Current status of deepwater oil spill modelling in the Faroe-Shetland Channel, Northeast Atlantic, and future challenges

Alejandro Gallego, Rory O'Hara Murray, Barbara Berx, William R. Turrell, C. J. Beegle-Krause, Mark Inall, Toby Sherwin, John Siddorn, Sarah Wakelin, Vasyl Vlasenko, Lars R. Hole, Knut Frode Dagestad, John Rees, Lucy Short, Petter Ronningen, Charlotte E. Main, Sebastien Legrand, Tony Gutierrez, Ursula Witte, Nicole Mulanaphy

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

As oil reserves in established basins become depleted, exploration and production moves towards relatively unexploited areas, such as deep waters off the continental shelf. The Faroe-Shetland Channel (FSC, NE Atlantic) and adjacent areas have been subject to increased focus by the oil industry. In addition to extreme depths, metocean conditions in this region characterise an environment with high waves and strong winds, strong currents, complex circulation patterns, sharp density gradients, and large small- and mesoscale variability. These conditions pose operational challenges to oil spill response and question the suitability of current oil spill modelling frameworks (oil spill models and their forcing data) to adequately simulate the behaviour of a potential oil spill in the area. This article reviews the state of knowledge relevant to deepwater oil spill modelling for the FSC area and identifies knowledge gaps and research priorities. Our analysis should be relevant to other areas of complex oceanography.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)484-504
Number of pages21
JournalMarine Pollution Bulletin
Volume127
Early online date21 Dec 2017
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Feb 2018

Keywords

  • Oil spill
  • Modelling
  • Deepwater
  • Faroe-Shetland Channel
  • Northeast Atlantic

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