Overview
This study investigated the effects of the wind drift factor under the strong tidal conditions of Korea’s western coastal area on the movement of oil slicks caused by the 2007 Hebei Spirit oil spill accident. Oil slick movement was computed using a simple simulation model based on an empirical formula expressed as a function of surface current, wind speed, and the wind drift factor.
Model Setup
The Environmental Fluid Dynamics Code (EFDC) model and an Automatic Weather System (AWS) were used to generate the tidal and wind fields, respectively. Simulation results were then compared with five sets of spaceborne optical and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data to evaluate the influence of the wind drift factor.
Key Findings
The highest matching rate between the simulation results and satellite imagery was obtained with different values of the wind drift factor, which to first order was found to be linearly proportional to wind speed. Based on these results, a new modified empirical formula was proposed for forecasting the movement of oil slicks in coastal areas.