Technological Advances for Ocean Surface Measurements by the Consortium for Advanced Research on Transport of Hydrocarbons in the Environment (CARTHE)

Abstract

Formed in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon event, the largest accidental marine oil spill, the Consortium for Advanced Research on Transport of Hydrocarbons in the Environment (CARTHE) focused on understanding the physical processes controlling the transport of material from a deep blowout all the way to the coast. Even though CARTHE was initially a modeling-oriented team, it progressively became more focused on observations in order to collect the data needed for model evaluation. A number of new technological advances needed to be made to collect the necessary data. This article reviews most of these, with special focus on surface sampling, where much of the oil is located during oil spills, as well as the measurement of near-field droplet size distribution.