APPLICATION OF 3-DIMENSIONAL OIL-SPILL MODEL (WOSM OILMAP) TO HINDCAST THE BRAER SPILL/

A state-of-the-art, three-dimensional oil spill model (WOSM/OILMAP) wa s applied to hindcast the transport and fate of the Braer oil spill, w hich occurred off the southern coast of Shetland Island in January 199 3. The model included advection, spreading, evaporation, emulsificatio n, entrainment, oil-shoreline interaction, and subsurface transport. T idal and winter residual flow data necessary as input to the model wer e derived from prior hydrodynamic modeling studies of the area. Wind d ata were obtained from observations at the Sumburgh Airport for the ti me period of interest. Model predictions of the surface and subsurface oil paths, shoreline oiling, and subsurface oil distributions are gen erally in reasonable agreement with available observations. The simula tions clearly show the importance of entrainment, subsurface transport , and resurfacing of oil and accurate representations of the current f ield in the vicinity of the grounding site and to the south of Shetlan d Island in accurately hindcasting the spill.