IRANIAN MODEL FOR OIL SPILL TRACKING IN THE PERSIAN GULF

Rapid economic growth has caused a significant increase in fossil fuel consumption in recent decades. Exporting oil, especially via marine fleets, and increasing development of petrochemical industry, has caused the marine system to be exposed to severe environmental damages. In the 1991 Persian Gulf (Kuwait) war, oil spill was estimated at 143 billion liters. The fate and transport of spilled oil is governed by the advection due to current, wave and wind; horizontal spreading of the surface slick due to turbulent diffusion, gravitational, inertia, viscous and surface tension forces; emulsification; weathering processes such as evaporation, dispersion and dissolution; interaction of oil withshoreline; photochemical reaction and biodegradation. The fate and transport of oil spilled in water is dominated by complex physicochemical processes that depend on oil properties, hydrodynamics and environmental conditions