Proposta metodológica utilizando simulação computacional para avaliar dinâmica de um derramamento de óleo e a dose na biota.

Abstract

Oil spills are one of the most impactful sources of marine pollution. The release of oil on the ocean surface can have potential environmental impacts. Due to these impacts caused by the oil exploration industry, knowing its behavior in the marine environment through studies of prevention, control and mitigation of oil spills is necessary. Many studies already make use of computational models and codes that have proved to be an important tool, with low computational cost, for risk management. The present work aims to analyze the output data of the oil dispersion model in the MEDSLICK-II software, through the case study of an oil spill in the Cumuruxatiba Basin region. This model calculates the transport and weathering of oil from data from a regional oceanic model, using a Lagrangian representation of the slick. Furthermore, we propose to observe the impact of oil on biota through the Monte Carlo computational code (MCNP), which estimates the transport of ionizing radiation from oil to biota in the oceanic environment. Our results showed that BC, with its acceleration associated with the summer months, can act as a physical barrier against zonal oil transport, and another important point is that the characteristic transport of western boundary currents can act as a strong agent spreader of elements associated with oil along the Brazilian coast. Furthermore, the Th-232 series stood out for presenting a significant contribution to the dose. However, a corrective action capable of removing Tl-208 would significantly reduce the effects of radiation on readily exposed populations, since this radionuclide stands out as the one that delivers the highest percentage of dose. This study is a first approximation in terms of the dose rate in the biota due to an oil spill. Thus, based on this information generated by the models, the aim is to create an application methodology for future studies of oil spills and their impact on coastal areas of the Brazilian coast.