Program Descriptions
Oil Spill Prevention and Remediation
The Deepwater Horizon incident in the Gulf of Mexico represents the first oil spill occurring at significant depth, ~5000 ft (1500 m). It is also the first situation where dispersants were directly added to the hydrocarbon effluent from the wellhead in efforts to disperse the droplets over a large volume of the water column. This presentation provides an in-depth analysis of gaps and needs which will guide future work in the field. We will focus on the unique and new research issues raised and relevant to this spill specifically. The ultimate fate of the oil constituents is a very broad subject, but our objective here is concerned with the selected fate processes associated with the oil and dispersant chemodynamics from the blow-out point, on the seabed, in the water column upward and finally into the marine surface mixed-layer. An observation-conceived, process-based, mass-balance crafted engineering science predictive tool is proposed.
