Impact of Error in Ocean Dynamical Background on the Transport of Underwater Spilled Oil
Title: Impact of Error in Ocean Dynamical Background on the Transport of Underwater Spilled Oil
Journal: Ocean Modelling, 123:30-45
Authors: LI Y. -Q., H. -B. Chen*, and X. -Q. Lv*
Abstract: Based on a validated underwater oil spill model and the hydrodynamic background provided by an unstructured grid, finite-volume, coastal ocean model (FVCOM), a series of numerical experiments are conducted to study the impact of error in ocean dynamical background currents on the 3D transport of underwater spilled oil, in terms of three metrics including oil centroid position, sweeping area, and sweeping volume. Numerical result shows that a larger error in ocean dynamical background currents results in a larger model error expectation and uncertainty for all three metrics. As model time increases, the model error mainly increases and the error growth rate varies unevenly. The sensitivity of the oil spill model to background current error can be interpreted as an integrated result of the temporal and spatial variations of the background current and the movement of oil droplets of different sizes.