A New Mixing Diagnostic and Gulf Oil Spill Movement

Abstract

Mixing Chaos Modeling the future movement of chaotic fluids is the basis for predicting the weather and ocean currents. Usually parcels of fluid are traced and geometrical and statistical approaches incorporate parameters for mixing and chaos, as well as the resulting uncertainty. Mezić et al. (p. 486 , published online 2 September; see the Perspective by Thiffeault ) adapted this approach to consider different mixing and stretching regimes to improve predictions. As a test, they simulated and successfully predicted the spread of oil patches from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in a model for the Gulf of Mexico.