It is impossible to fully guarantee the absence of oil accidents. The legislation of the Russian Federation obliges oil men to develop the Oil Spill Response Plan. For its preparation, it is necessary to understand the physical and chemical nature of the behavior of the oil slick. However, there is no sufficient experience in this field, and the effectiveness of existing methods of oil spills response remains low.
Laboratory studies conducted by the authors of this article showed the following regularity: due to the significant temperature difference at the interface of oil and ice, a hole-like thawing occurs with the formation of water, in some cases squeezed out by oil. This means that from now on the oil moving after the ice flow interacts with the dead oil. The consequences of an oil accident can occur in different directions as the wind affects the ice movement, and often the direction of flow and wind do not coincide.
Oil, with a sufficiently high concentration, or in conditions of continuous ice cover, when spilling falls on the surface of the water with the floating ice, is under ice, on the surface of the ice and in the ice. As a result of the spring melting of the ice, the oil is released from the ice shell. In this case, it is necessary to constantly monitor the migration and condition of the contaminated ice. Environmental disaster can occur several hundred or even thousands of kilometers from the leak site.
Taking into account the laboratory studies on the multi-vector movement of oil, foreign experience and research on low efficiency of existing methods of the oil spill response, it is appropriate to apply the principle of «delayed response» at accident elimination.
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