Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book helps us to understand the phenomenon of water-in-oil emulsification and tar ball formation from petroleum spills at sea is critical to the authors's ability to predict, control, and mitigate the environmental impacts of petroleum hydrocarbon spills in marine and coastal waters. Stable water-in-oil emulsions or "mousse" complicate clean-up strategies and logistics because the more viscous emulsions present formidable problems in skimming, pumping, and recovery operations. Turbulence has also been demonstrated to be critical in mousse formation. At this time, however, no single explanation accounts completely for all of the observations, and not all of the mechanisms of mousse formation and stability are understood. The importance of oil composition and different turbulence regimes, as well as discussions of studies of mousse formation and behavior in real spill situations, is included.