Articles | Volume 14, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-14-1581-2018
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-14-1581-2018
Research article
 | 
21 Dec 2018
Research article |  | 21 Dec 2018

The effect of vertical mixing on the horizontal drift of oil spills

Johannes Röhrs, Knut-Frode Dagestad, Helene Asbjørnsen, Tor Nordam, Jørgen Skancke, Cathleen E. Jones, and Camilla Brekke

Model code and software

OpenDrift/opendrift: OpenDrift compliant with both Python2 and Python3 K.-F. Dagestad, J. Röhrs, H. Asbjørnsen, N. M. Kristensen, T. Kristiansen, P. Keie, and A. R. Brodtkorb https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1300358

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Short summary
Simulations of hypothetical oil spills are presented to investigate how the vertical mixing of oil affects transport towards various directions. It is shown that the horizontal transport of oil greatly varies for different oil types and weather conditions. These differences are a consequence of the entrainment of oil from the surface into the ocean. While oil spills often get entrained into the water by waves, we show that submerged oil typically resurfaces after a few hours or days.