RAPID: Effects of the Mississippi River plume on the spread of the Deepwater Horizon oil slick

快速：密西西比河羽流对深水地平线浮油扩散的影响

• 批准号: 1049969
• 负责人: Douglas Jerolmack
• 金额: $ 7.5万
• 依托单位: University of Pennsylvania
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-08-15 至 2011-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1049969&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RAPID; Effects; Mississippi; River; plume

Predicting the migration of the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico is crucial for protecting sensitive wetlands and coastal fisheries from contamination. Ocean and shelf models make daily forecasts of landfall of the surface slick that are invaluable for coastal managers, however there have been several events of anomalous surface slick migration that were not forecast. Recent analysis indicates that discharge from the Mississippi River pushes oil offshore by deforming the sea surface height (SSH). This study proposes to describe pressure-driven flows of the buoyant oil slick using a two-layer, 2D Bernoulli model with friction. Combined with satellite data of SSH, sea surface temperature (SST) and ocean currents, and daily river discharge and weather data, this research will quantify the plume effect on oil slick dynamics. This modeling approach is simple and generalizable, and therefore could be adopted for other oil spills. The ongoing oil spill resulting from the Deepwater Horizon explosion is the worst environmental disaster in US history. The location of the spill is such that, under some conditions, the Mississippi River plume can exert a strong control. This model will provide a simple, quantitative estimate of this plume effect on oil slick dynamics each day using daily satellite data; if significant, this effect of sea-surface height could easily be incorporated into more complex daily ocean/shelf model forecasts. Quantifying the plume effect will provide the science needed to determine whether strategic river diversions are effective for preventing landfall of oil slick in sensitive Louisiana wetlands. The model could also project longer-term changes in the plume effect resulting from anticipated seasonal changes in river stage.

预测墨西哥湾浮油的迁移对于保护敏感湿地和沿海渔业免受污染至关重要。海洋和陆架模型每天对表面浮油的登陆进行预测，这对于沿海管理者来说非常有价值，但是，已经发生了几起异常的表面浮油迁移事件没有被预测。最近的分析表明，密西西比河的排放通过改变海面高度（SSH）将石油推向海上。本研究建议使用带有摩擦的两层二维伯努利模型来描述浮油浮油的压力驱动流动。结合SSH、海面温度（SST）和洋流的卫星数据以及每日河流流量和天气数据，这项研究将量化羽流对浮油动力学的影响。这种建模方法简单且具有普遍性，因此可以用于其他漏油事件。深水地平线爆炸造成的持续石油泄漏是美国历史上最严重的环境灾难。泄漏地点的位置使得在某些条件下密西西比河羽流可以发挥强有力的控制作用。该模型将使用每日卫星数据对每天的羽流对浮油动态的影响进行简单、定量的估计；如果海面高度的影响很显着，则可以很容易地将其纳入更复杂的每日海洋/陆架模型预测中。量化羽流效应将为确定战略性河流改道是否能有效防止浮油在敏感的路易斯安那州湿地登陆提供所需的科学依据。该模型还可以预测由于河流水位预期季节性变化而导致的羽流效应的长期变化。