On the Deepwater Horizon drop size distributions

Thomas B Ryerson, Scientific Aviation, Boulder, CO, United States, Elliot L Atlas, University of Miami, Miami, United States, Donald Ray Blake, University of California Irvine, Department of Chemistry, Irvine, United States, Joost A de Gouw, University of Colorado Boulder, Department of Chemistry, Boulder, United States, Carsten Warneke, NOAA Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States, Jeff Peischl, NOAA ESRL, Chemical Sciences Laboratory, Boulder, CO, United States, Charles A Brock, NOAA Earth System Research Lab, Boulder, CO, United States and Stuart A McKeen, NOAA ESRL/CSL and CU Boulder/CIRES, Boulder, CO, United States
Abstract:
Model simulations of the fate of gas and oil released following the Deepwater Horizon blowout in 2012 depend critically on the assumed drop size distributions. We use direct observations of surfacing time, surfacing location, and atmospheric chemical composition to infer an average drop size distribution for June 10, 2012, providing robust first-order constraints on parameterizations in models. We compare the inferred drop size distribution to published work on Deepwater Horizon and discuss the ability of this approach to determine the efficacy of subsurface dispersant injection.
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