Abstract:

The subsurface Oil Simulation (SOSim) model is applied to use the measured field observations and OSCAR model simulations in a case study of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, a continuous blowout of submerged oil. SOSim model can infer the present and future location of submerged water-column oil in three dimensions. The dataset includes input data (location and concentration of field and prior data) and output data (a relative probability map of finding submerged oil). Explanations of the input and output are included in a readme style document, and the predictions for 2010-05-21 and 2010-06-04 are also included in NetCDF format. Oil coverage observations from 2010-05-15 to 2010-05-25 provide initial conditions on the simulation.

Suggested Citation:

Ji, Chao. 2021. Subsurface Oil Simulation (SOSim) model case study of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/n7-qsr6-gr54

Purpose:

This dataset presents a case study on the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) spill. SOSim forecasts were shown capable of forecasting the location of submerged oil following the DWH oil spill, improving over trajectory model assessment by including areas found to be oiled.

Data Parameters and Units:

Input: DW_field (observations) : longitude [decimal degrees E], latitude [decimal degrees N], concentration [ppb], sample date/time [M/DD/YYYY 12:00], depth [m]. OSCAR model data: longitude [decimal degrees E], latitude [decimal degrees N], concentration [ppb], time [days after blowout began]. OSCAR model data: longitude [decimal degrees E], latitude [decimal degrees N], depth [m], time [seconds since 2010-04-20], total concentration [ppb], dissolved concentration [ppb], longitude_bounds (boundaries of cells, [decimal degrees E]), latitude_bounds (boundaries of cells, [decimal degrees]), depth_bounds, bathymetry [m]. Output: longitude [decimal degrees W], latitude [decimal degrees N], relative concentration [0-1], Observations longitude [decimal degrees W], Observations latitude [decimal degrees N], Observed concentrations [ppb], OSCAR data longitude [decimal degrees W], OSCAR data latitude [decimal degrees N], relative concentration [0-1], Contour line longitude [decimal degrees W], Contour line latitude [decimal degrees N], Contour line upper depth [m], Contour line lower depth [m], Confidence bound longitude [decimal degrees W], Confidence bound latitude [decimal degrees N], Confidence bound relative concentration [0-1]. The files inferred-parameters.txt and inferred-uncertainty parameters.txt are automatically written by the model; the contents are explained in the included readme style document.

Methods:

Subsurface Oil Simulation (SOSim) was developed to handle continuous and instantaneous spills (ie, blowouts and vessel spills) with oil that may spread subsurface or sediment, in both oceanic and riverine environments. Other case studies are available in GRIIDC datasets under Unique Dataset Identifiers (UDIs): R6.x812.000:0001 (DOI: 10.7266/n7-d7cg-md27) (the DBL 152 spill in the Gulf of Mexico) and R6.x812.000:0008 (DOI: 10.7266/n7-8rhz-c860) (the T/V Athos I spill in the Delaware River off Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The full SOSim code can be downloaded from dataset UDI: R6.x812.00:0005 (DOI: 10.7266/n7-dgsh-kh04).

Individual Files: