TY - JOUR
T1 - Aerosolization of Crude Oil-Dispersant Slicks Due to Bubble Bursting
AU - Sampath, Kaushik
AU - Afshar-Mohajer, Nima
AU - Chandrala, Lakshmana D.
AU - Heo, Won Seok
AU - Gilbert, Joshua
AU - Austin, David
AU - Koehler, Kirsten
AU - Katz, Joseph
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright:
Copyright 2019 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2019/5/27
Y1 - 2019/5/27
N2 - Bubble bursting is a primary source of marine aerosols, yet little is known about particle emissions due to the bubble bursting in slicks containing oil-dispersant mixtures. In this study, bubbles with mode sizes of 86 μm (denoted as small), 178 μm (medium), and 595 μm (large) are injected into a seawater column covered by slicks of crude oil, pure dispersant, and dispersant premixed with oil at a ratio of 1:25. The aerosol size distributions are monitored in the 0.5- to 20-μm and 10- to 380-nm ranges both in clean and ambient air environments. In ambient air, a tenfold increase in submicron particle concentration occurs when large bubbles burst on slicks of 500-μm dispersant premixed with oil at a ratio of 1:25 oil or 50-μm pure dispersant. Yet, in multiple tests performed at different ambient particle concentrations, the elevated size distributions persistently maintain the same shape as that of the ambient air. In contrast, smaller bubbles and tests not involving dispersants do not cause such an increase. Nanodroplets are also generated by large bubbles in particle-free air, but their concentrations are much lower. All plumes generate micron-sized aerosols, but trends vary. For the same contaminant, the microdroplet concentration decreases with increasing slick thickness. Particularly striking is a reduction of 2 orders of magnitude in the microdroplet concentration when medium and small bubbles burst on 500-μm crude oil slicks. Chemical analysis of air and particulates collected from filters sampling the particles confirms the presence of airborne oil above the slicks.
AB - Bubble bursting is a primary source of marine aerosols, yet little is known about particle emissions due to the bubble bursting in slicks containing oil-dispersant mixtures. In this study, bubbles with mode sizes of 86 μm (denoted as small), 178 μm (medium), and 595 μm (large) are injected into a seawater column covered by slicks of crude oil, pure dispersant, and dispersant premixed with oil at a ratio of 1:25. The aerosol size distributions are monitored in the 0.5- to 20-μm and 10- to 380-nm ranges both in clean and ambient air environments. In ambient air, a tenfold increase in submicron particle concentration occurs when large bubbles burst on slicks of 500-μm dispersant premixed with oil at a ratio of 1:25 oil or 50-μm pure dispersant. Yet, in multiple tests performed at different ambient particle concentrations, the elevated size distributions persistently maintain the same shape as that of the ambient air. In contrast, smaller bubbles and tests not involving dispersants do not cause such an increase. Nanodroplets are also generated by large bubbles in particle-free air, but their concentrations are much lower. All plumes generate micron-sized aerosols, but trends vary. For the same contaminant, the microdroplet concentration decreases with increasing slick thickness. Particularly striking is a reduction of 2 orders of magnitude in the microdroplet concentration when medium and small bubbles burst on 500-μm crude oil slicks. Chemical analysis of air and particulates collected from filters sampling the particles confirms the presence of airborne oil above the slicks.
KW - bubble bursting
KW - crude oil
KW - dispersant
KW - micro-aerosols
KW - nano-aerosols
KW - oily aerosols
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U2 - 10.1029/2018JD029338
DO - 10.1029/2018JD029338
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85066888760
SN - 2169-897X
VL - 124
SP - 5555
EP - 5578
JO - Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
JF - Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
IS - 10
ER -