Assessment of the behavior of oil in the tanks of the "Prestige" in the Atlantic deep sea

[EN] The sinking of the Prestige supertanker off the coast of Spain in November 2002 led to one of the most devastating oil spills ever worldwide. Between 13,800 and 37,500 tons of oil still remain inside the wreckage. The mid-range and long-term behaviour of oil temperature and leaks were analysed...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Marcos, María José, Agüero, Almudena, García-Olivares, Antonio, Haupt, Bernd J., Pablos, Jose L. de
Format: article
Publication Date:2004
Country:España
Institution:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repository:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/2370
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/2370
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Oil spill
Computational fluid dynamics
Deep-sea
Tanker wreckage
Atlantic Ocean
Vertido de petróleo
Dinámica de fluidos computacional
Océano profundo
Pecios de petroleros
Océano Atlántico
Description
Summary:[EN] The sinking of the Prestige supertanker off the coast of Spain in November 2002 led to one of the most devastating oil spills ever worldwide. Between 13,800 and 37,500 tons of oil still remain inside the wreckage. The mid-range and long-term behaviour of oil temperature and leaks were analysed to decide whether the oil could be pumped out in the current conditions. Past and present conditions near the wreckage were analysed, considering depth, water pressure, estimated oil behaviour inside the tanks, and possible future hull corrosion. A similar analysis may be useful in the management of future wreckages