CONTINGENCY PLANNING FOR OIL SPILLS: RIVERSPILL - A RIVER SIMULATION MODEL.

Abstract

A simulation model, Riverspill, has been developed for the prediction of transport, spreading, and associated land contamination of oil spills on rivers. The effects of volume and type of oil, use of Oil Herder or not, type, location, and time of occurrence of the oil spill, geometry and hydrographic characteristics of the river and wind speed and direction are taken into account. The model is capable of operating in either deterministic or stochastic mode. When the model is used in the deterministic mode, it predicts the path and associated land contamination of a specific oil spill as a function of time. When the model is used in the stochastic mode, it estimates the probability that an oil spill will be transported into a specific region after an accidental discharge within another specified region. In the present study the model is specifically applied to the lower Mississippi River. However, the model is general and can be applied to any river. The predictions of the model are in very good agreement with the observed behavior of actual oil spills on the Mississippi River.