Speaker
Description
The discovery and commercialization of oil production has placed Ghana among High-Risk Zones which are characterised by high traffic density and the presence of navigational hazards. Even so, the size, location, and circumstances of any major oil spill remain unpredictable. Models have created a “coco” means of understanding our environment and a good way of dealing with any accident is to be prepared. Therefore, planning for an oil spill emergency helps minimise potential danger to human health and the environment by ensuring a timely and coordinated response. MOHID model was used to address scientific and environmental processes related to the oceanic dynamics in the EEZ of Ghana and the concept of nesting domains was used to reduce the cost and computer processing unit, CPU, time for computation. The hydrodynamics was modeled using three levels (the 2nd and 3rd levels were forced with atmospheric and oceanic parameters) and validated to have an average deviation of 14 % from field results. To locate possible shorelines /places that are susceptible to oil particles, random locations where oil exploitation takes place were used as discharge points for the simulations. In all, about 8 locations were included for the research and they are as follows: (-2.9 oE, 4.4 oN), (-1.7 oE, 4.6 oN), (-0.9 oE, 4.9 oN), (-0.9 oE, 4.6 oN), (-0.3 oE, 5.2 oN), (-0.3 oE, 4.6 oN), and (0.5 oE, 4.6 oN). In conclusion, it took the oil particles 2 days, 6 hours; 1 day, 17 hours; 3 days; 4 days; 1 day; 4 days, 1 hour; and 22 hours respectively to get beached at the shore. For particles located at this point (i.e. 0.5 oE, 5.5 oN), they were beached outside the EEZ of Ghana.
