Simulation of Movement of Oil Slicks in the Strait of Georgia Using Simple Atmosphere and Ocean Dynamics

Hydrodynamical techniques were used to investigate the movement of oil slicks in the Strait of Georgia by assuming that the oil moves with the current and not with the wind. The divergence of the isobaths near Alden Bank probably makes the current branch while that southeast of Pt. Roberts narrows and intensifies the current. The effect of mutual interaction among several slicks both with and without a steering current such as a tidal or wind-generated current is found to be important in determining their trajectories. For oils with large viscosities, an oscillatory tidal current could give rise to an unstable situation in which the oil spreads in the form of long lines radiating out from the spill similar to the spokes in a bicycle wheel. Stratification of the water causes the oil plume to bifurcate and due to this phenomena, even if one branch of the plume carrying the oil goes away from the coast, the second branch carries oil to the coast.