Oil Slick Movement and "Drift Roses"

The present study considers the movement of oil slicks subject to the combined action of marine currents and winds. The wind effect is considered in terms of its relative persistence in each of the cardinal directions. The special case of calm winds is also considered. The new wind directions which depend upon previous wind directions, are selected using a directional transition matrix and a random number generator. Two new models, generalized drift roses and probability roses, are derived which can be used to identify potential zones for oil pollution under actual conditions or to study the potential impacts of oil spills respectively.