Thermal Marangoni Effect on Crude Oil Substance Spreading Kinetics on the Sea

Dynamics of liquid hydrocarbons spreading over the seawater surface was studied in laboratory conditions. Oil lens expansion rates predicted from classical theories were higher 6–9 times than these measured experimentally. Such a discrepancy could result from onset of Benard-Marangoni cellular flow beneath the expanding oil, observed for volatile hydrocarbons. The vertical temperature gradient ?Tcool related to the evaporation rate was high enough to initiate Marangoni thermal phenomenon. The additional dissipative, turbulent flow is likely to slow down the spreading. The classical Marangoni effect is of secondary importance in reference to the thermal effect in interfacial spreading and mixing processes at sea.