title: Intercomparison of oil spill prediction models for accidental blowout scenarios with and without subsea chemical dispersant injection.
abstract: We compare oil spill model predictions for a prototype subsea blowout with and without subsea injection of chemical dispersants in deep and shallow water, for high and low gas-oil ratio, and in weak to strong crossflows. Model results are compared for initial oil droplet size distribution, the nearfield plume, and the farfield Lagrangian particle tracking stage of hydrocarbon transport. For the conditions tested (a blowout with oil flow rate of 20,000 bbl/d, about 1/3 of the Deepwater Horizon), the models predict the volume median droplet diameter at the source to range from 0.3 to 6mm without dispersant and 0.01 to 0.8 mm with dispersant. This reduced droplet size owing to reduced interfacial tension results in a one to two order of magnitude increase in the downstream displacement of the initial oil surfacing zone and may lead to a significant fraction of the spilled oil not reaching the sea surface.
authors.affiliation: Division of Coastal and Ocean Engineering, Zachry Department of Civil Engineering, Texas A&M University, 3136 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-3136, USA. Electronic address: socolofs@tamu.edu.
authors.forename: Scott A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Socolofsky
authors.affiliation: R.M. Parsons Laboratory, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Rm. 48-216-B, 15 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. Electronic address: eeadams@mit.edu.
authors.forename: E Eric
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Adams
authors.affiliation: Center for Natural Resources Development and Protection, Department of Environmental Engineering, The New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102, USA. Electronic address: boufadel@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Michel C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Boufadel
authors.affiliation: Centre for Energy, School of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia. Electronic address: zachary.aman@uwa.edu.au.
authors.forename: Zachary M
authors.initials: ZM
authors.lastname: Aman
authors.affiliation: SINTEF Materials and Chemistry, Environmental Technology, Trondheim, Norway. Electronic address: oeis-joh@online.no.
authors.forename: Øistein
authors.initials: Ø
authors.lastname: Johansen
authors.affiliation: ExxonMobil Biomedical Sciences, Inc., Annandale, NJ 08801, USA. Electronic address: wolfgang.j.konkel@exxonmobil.com.
authors.forename: Wolfgang J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Konkel
authors.affiliation: Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, Miami, FL 33140, USA. Electronic address: dlindo@rsmas.miami.edu.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lindo
authors.affiliation: DHI Water and Environment, Hørsholm, Denmark. Electronic address: mm@dhigroup.com.
authors.forename: Mads N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Madsen
authors.affiliation: University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Horn Point Laboratory, Cambridge, MD 21613, USA. Electronic address: enorth@umces.edu.
authors.forename: Elizabeth W
authors.initials: EW
authors.lastname: North
authors.affiliation: Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, Miami, FL 33140, USA. Electronic address: cparis@rsmas.miami.edu.
authors.forename: Claire B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Paris
authors.affiliation: DHI Water and Environment, Hørsholm, Denmark. Electronic address: dor@dhigroup.com.
authors.forename: Dorte
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rasmussen
authors.affiliation: SINTEF Materials and Chemistry, Environmental Technology, Trondheim, Norway. Electronic address: Mark.Reed@sintef.no.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Reed
authors.affiliation: SINTEF Materials and Chemistry, Environmental Technology, Trondheim, Norway. Electronic address: Petter.Ronningen@sintef.no.
authors.forename: Petter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rønningen
authors.affiliation: National Energy Technology Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, Albany, OR 97321, USA. Electronic address: Lawrence.Sim@contr.netl.doe.gov.
authors.forename: Lawrence H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Sim
authors.affiliation: DHI Water and Environment, Hørsholm, Denmark. Electronic address: thu@dhigroup.com.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Uhrenholdt
authors.affiliation: Shell Projects & Technology, Houston, TX 77252, USA. Electronic address: karl.g.anderson@shell.com.
authors.forename: Karl G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.affiliation: Chevron Energy Technology Corporation, San Ramon, CA 94583, USA. Electronic address: cortcooper@chevron.com.
authors.forename: Cortis
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.affiliation: Upstream Research Company, Spring, TX 77339, USA. Electronic address: tim.j.nedwed@exxonmobil.com.
authors.forename: Tim J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Nedwed
mesh_terms: D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D052918:Environmental Restoration and Remediation / Q000379:methods; D008956:Models, Chemical; D059392:Petroleum Pollution / Q000032:analysis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014877:Water Pollution, Chemical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: Chemical dispersant; Droplet size distribution; Lagrangian particle tracking; Model prediction; Multiphase plume; Subsea blowout