Modelling oil movements from theKurdistanspill in Cabot Strait, Nova Scotia

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Abstract
The spill of Bunker‐C oil from the tanker Kurdistan into the waters and ice of the Cabot Strait in March 1979, combined with wind and air pressure observations throughout the period, archived oceanographic and meteorological data, and a better than usual oil sighting data base in the weeks following the accident, provided an opportunity to develop and test a relatively simple oil movement and spread model. A model that provided a good fit with the oil sightings over a 30‐day period following the spill utilizes a vector addition of the residual circulation and 3% of the wind, combined with radially symmetric lateral diffusion determined graphically using rate constants taken from the published literature. An error estimate for the modelled movement and spread of the oil is included. Although a small quantity of oil became mixed with the ice moving out of the Gulf of St Lawrence, the bulk remained in open water. Over the 30‐day period following the spill, four wind events were of paramount importance in determining the oil movement, with residual circulation playing only a secondary role.

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