Oil Droplet Surfacing Probabilities Under Realistic Low Turbulence in Arctic Ice

ABSTRACT 2017-081 Responders need to choose among oil spill response options to combat spills in ice covered waters as effectively as possible. A decision to apply dispersants in remote ice covered waters requires an estimation of whether or not the oil will initially disperse and then remain dispersed. A concern is that an effectively dispersed plume of oil will not remain dispersed under ice because the mixing energy required is insufficient. We are advancing the predictive capability to determine whether small oil droplets will rise in the calmer, more stable conditions that can occur in ice covered waters. The results will be presented as lookup tables that can be used to assess whether or not oil has been successfully dispersed in ice covered waters. Ice covered waters can have very low vertical turbulence (mixing) energy, so smaller droplets may rise to the surface in ice covered waters than in open water at lower latitudes. Laboratory studies with oil droplets and field experiments to measure the t...