The oil left in the oceans from oil spills is oxidized by photosynthesis and turned into more stable compounds in a range of hours to days, much faster than times much longer than previously thought. seo.
This was confirmed in new research from the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. Researchers have shown that oil moving oceans in oceans can be oxidized by photosynthesis in real environmental conditions – where the oil is consumed and reduced to exposure to sunlight and oxygen – into other carbon-based products over time. It is also being confirmed that this will happen at much faster rates than scientists believed at the time of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
One example of this is tar – commonly known as the black liquid used for asphalt roads – which is the result of this same pollution process. In addition, tar formed from oxidized oil with a picture in the ocean could remain in coastal areas decades after an oil spill.
(Image: Photo by Sean Gardner / Getty Images)
GRAND ISLE, LA – APRIL 19: Early morning waves crash on beach, days after BP announced they were completing their “active cleanup” on the Louisiana coast from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on April 19 , 2014, in Grand Isle, Louisiana. The Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded on April 20, 2010, killing 11 workers and spilling millions of oil.
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Monitoring how sunlight reduces oil in oceans
Researchers from the UM Rosenstiel School will present their findings in the title of the report “A Lagrangian-Earth Coupled System Model for Predicting Oil Photooxidation,” published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science. To understand how sunlight depletes oil, they developed the first oil spill model, in which an algorithm monitors the amount of solar radiation in oil droplets rising from the deep sea. to the surface of the ocean.
The UM Rosenstiel School team later discovered that a weather of oil volcanism due to sunlight occurred in several hours to days. In addition, up to three-quarters of the oxidized oil occurred by deposition in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in approximately the same locations where chemical scavengers were detonated from aircraft. In addition, hydrocarbon products from this weather oil are known to adversely affect air purifiers.
“Understanding the timing and location of this weather process is very important,” Clair Paris, senior study author and faculty member at UM Rosenstiel School, said in a press release. She also said that this experience could help with direct efforts and resources on fresh oil and also avoid additional environmental pressures with chemical dispersants on oil spills where it is less efficient.
On the other hand, Ana Carolina Vaz, lead author of the study and assistant scientist at the UM Collaborative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies, explains that oxidized photo compounds such as tar last longer in the environment, which making photooxidation models “critically important” not only for first response operations at an oil spill, but will also aid in risk assessment prior to screening efforts.
Deepwater Horizon oil spill
The so-called industrial disaster called the Deepwater Horizon oil spill began on April 20, 2010, near the Gulf of Mexico, caused by BP plc’s Macondo Prospect. It is considered to be the largest maritime event in the petrol industry. The U.S. federal government estimates that the spill will be at 4.9 million barrels (210 million U.S. gallons or about 780,000 cubic meters).
Shortly after the marine incident, several international efforts were made to prevent a further oil spill, and the well was declared sealed by September 19 – about five months later.
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Check out more news and information on oil spills in the Science Times.