Using Oil Spill Modeling in Oil Spill Exercises and Drills

Abstract

Oil spill trajectory and fate modeling was used in inland response Full Scale Exercises including the Enbridge Des Plains River (fall 2018) and Wisconsin River (fall 2019). The Spill Impact Model Application Package (SIMAP) was used to predict the three-dimensional movement (i.e. trajectory) and behavior (i.e. fate) of a hypothetical release of oil using site-specific environmental and geographic conditions (including seasonal and hydrographic information) for the date of the exercise. The RPS OILMAPLand model was also used to predict the two-dimensional movement and behavior of the oil over the land surface, before it was predicted to enter the waterway. The oil spill modeling evaluated the spatial extent, timing, and magnitude of hydrocarbon contamination at downstream locations including thicknesses of floating surface oil and the mass of oil on shorelines and sediments. The assessments included the potential for released oil to move over the land surface, before entering the waterway, as well as becoming entrained in the water column as a result of surface floating oil passing over local features such as locks and dams. The results were presented at two separate exercise planning session and the full scale exercise as static images, GIS shape files, and videos. Results were also included in the COP for the exercise itself, with predicted results provided at hourly intervals for several days.