In Situ Burning Wave Tank Tests at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska1
ABSTRACT A series of research burns was carried out in the fall of 1997 in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, in a new wave tank purpose-built for oil spill research and training. These tests were the culmination of a 3-year research project by Alaska Clean Seas (ACS) and S.L. Ross into the effects of oil type, emulsification, temperature and waves on in situ burning in Arctic open water conditions. The 1997 experimental program involved conducting mid-scale burns with fresh and weathered Alaska North Slope (ANS) and Milne Pt. crude oils and emulsion slicks in waves, including tests involving the addition of emulsion breakers. Emulsion breakers are surface active chemicals which are added at very low dosages (1:500 to 1:5000) to petroleum emulsions to promote separation of the emulsion into discrete oil and water phases.