About this Research Topic
Understanding the fate of hydrocarbons released into the natural environment requires understanding a number of distinct processes such as oil interaction with suspended sediment materials, microbial interaction with oil and methane gas, microbial ecosystem response to increased hydrocarbon levels, the transport and mixing of all of these constituents by ocean currents and waves, and interactions with the atmosphere. Until recently, these processes were, by necessity, studied in isolation. In order to better understand the interrelationships between these processes, the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) funded Consortium for Simulation of Oil-Microbial Interactions in the Ocean (CSOMIO) was formed to develop a coupled numerical model that includes hydrocarbons, sediments, and microbial ecosystem embedded within a hydrodynamic model of the northern Gulf of Mexico. The goal of the modeling study is to create a tool that lets researchers explore various processes that affect hydrocarbons in the ocean within a holistic context.
For this Research Topic, we invite papers that explore the fate of hydrocarbons in the ocean using multi-components numerical models. In particular, we encourage studies that explore the relationship between two or more processes, including microbial ecology, sediment transport, oil/gas plumes, and physical mixing and transport processes. We also welcome papers on related experimental aspects of these topics, i.e. that can contribute to modeling parameterization, calibration, and verification.
We especially welcome Original Research, Methods, Reviews, Mini-Reviews, Technology Reports, Data Reports and Perspectives that explore the following themes or other related topics:
• Multiphase hydrocarbon plume dynamics
• Microbial interaction with hydrocarbons
• Ecosystem response to released hydrocarbons
• Surface slick trajectory prediction
• Oil weathering
• Marine Oil Snow (MOS) and Oil Mineral Aggregates (OMAs) formation
• Numerical techniques
Prof. Andrew Manning is employed by HR Wallingford. The other Topic Editors declare no competing interests with regards to the Research Topic theme.
Keywords: numerical modeling, hydrocarbons, sediment transport, microbial ecosystems, coupled models, Marine Oil Snow, Oil Mineral Aggregates, ocean circulation, ocean mixing, ocean waves, laboratory simulations
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
