Simulation of Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Using Coupled Atmosphere-Ocean Model

Simulation of Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Using Coupled Atmosphere-Ocean Model＊

Youngjin Choi ＊＊ Keiko Takahashi ＊＊

Akihisa Abe ＊＊＊ Shigeru Nishio ＊＊＊ A k i r a S o u ＊＊＊

The Deepwater Horizon accident discharged a staggering amount of oil (about 780,000 kL) into the Gulf of Mexico. In
other forecast simulations based on the ocean-only models, spilled oil reached the Atlantic Ocean via the Gulf Stream. In
this study, the authors simulated 3-dimensional movement of oils using real-time oceanic and atmospheric conditions
obtained by the coupled MSSG (Multi-Scale Simulator for the Geoenvironment) model. Our simulation shows that the
amount of oil discharge into the Atlantic is very limited due to the trade winds. The atmospheric coupling to the ocean
model is essential in the forecast simulation of spilled oils.

1. Introduction which is funded by the US government, conducted a

supercomputer simulation about the DH oil spill with
The Deepwater Horizon (Hereafter DH) oil spill, caused
3-dimensional z-coordinate ocean general circulation model
by a drilling rig explosion on 20 April 2010, is the largest oil
(OGCM) ([6], Fig.1). They suggested that Gulf crude oil
spill on the Earth. It had released about 780,000 kl of crude
could discharge into the North Atlantic in about 120 days.
oil from a depth of 1600 m.
Once the oil in the uppermost ocean has become entrained
Generally, oil-spill modelling in the ocean involves two
into the Loop Current (LC), it is likely to reach Florida's
models: a hydrodynamic model and an oil transport model.
Atlantic coast within weeks. It can then move north as far as
Since the oil spill in the ocean is very complicated process of
about Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, with the Gulf Stream
winds, ocean currents and oils’ random movements, modeler
(GS), before turning east.
should consider about the characteristics of oceanic and
atmospheric conditions and general circulation models.
Most of oil-spill accidents are occurred in the coastal seaway
or oil tanks around the coast and many of oil-spill simulation
researches used two dimensional ocean circulation models
for the hydrodynamic model ([1];[2]), or sigma coordinate
models which are not suitable for the open ocean circulation
with steep topographic slopes ([3];[4]). Choi et al. [5]
showed that high resolution 3-dimensional z-coordinate
atmosphere and ocean model is effective for accurate
simulation of oil-spill in open ocean. For the transport model,
a Lagrangian particle-tracking model which is totally free
from the numerical diffusion is established as an effective
method because spilled oils in the ocean are treated as
Fig.1 Distribution of the spilled oil from the DH, simulated
passive tracer.
by NCAR. Light gray shaded indicates oils in the ocean
The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR),
surface.
Received December12, 2011
Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology On the other hand, another possible spread scenario of the
*** Graduate School of Maritime Science, Kobe University
Gulf crude oil over one year was studied by a team of

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（2013）
106 Simulation of Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Using Coupled Atmosphere-Ocean Model

researchers from the University of Hawaii. They used the 100 m to 30 km, while MSSG_O used 26 layers varying
oceanic parameters conducted with the OFES (OGCM for from 20 m to 5000 m.
the Earth Simulator) which is provided by Japan Agency for The initial temperature and salinity distributions were
Marine–Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC). They generated using a combination of the OFES 1/10o
also indicated that the oil enters the LC and the GS, and climatological product[9], calculated in the JAMSTEC.
about 150,000 kl of crude oils are transported through the
Straits of Florida and finally into the North Atlantic after
about 240 days [7]. However, the previous studies did not
considered about the effect of wind on the spilled oils on the
ocean surface.
In this study, we investigate the DH oil spill by numerical
simualtion with high-resolution atmosphere-ocean general
circulation model. Numerical models are well established in
simulating atmosphere and ocean circulations in the regional
domain for the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). The particle
tracking oil spill model is described, followed by
applications for the DH accident.

2. Simulation System
Fig.2 Domain and Topography (ETOPO5) for the GCM
2.1 Atmosphere-ocean model simulation
The Multi-Scale Simulator for the Geo-environment
(MSSG)[8] is used for the regional numerical simulation, Each component is coupled after spun up for 2 years and
using the Earth-Simulator II (ES2) provided in JAMSTEC 10 years for the atmospheric and ocean components,
(Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology). respectively. Coupled simulation was carried out for 1 year
Both atmospheric and oceanic components are developed from April 20th, 2009.
based upon the primitive equation as follows:
wu wu 1 w 2u 2.2 Simulation results
 u ˜’ hu  w  fk u u  ’ h p  AV  AH ’ 2hu (1)
wt wz U0 wz 2 The monthly mean surface current field in April is shown
wp (2) in Fig.2. The North Equatorial Current and the Gulf Stream
U g
wz (GS) are well reproduced. The separation of the GS around
ww (3) the coast at Cape Hatteras is reasonably simulated.
’h ˜ u  0
wz
An atmospheric component of MSSG (MSSG_A) is
3-dimensional non-hydrostatic global/regional atmosphere
circulation model. It compromised of fully compressive flux
form, Smagorinsky-Lilly type parameterizations for sub-grid
scale mixing. In the ocean component (MSSG_O),
incompressible and hydrostatic equations with the
Boussinesq approximation are adopted.
In both the atmospheric and oceanic components,
Arakawa-C grid is used. The atmospheric component
utilizes the terrain following vertical coordinate, while the
ocean component uses the z-coordinate system for the
vertical direction.
In this study, we used 15km resolution horizontal grid,
covering North Atlantic (65oN㹼10oS, 100oW㹼20oE, Fig.1). Fig.3 Surface current velocity from the MSSG_O
For vertical layer, MSSG_A used 32 layers varying from

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 Simulation of Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Using Coupled Atmosphere-Ocean Model 107

The ocean circulation in the GOM is characterized by ocean current velocity at the sea surface, and Uwind is the 3%
three features like below: of wind velocities at 10 m above the water surface[11],
1) The Loop Current (LC) that flows northward between respectively.
Cuba and the Yucatan peninsula, moves north into the GOM, The advection due to turbulent diffusion Lrandom is
loops east and south before exiting to the east through the computed by the random walk method for Gaussian
Florida Straits and joining the GS. “spillets” as
2) The anti-cyclonic warm eddy detached from the LC.
Lrandom R 6 D / 't , (5)
3) Large stationary eddy in the west of the GOM.
Those three features are well reproduced in our simulation where R is the random number between –1 and 1. The
(Fig.2). In the simulation results, the horizontal velocity of empirical horizontal diffusivity coefficient D is taken as 10
the GS is up to 15 cm/s above 500 m depth, under which the m2/s[12]. For the vertical direction, diffusivity is 1/10 of
velocities are only about 0~5 cm/s. horizontal value.
Fig.3 shows the 10-meter wind velocity field above ocean The differential equations were solved using a second
in April. The trade winds blow westward in the tropics, and order Runge–Kutta (R-K) algorithm[13] with a time–step of
the wind above 30oN blows southwesterly by the effect of 60 min, since time–centering in the method is approximately
the Westerlies which blow eastward at mid-latitudes. It achieved by anticipating an average force acting between
should be noted that the wind velocities in the GOM is two successive time steps. For Lagrangian equation the
relatively weak compared to the Caribbean Sea. usual 2nd order R-K algorithm gives

xn*1/2 xn  vn 't / 2 , xn 1 xn  vn*1/2 't . (6)

Fig.4 10m wind velocity on ocean surface from the

MSSG_A

3. Oil-Spill Simulation Results

The particle tracking (Lagrangian) approach has been

adopted for the oil-spill simulation, using the three-
dimensional results from the MSSG model simulation.
In the particle tracking method, a spill is considered to be
represented by many small discrete quantities, or particles,
rather than as a continuous oil body[10]. The method
naturally allows advection and diffusion to be separately
dealt with. Advection of a particle can be calculated by the
following simple equation
Fig.5 Simulation results of the DH oil spill for CASE1 (Left)
L (U current  DU wind ) 't  Lrandom , (4)
and CASE2 (right), respectively.
where L is the moving distance of a particle, Ucurrent is the

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108 Simulation of Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Using Coupled Atmosphere-Ocean Model

We conducted two case of oil-spill simulation: CASE1 (about 1000 km), which is quite different from CASE1. The
uses only ocean currents for the advection velocity, while combination of west-northwestward forcing due to the
CASE2 uses both atmospheric and ocean simulation results. winds is effective in the ashore of spilled oils.
Fig.5 shows the comparison of the simulation results of Compared with the satellite-observed surface oil locations
CASE1 (left) and CASE2 (right). In CASE1, the ocean (Fig.7)[14], observations shows that a lot of oils drifted
current is the only external velocity for the Lagrangian ashore from Florida to Louisiana, which is similar with
equation, and consequently, the movements of the oils CASE2. However, in CASE1, oils are hardly drifted ashore.
determined by the ocean current. After 30 days from the spill, Note that the oil distributions in the southern regions of DH
oil moves mainly into southerly, under the effect of ocean oil spill source, in Fig.7, is similar with neither CASE2 nor
currents. After 90 days, the front edge of the simulated oil CASE1, because of artificial actions by humans – fencing,
slick flows into the LC, and they reach Florida’s Atlantic filtering, and collecting, etc.
coast in 120 days. The oil slicks then move northerly as far
as about Cape Hatteras with the GS, before turning east. In
the simulations by NCAR and University of Hawaii, it takes
about 120 days and 240 days for the oils to reach the North
Atlantic. CASE1 shows 180 days to reach the North Atlantic,
which agrees with previous studies. On the other hand,
CASE2 shows different trajectories from CASE1. Most of
the oils are trapped and mooring in the GOM, and very
limited oils are passed through the Strait of Florida.

Fig.7 Cumulative Oil Slick Footprint of the DH oil spill,

April 25 - July 16, 2010

The 3-dimensional distributions of spilled oils after 30

days are shown in Fig.8. The oils around the source are
injected upward direction, then it distributed horizontally by
random walk and advections. Different from other discharge
flows in the oceans, the oils afloat quickly by acceleration of
buoyancy force.

Fig.6 Rose diagrams for the ocean currents and winds

through the Florida Strait for 6 months after the DH oil spill.

The directions of ocean currents and winds through the

Florida Strait are illustrated by rose diagrams in Fig.6. The
ocean currents are apparently directed to the east-northeast
direction, which indicates the outflow of the LC into the GS.
On the other hand, the rose diagram for the winds through
the Florida Strait clearly indicates easterly winds. It should Fig.8 Vertical distribution of the spilled oil from the DH
be noted that the direction of the winds in the rose diagram
is shifted 30o to the right due to the Ekman effect. The rose 4. Summary and Conclusion
diagrams suggest that the easterly blow trade winds keep out
the outflow of the oil slicks into the GOM. In CASE2, The We conducted oil spill simulation using a general
oils are widely drifted ashore from the Florida to Louisiana atmosphere and ocean circulation model. The realistic winds

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 Simulation of Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Using Coupled Atmosphere-Ocean Model 109

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sponsored data system. The authors express their thanks for
their supports and contributions.

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