Avances en la investigación en ciencias aplicadas Acceso abierto

Abstracto

The application of two dimensional model on oil spill movement in Khor ALZubair, north west, Arabian Gulf

Samer A. R. Al-Taei, Abdul R. H. Subber and Faris J. M. Al-Imarah

The present work used a simulation model to track the movement and fate of oil pollutants, which takes into consideration all the factors of hydrographic and hydrological conditions. The experimental part includes; collect in the bathymetric and topographic data for the study area, measurements of the tides, climate variables, measurements of water velocities, field testing process for a synthetic oil spill and following-up the presence of slicks. The theoretical part simulated the experimental data using MIKE12 HD package for 26 days with the division of semi-dimensions Δx=200m and Δy=200m with time step Δt=80s. This yields to have a number of network j=322 and k=105 equivalent to (6762 km2). The matching between the field data and the calculated results was up to 90% approximately. The tidal ranges were 4.5m and 4m in Umm Qasr and Khor Al-Zubair, respectively. The speed of the currents during the ebb phase is greater than the speed of the flood in Umm Qasr and Khor Al-Zubair, reaching its greatest value of 1.85m/s at Khor Al-Zubair. By using MIKE12 SA it is concluded that the oil spill of the Fuel type has a significant impact on the marine environment for spot thickness (>20mm) and the area of spread (28km2) and dwell time spot is farther from the simulations (>10days). The model used in this study was successful in the study of hydraulic properties as well as the transport and fate of oil spills and leaks.