Abstract. The modelling of wave-current and wave-turbulence interactions have received much attention in recent years. In this study the focus is on how these wave effects modify the transport of particles in the ocean. Here the particles are buoyant tracers that can represent oil droplets, plastic particles or plankton, for example fish eggs and larvae. Using the General Ocean Turbulence Model (GOTM), modified to take surface wave effects into account, we investigate how the increased mixing by wave breaking and Stokes shear production as well as the stronger veering by the Coriolis–Stokes force affect the drift of the particles. The energy and momentum fluxes as well as the Stokes drift depend on the directional wave spectrum that can be obtained from a wave model or from observations. As a first test the depth and velocity scales from the model are compared with analytical solutions based on a constant eddy viscosity (e.g. classical Ekman theory). Secondly the model is applied to a case where we investigate the oil drift after an offshore oil spill outside the western coast of Norway in 2007. During this accident the average net drift of oil was observed to be both slower and more deflected away from the wind direction than predicted by empirical models. With wind and wave forcing from the ERA Interim archive, it is shown that the wave effects are important for the resultant drift in this case, and has the potential to improve drift forecasting.
The Early Impacts of the 'Hebei Spirit' Oil Spill on the Macrozoobenthic Communities in the Subtidal Area Around Tae-an, Western Coast of Korea