An Overview of Oil Spill Modeling and Simulation for Surface and Subsurface Applications

In this review paper, we briefly discuss the occurrence of oil spills and their behavior under natural sea conditions and clean-up methods, as well as their environmental and economic impacts. We discuss methodologies for oil spill modeling used to predict the fate of a spill under dynamic physical and chemical processes. Weathering processes such as evaporation, emulsification, spreading, dissolution, dispersion, biodegradation, and sedimentation are considered within easy-to-use modeling frameworks. We present simple models based on the principles of thermodynamics, mass transfer, and kinetics that under certain conditions can predict oil thickness, volume, area, composition, and the distribution of toxic compounds in water and air over time for various types of oil and their products. Modeling approaches for underwater oil jets, including applications related to the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, are reviewed. The influence of sea surface velocity and wind speed on oil spill mapping, spill location, oil spill trajectory over time, areas affected by light, medium, and heavy oil, and comparisons between satellite images and model predictions are demonstrated. Finally, we introduce several recently published articles on more recent oil spill incidents and the application of predictive models in different regions. We also discuss the challenges, advantages, and disadvantages of various models and offer recommendations at the end of the paper.