The 2010 Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico: Flow-Rate Estimation Based on Satellite-Images Analysis

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Garcia Giraldo ◽  
Ronald W. Yeung
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Flow Rate ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Upper And Lower Bounds ◽  
Constant Thickness ◽  
Simple Method ◽  
Oil Flow ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer

The Deepwater Horizon Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit (MODU) was one of several classes of floatable drilling machines. The explosion on April 20, 2010 led to the worst ecological disaster with regard to oil spills in the USA. The objective of this paper is to develop a logical and independent estimate of the oil flow rate into the Gulf of Mexico produced by the rupture in this rig. We employed the NASA Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite photographs [1] starting from the days immediately following the disaster to determine the size and intensity of the oil spill. From these images, we obtained the surface area of the oil spill and calculated the oil flow rate by two different methods based on contrasting luminance within the area. The first assumes a constant thickness for the total area with upper and lower bounds for the thickness. The second method separates the spill area into different patches, based on the luminance levels of each. It was found that the probability density function (PDF) of the luminance plots typically showed some natural grouping, allowing patches to be defined. Each patch maps to a specific thickness and the result of the addition of all the patches provides a more accurate average thickness of the spill. With the assumption that evaporation and other loss amounted to 40% of the spill, we obtained, as a result of this analysis procedure, a minimum flow rate of 9,300 barrels per day and a maximum of 93,000 barrels per day using the first method. A value of 51,200 barrels per day was obtained using the method based on patch separation. This latter estimate was a reasonable value obtained based on this relatively simple method but with no details presented in an Extended Abstract in OMAE2012 [4]. It is remarkably consistent with the “official US-Govt. estimates” of [2, 3].

The 2010 Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico: Flow-Rate Estimation Based on Satellite-Images Analysis1

2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Garcia Giraldo ◽  
Ronald W. Yeung
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spill ◽  
Flow Rate ◽  
Drill Pipe ◽  
Upper And Lower Bounds ◽  
Constant Thickness ◽  
A Value ◽  
Oil Flow ◽  
Moderate Resolution ◽  
Drilling Unit ◽  
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer

Abstract The Deepwater Horizon Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit (MODU) was one of several classes of floatable drilling systems. The explosion on April 20, 2010 led to fatalities and the worst oil spill in the U.S. We present an independent estimate of the oil-flow rate into The Gulf caused by the drill-pipe rupture. We employed the NASA Moderate-Resolution Imaging-Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite photographs, starting from the days immediately following the disaster, to determine the magnitude of spill. From these images, we obtained the surface area of the spill and calculated the oil flow rate by two different methods based on contrasting luminance within that area. The first assumes a constant thickness for the total area with upper and lower bounds for the thickness. The second separates the area into different patches based on the luminance levels of each. The probability density function (PDF) of such luminance plots showed natural groupings, allowing patches be identifiable. Each patch maps to a specific thickness. This second approach provides a more accurate average thickness. With the assumption that evaporation and other loss amounted to ∼40% of the spill, we obtained, from the first method, a flow rate ranging from 9,300 barrels per day (BPD) to 93,000 BPD. A value of 51,200 BPD was obtained using patch-separation method. This latter estimate was a plausible value, obtained from the current analysis, but with no details presented in an Extended Abstract in OMAE2012, is remarkably consistent with the “official U.S.-Govt. estimates.”

The Deep-Water-Horizon Spill: Flow-Rate Estimation Based on Satellite Images

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Garcia Giraldo ◽  
Ronald W. Yeung
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Flow Rate ◽  
Deep Water ◽  
Infrared Imaging ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Imaging Spectrometer ◽  
Riser Pipe ◽  
Oil Flow ◽  
Plume Modeling ◽  
Drilling Unit

The “Deep Water Horizon” Mobil Offshore Drilling Unit (MODU) is one of several classes of floatable drilling machines. As a consequence of the accident on April 20, 2010, the worst ecological disaster with regard to oil spills in the US history was generated in the Gulf of Mexico, causing extensive damage to marine and wildlife habitats, as well as the Gulf’s fishing and tourism industries. Since that moment, experts are trying to estimate the total amount of oil being lost into the sea. The objective of this presentation is to report a procedure developed in the first author’s thesis1 an independent and logical estimate of the oil flow rate into the Gulf of Mexico produced by the rupture in this rig. There are a number of possible approaches to estimate the flow rate of oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico. The Plume Modeling Team has developed an approach by observing video image of the oil/gas mixture escaping from the kinks in the riser and the end of the riser pipe. The Mass Balance Team has developed a range of values using USGS (US Geological Survey) and NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) data analysis collected from NASA’s (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Airborne Visible InfraRed Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS). Finally, a reality-check estimate was based on the amount of oil collected by the Riser Insertion Tube Tool (RITT) plus the estimate of how much oil is escaping from the RITT, and from the kink in the riser. However, there are several limitations in each of these techniques.

scholarly journals BARGE BUFFALO 292: OBSERVATIONS OF SATELLITE-TRACKED SURFACE DRIFTERS

1997 ◽  
Vol 1997 (1) ◽  
pp. 916-919
Author(s):  
Debra A. Simecek-Beatty ◽  
William J. Lehr ◽  
Walter R. Johnson ◽  
James M. Price
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Management Service ◽  
Wind Drift ◽  
Vector Correlation ◽  
Joint Program ◽  
Surface Drifters ◽  
Visual Observations

ABSTRACT As part of a joint program to use satellite-tracked drifters at accidental oil spills, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration deployed three drifters supplied by the Minerals Management Service during the barge Buffalo 292 spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The deployments complemented visual observations of the oil spill and provided data for calibrating the on-scene spill model. The data-rich environment of this particular spill response made it possible to calculate the vector correlation between the drifters and a hindcast of the oil movement and to estimate the wind-drift factors for the oil-tracking drifters.

REVIEW OF DISPERSANT USE IN U.S. GULF OF MEXICO WATERS SINCE THE OIL POLLUTION ACT OF 1990

2005 ◽  
Vol 2005 (1) ◽  
pp. 439-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlie Henry
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Oil Pollution ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Contingency Planning ◽  
Monitoring Plan ◽  
Response Team ◽  
Spilled Oil

ABSTRACT Since the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90), dispersants have been used as part of a combined response to mitigate seven oil spills in United States Gulf of Mexico (GOM) waters. Of the dispersant operations reported, four utilized the Regional Response Team VI pre-approval authority to the Federal On-Scene Coordinator (FOSC) that requires a monitoring plan. The successful integration of dispersant pre-authorization along with a fully funded ready response delivery system maintained by industry contributed to the successful use of dispersants to aid in mitigating spilled oil. A key element to gaining the original pre-approval authority was a functional operational monitoring plan. While each response was considered a successful dispersant operation, each incident provided valuable lessons learned that have been integrated into subsequent contingency planning and modifications to existing pre-authorization requirements in the GOM. This paper provides a chronological review of oil spill responses where dispersants were applied in the GOM since OPA 90.

MEASURABLE DYNAMICS ANALYSIS OF TRANSPORT IN THE GULF OF MEXICO DURING THE OIL SPILL

2012 ◽  
Vol 22 (03) ◽  
pp. 1230012 ◽  
Author(s):  
ERIK M. BOLLT ◽  
AARON LUTTMAN ◽  
SEAN KRAMER ◽  
RANIL BASNAYAKE
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Marine Ecosystem ◽  
Transfer Operator ◽  
Flow Dynamics ◽  
Invariant Sets ◽  
Oil Well ◽  
Finite Time Lyapunov Exponents ◽  
Oil Flow ◽  
Oil Rig

On April 20, 2010, an oil well cap explosion below the Deepwater Horizon, an off-shore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, started the worst human-caused submarine oil spill ever. Though an historic tragedy for the marine ecosystem, the unprecedented monitoring of the spill in real time by satellites and increased modeling of the natural oceanic flows has provided a wealth of data, allowing analysis of the flow dynamics governing the spread of the oil. In this work, we present the results of two computational analyses describing the mixing, mass transport, and flow dynamics of the oil dispersion in the Gulf of Mexico over the first 100 days of the spill. Transfer operator methods are used to determine the spatial partitioning of regions of homogeneous dynamics into almost-invariant sets, and Finite Time Lyapunov Exponents are used to compute pseudo-barriers to the mixing of the oil between these regions. The two methods give complementary results, generating a comprehensive description of the oil flow dynamics over time.

scholarly journals DARK SPOT DETECTION USING INTENSITY AND THE DEGREE OF POLARIZATION IN FULLY POLARIMETRIC SAR IMAGES FOR OIL POLUTION MONITORING

2015 ◽  
Vol XL-1-W5 ◽  
pp. 749-753
Author(s):  
F. Zakeri ◽  
J. Amini
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spill ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Degree Of Polarization ◽  
Dark Spot ◽  
Sar Images ◽  
Simple Method ◽  
The Past ◽  
Spot Detection ◽  
Otsu Method ◽  
Image Pixels

Oil spill surveillance is of great environmental and economical interest, directly contributing to improve environmental protection. Monitoring of oil spills using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) has received a considerable attention over the past few years, notably because of SAR data abilities like all-weather and day-and-night capturing. The degree of polarization (DoP) is a less computationally complex quantity characterizing a partially polarized electromagnetic field. The key to the proposed approach is making use of DoP as polarimetric information besides intensity ones to improve dark patches detection as the first step of oil spill monitoring. In the proposed approach first simple intensity threshold segmentation like Otsu method is applied to the image. Pixels with intensities below the threshold are regarded as potential dark spot pixels while the others are potential background pixels. Second, the DoP of potential dark spot pixels is estimated. Pixels with DoP below a certain threshold are the real dark-spot pixels. Choosing the threshold is a critical and challenging step. In order to solve choosing the appropriate threshold, we introduce a novel but simple method based on DoP of potential dark spot pixels. Finally, an area threshold is used to eliminate any remaining false targets. The proposed approach is tested on L band NASA/JPL UAVSAR data, covering the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Comparing the obtained results from the new method with conventional approaches like Otsu, K-means and GrowCut shows better achievement of the proposed algorithm. For instance, mean square error (MSE) 65%, Overall Accuracy 20% and correlation 40% are improved.

scholarly journals Some engineering estimations of oil spill parameters in the marine environment

2018 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 208-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. N. Zatsepa ◽  
A. A. Ivchenko ◽  
V. V. Solbakov ◽  
V. V. Stanovoy
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spill ◽  
Marine Environment ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Equations Of Motion ◽  
Ice Cover ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Oil Flow ◽  
Ice Field ◽  
Drifting Ice ◽  
Similar Solutions

Estimation of the oil spill size at continuous spills on the moving sea surface or on the drifting ice field is the actual practical problem. Engineering estimation means the reduction of the hydrodynamic equations system to the balance of only two main forces that cause movement and resistance of the oil flow. From the simplified problem statement some practical relations were obtained for estimating the size of spill, including continuous oil spill with surface water currents presence, for spill onto porous snow-ice cover and onto the drifting ice cover. The obtained estimations can be used in more complicated models of oil spill transformation in the marine environment, primarily in the Arctic zone, and give basis for development of adequate responses on oil spills. The comparison of the obtained estimates with the self-similar solutions of the corresponding equations of motion of the spreading substance shows a satisfactory fit.

TRACKING BUOYS FOR OIL SPILLS

1995 ◽  
Vol 1995 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ron H. Goodman ◽  
Debra Simecek-Beatty ◽  
Don Hodgins
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Positioning Errors ◽  
Response Planning ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Oil Spill Response ◽  
And Training ◽  
Selection Of

ABSTRACT The use of tracking buoys in oil spill response, planning, and training and criteria for the selection of these buoys were studied in conjunction with an experiment conducted in the Gulf of Mexico during March 1994 on the relative motions of several oil spill drifter buoys. For the test, wood chips and cottonseed hulls were used to simulate the motion of the oil. Six different types of buoys and three different positioning and tracking systems, in various combinations, were tested. The first day of the program was conducted in Galveston Bay, the second in the Gulf of Mexico off Galveston. Significant differences were noted in the movements of the various buoys. Analysis of the data from these experiments suggests that tracking of the buoys should occur for a longer time period than in the experiments in order to reduce the influence of positioning errors.

Oil Spill Risk Analysis for Assessing Environmental Contact Probabilities in the Gulf of Mexico

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 (1) ◽  
pp. 1931-1949
Author(s):  
Zhen-Gang Ji ◽  
Walter R. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Risk Analysis ◽  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Continental Shelf ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Surface Wind ◽  
Surface Current ◽  
Oil Well ◽  
Outer Continental Shelf ◽  
Oil And Gas Development

ABSTRACT 2017-051: The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) maintains a leasing program for commercial oil and gas development on the Outer Continental Shelf in U.S. territorial waters. To evaluate the potential impacts of these activities, BOEM performs oil spill risk analysis (OSRA) using, in part, a statistical model for estimating the movement of hypothetical oil spills on the ocean surface based on model-generated surface wind and surface current. OSRA examines oil spill risks over long periods of time ranging from 5 years to decades. The latest OSRA analysis estimated the contact probabilities of oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) region by modeling over 40 million hypothetical oil spill trajectories over extended areas of the U. S. continental shelf and tabulating the frequencies with which the simulated oil spills contacted designated natural resources within a specified number of days. The modeled ocean currents and wind fields used in the GOM analysis are from 1993 to 2007 (15 years). The OSRA model was also applied to analyze the contact probabilities of the Ixtoc Oil Spill, which happened on June 3, 1979 in the Bay of Campeche of the GOM and lasted for 10 months. The Ixtoc I Oil Well suffered a blowout, resulting in one of the largest oil spills in history and 3 million barrels of oil spilled. The OSRA model was applied to simulate particle trajectories released at the Ixtoc location using the same GOM current and wind field data from 1993 through 2007. The model results for the Ixtoc simulation were consistent with the descriptions of the oil spill by Hooper (1982), which shows that the OSRA model can provide a reasonable projection of the contact probabilities of hypothetical oil spills.

scholarly journals CLEAN GULF ASSOCIATES UNVEILS A NEW GENERATION OF OIL-SPILL CLEANUP EQUIPMENT

1975 ◽  
Vol 1975 (1) ◽  
pp. 323-327
Author(s):  
W. L. Berry ◽  
J. W. Wolfe
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Gulf Coast ◽  
Texas Coast ◽  
Set Up ◽  
New Generation ◽  
Oil Spill Cleanup

ABSTRACT Clean Gulf Associates was established in 1972 by the petroleum operators in the Gulf of Mexico to provide the capability for fast, effective cleanup of oil spills in both coastal and offshore waters. Initially, about $1.5 million was expended for equipment stockpiles at three bases along the Louisiana Gulf Coast. Approximately $1 million is being spent to improve and expand these inventories and set up a fourth base. Additionally, two bases have been established in Florida, and plans are underway for bases along the Texas Coast. The organization and capabilities of Clean Gulf Associates are briefly reviewed. New Cost Participation Areas, planned new equipment additions, and improvements to existing items are discussed.

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