STRATEGY FOR MONITORING THE SHORT-TERM DISTRIBUTION OF DISPERSED OILS

ABSTRACT An experimental program for monitoring the short-term distribution and concentration of chemically dispersed oil slicks has been developed for Clean Bay, the San Francisco area oil spill cleanup cooperative. The methods used in the program are experimental and still under development. The objectives of the program are to (1) document the surface area and volume of water affected by dispersed oil, (2) estimate the effectiveness of the dispersant, (3) determine the peak oil-dispersant concentration, and (4) determine the range of oil-dispersant concentrations in the affected water. Additional objectives that may be attained if field conditions are acceptable are to (5) estimate the rate at which oil disperses downward, and (6) estimate what fraction of the light-molecular-weight hydrocarbons are evaporated after application of the dispersant. The program includes oil concentration measurements made with a field fluorometer and by laboratory analysis. The program is flexibly designed so that it can ...