Zone Management; Risk management; oil splil; model

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