Mississippi River and sea surface height effects on oil slick migration.

PloS One
Frederico FalciniBruno Buongiorno Nardelli

Abstract

Millions of barrels of oil escaped into the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) after the 20 April, 2010 explosion of Deepwater Horizon (DH). Ocean circulation models were used to forecast oil slick migration in the GoM, however such models do not explicitly treat the effects of secondary eddy-slopes or Mississippi River (MR) hydrodynamics. Here we report oil front migration that appears to be driven by sea surface level (SSL) slopes, and identify a previously unreported effect of the MR plume: under conditions of relatively high river discharge and weak winds, a freshwater mound can form around the MR Delta. We performed temporal oil slick position and altimeter analysis, employing both interpolated altimetry data and along-track measurements for coastal applications. The observed freshwater mound appears to have pushed the DH oil slick seaward from the Delta coastline. We provide a physical mechanism for this novel effect of the MR, using a two-layer pressure-driven flow model. Results show how SSL variations can drive a cross-slope migration of surface oil slicks that may reach velocities of order km/day, and confirm a lag time of order 5-10 days between mound formation and slick migration, as observed form the satellite analysis. Incorpor...Continue Reading

References

Jan 24, 2009·Hypertension in Pregnancy : Official Journal of the International Society for the Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy·Xi-Kuan ChenMark C Walker
Jul 9, 2010·Nature·Arne Jernelöv
Sep 4, 2010·Science·Igor MezićP Hogan
Mar 12, 2011·Nature Reviews. Microbiology

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Citations

Aug 13, 2013·Environmental Science & Technology·Charlotte A BrunnerPatrick Louchouarn
Jul 30, 2014·Environmental Science & Technology·Michel C BoufadelJagadish Torlapati

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Software Mentioned

CCAR Global Near Real - Time Sea Surface Anomaly Data Viewer
WFSROMS
MODAS
NCOM
ArcGIS
CCAR
AVISO
PISTACH ( Prototype Innovant de Système Traitement
Envisat

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Birth Defects

Birth defects encompass structural and functional alterations that occur during embryonic or fetal development and are present since birth. The cause may be genetic, environmental or unknown and can result in physical and/or mental impairment. Here is the latest research on birth defects.

© 2021 Meta ULC. All rights reserved