ABSTRACT
Underwater oil and gas exploration has been growing fast in low latitude regions, even though very few experimental data acquisition and modeling involving gas release in tropical and shallow waters have been published by the scientific community. This study used a dataset of geophysical and gas release measurements, from an experiment off the Northeast Brazil coast, to evaluate the GASOCEAN blowout model. Hydrological and hydrodynamic data were collected for distinct seafloor gas releases, tides and seasons. Modeling results point out the horizontal displacement of the gas plume by the current, as it rises through seawater column. Comparing the measured and the calculated data, the model satisfactorily represented the main features of the gas release: displacement (11.6-35.2 m), diameter (1.2-2.8 m) and ascending time (1.1-1.6 min) of the plumes. Although the model’s suitable results, improvements may enhance its performance during the initial development of the plume.
