The Effects of Weather Systems, Currents, and Coastal Processes on Major Oil Spills at Sea.

摘要

Review of the effect of weather phenomena on continental shelves and coastal waters has clearly demonstrated their dominant role in forcing the motion of these waters. As the response of oil to wind forcing will be largely controlled by the type of weather characteristic of different climatic regions throughout the world, the paper will begin with a brief summary of the time and length scales of weather systems. Next, the oil dispersal problem will be discussed in terms of the physical and chemical properties of oil on the sea surface and then the geophysical processes (currents, tides, etc.) that experience has shown us to be important will be considered. Hydrodynamic details will not be emphasized, but rather case studies from major oil spills will next be called on to demonstrate the role of basic physical processes in determining oil motion. A brief review of the major types of models currently employed to aid in understanding or predicting oil spill movement will then be presented; it will be followed by a summary and evaluation of what I see to be the role physical oceanography will play in future oil spill incidents.