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World Glory after breaking in two, 13 June 1968, (image used with acknowledgement to Dynagen) |
Oceanographers who oversaw the historical World Glory oil spill cleanup may have unknowingly held the key to understanding the surprising drift pattern of the oil in their hands.
This is suggested in a paper co-authored by Dr Marten Gründlingh, CSIR Natural Resources and the Environment, who recently revisited data from the incident that made headlines in 1968 as the first-ever oil spill on the coastline of southern Africa.
When the 45 500 tonne tanker broke in two during a storm in June 1968, an aerial survey suggested that the oil would be carried south-westward without posing a threat to the coast. However, 24-hours later oil was observed less than 30 km off Durban's coast.
The research, conducted by Gründlingh and co-authors, Eckart Schumann and Alan Pearce, uncovered data that would have clearly indicated the path the oil would follow. "Had they, at the time, known the value of the data they had in their possession, oceanographers would not have been surprised to find the oil drifting towards the coast," says Gründlingh.
The revealing data consist of records that show sea-surface patterns collated by the CSIR's oceanographic group shortly before the World Glory sank. The data were still unprocessed at the time of the maritime incident and would have revealed the existence of a large clockwise eddy located east of Durban.
When studied with the understanding and knowledge scientists have today, the photographs show the World Glory was probably located just inshore of the Agulhas Current when disaster struck, placing the oil in an area that would have been carried shoreward by the eddy. Had the data been processed and understood, these could have cast important light on the reigning flow conditions, providing some anticipation of the events that followed.
"No one was prepared for the disaster when the World Glory spill struck," says Gründlingh, "it was the first disaster of its kind around South Africa and had no precedent. However, the response from the cleanup crew was phenomenal. They mobilised 10 vessels and a number of aircrafts in record time. With favourable weather, the operation was concluded without oil reaching the shore. The response would have been even swifter and more efficient had they understood that the knowledge to determine the fate of the oil had been in their hands all along."
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