Hazards, prediction, response and control of marine oil spill

Marine oil spill will cause persistent damage to environment, marine ecology, economy and society. Started from the hazards of marine oil spill, behaviors of spilled oil at sea environment, including spreading, advection and horizontal diffusion, vertical dispersion, evaporation, dissolution, emulsification etc. were overviewed, and the main factors influence these behaviors were analyzed. Thereafter, numerical models to predict marine oil spills were introduced. These models were divided into hydrodynamic models to predict the oil trajectory and comprehensive models to predict environmental impact and efficiencies of different countermeasures. Based on these works, the response program of marine oil spill was proposed in the fourth section. The response program comprises discovery and notification, evaluation, containment, cleaning and disposal. Meanwhile, mitigation measures of the US Costal Guard Oil Spill Prevention, Preparedness and Response (OSPPR) program were introduced. After that, the main countermeasures of oil spill were introduced. These measures can be divided into mechanical, chemical and biological and physical measures. The mechanical, chemical and biological measures were expounded. In the conclusion, general principles to choose countermeasures were proposed.