Prediction of Oil Slick Motions in Narragansett Bay

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Abstract
In the development of meaningful oil spill contingency plans, it is of great value in establishing the response to a spill emergency to have predictions of oil slick motions once the spill occurs. In an attempt to evaluate some of the present technical literature on oil spill motion, a calculation was made for the oil spill motion which occurred in Narragansett Bay in September, 1960 when the tanker P.W. Thirtle ran aground and emitted about 24,000 barrels of Bunker C oil over a 12 hour period before successful abatement of the source was completed. The existing literature on oil slick spreading was reviewed and the work of Fay was chosen to represent the slick's spreading characteristics. The existing literature on oil slick drift was reviewed and the work of Teason, et. al, was used to establish the drift motion under the influence of current and wind actions. An available numerical hydrodynamic model of Narragansett Bay was used to calculate the current characteristics in the vicinity of the spills during the period of interest. Appropriate wind data were combined with the current data in order to obtain the important hydrodynamic and meteorological conditions. Since no comprehensive theory exists at the moment for oil slick spreading and drift, a simple model was taken in which the 24,000 barrels were emitted from the source in the form of 12 hourly discharges of 2000 barrels each. These individual spills were then handled on the basis of the available spreading theory and the drift motion calculated as described above. Although this is a crude approximation, it does give an estimate of the location and area magnitude of the spreading as a function of time after the spill. The predicted results were compared with documentation of this spill as presented in the Providence Journal. The overall slick motion as calculated by this procedure was in good agreement with arrival times of the spill in Newport Harbor and other places in Narragansett Bay and with the overall surface area involved in the spill. This example of the calculation of the oil slick motion in an estuary at least gives some confidence to oil spill contingency planners that numerical calculations can be made for use in planning response and abatement to oil spills.

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