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A Brief Study of the January 28, 2017, Chennai Oil Spill

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Abstract

At least 20 metric tons of petroleum oil lubricant was spilled 2 nautical miles off the Kamarajar Port, Chennai, at 04:00 h on January 28, 2017, when two ships collided with each other. The coast of north Chennai was engulfed with the oil and hundreds of volunteers spent days trying to remove it from the beaches. Reports suggest that some of the oil has traveled south as far as Mahabalipuram, 75 km from the spill point, after two weeks. In this study, we use the GNOME model to recreate the spill as it happened and analyze the extent of dispersion of the spill for two weeks after the incident. The spread of the oil and what could have been done to prevent it are discussed.

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References

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the management of SRM Institute of Science and Technology and the HOD, Civil Engineering, for support and guidance.

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Correspondence to Deeptha Thattai .

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Thattai, D., Rangarajan, S., Senthil, A. (2019). A Brief Study of the January 28, 2017, Chennai Oil Spill. In: Rathinasamy, M., Chandramouli, S., Phanindra, K., Mahesh, U. (eds) Water Resources and Environmental Engineering II. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2038-5_11

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