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The impact of different vertical diffusion schemes in a three-dimensional oil spill model in the Bohai Sea

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Abstract

Vertical transport is critical to the movement of oil spills in seawater. Breaking waves play an important role by developing a well-defined mixing layer in the upper part of the water column. A three-dimensional (3-D) Lagrangian random walk oil spill model was used here to study the influence of sea surface waves on the vertical turbulence movement of oil particles. Three vertical diffusion schemes were utilized in the model to compare their impact on oil dispersion and transportation. The first scheme calculated the vertical eddy viscosity semi-empirically. In the second scheme, the vertical diffusion coefficient was obtained directly from an Eulerian hydrodynamic model (Princeton Ocean Model, POM2k) while considering wave-caused turbulence. The third scheme was formulated by solving the Langevin equation. The trajectories, percentages of oil particles intruding into water, and the vertical distribution structures of oil particles were analyzed for a series of numerical experiments with different wind magnitudes. The results showed that the different vertical diffusion schemes could generate different horizontal trajectories and spatial distributions of oil spills on the sea surface. The vertical diffusion schemes caused different water-intruding and resurfacing oil particle behaviors, leading to different horizontal transport of oil particles at the surface and subsurface of the ocean. The vertical diffusion schemes were also applied to a realistic oil spill simulation, and these results were compared to satellite observations. All three schemes yielded acceptable results, and those of the third scheme most closely simulated the observed data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Yan Li  (李 燕)

  2. Key Laboratory of Research on Marine Hazards Forecasting, National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center, Beijing, 100081, China

    Yan Li  (李 燕) & Hui Wang  (王 辉)

  3. Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China

    Yan Li  (李 燕) & Jiang Zhu  (朱 江)

Authors
  1. Yan Li  (李 燕)
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  2. Jiang Zhu  (朱 江)
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  3. Hui Wang  (王 辉)
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Correspondence to Jiang Zhu  (朱 江).

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Li, Y., Zhu, J. & Wang, H. The impact of different vertical diffusion schemes in a three-dimensional oil spill model in the Bohai Sea. Adv. Atmos. Sci. 30, 1569–1586 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-012-2201-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-012-2201-x

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