Current dynamics to detect the spread of oil spills in coastal waters

Abstract

Abstract Surface flow dynamics modelling is an important aspect of monitoring and detecting oil spills in marine environments, especially coastal waters. The model can predict the spatiotemporal distribution of oil spills in waters before remote sensing technologies such as radar and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) detect the oil spill distribution range. The purpose of this study is to model two-dimensional (2D) surface flow to predict the extent of oil spills, especially in shallow water or coastal areas. The accuracy of this ocean current distribution model was then verified using the case of an oil spill in East Aceh waters based on the results of the detection of synthetic aperture Interference images from the Sentinel-2B satellite Radar (InSAR) Technology from August 1st to September 20th, 2021. The results show that when the fluid dynamics used is residual flow, the oil distribution trajectory moves partly to the north and partly to the south toward the coast of the leak location. However, when mean current is applied, the distribution expands to the south toward the coast. Based on the state of the wind distribution when the oil spill occurred, it shows the same direction as the residual current model, but the influence of the wind is greater than the residual current. So, it can be concluded that oil spills in the waters of East Aceh are more influenced by a combination of mean currents and surface wind direction. These results were validated by the results obtained from satellite images. Therefore, the satellite image validation results indicate that mean flow provide a more accurate indication of oil spill distribution than the average flow in South Aceh waters.