Simulation of a Subsurface Oil Spill 

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FINAL TECHNICAL SUMMARY 

STUDY TITLE: Simulation of a Subsurface Oil Spill by a Marine Hydrocarbon Seep 

REPORT TITLE: Simulation of a Subsurface Oil Spill by a Marine Hydrocarbon Seep 

CONTRACT NUMBER(S): 14-35-01-00-CA-31063; Task # 17611 

SPONSORING REGION: Pacific 

APPLICABLE PLANNING AREAS: Southern California 

FISCAL YEAR(S) OF PROJECT FUNDING: FY 00/01 

COMPLETION DATE OF REPORT: September 2006 

COST(S): FY 00/01 - $110,935; FY 01/02 - no cost 

CUMULATIVE PROJECT COST: $110,935 

PROJECT MANAGER: Russell J. Schmitt 

AFFILIATION: University of California, Santa Barbara 

ADDRESS: Coastal Research Center, Marine Science Institute, University of California, 

Santa Barbara, CA 93106-6150 

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS: 1

Ira Leifer, 2Jordan Clark, and 3Bruce Luyendyk 

ADDRESSES: 1

Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-

6150; 2

Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 

93106-9610, 3

Institute for Crustal Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106 

KEY WORDS: hydrocarbon seeps, oil spills, buoyant oil and gas flow, bubble plume, Coal 

Oil Point Seep Field, surfacing location, dissolved methane 

OBJECTIVES: To understand the roll of gas bubbles and gas bubble plumes in transporting 

oil from the seabed to the seasurface, thereby improving predictions of the fate (i.e., surfacing 

location) of oil (and gas) from an underwater pipeline leak 

SIGNIFICANT CONCLUSIONS: Several discoveries resulted from this project. The bubble 

plumes from seeps were found to modify their environment by raising the dissolved methane 

levels in the water and creating upwelling flows. These enhance bubble survival and thus 

decreases the vertical distance they can transport oil, minimizing its surfacing footprint. Bubble 

distributions from natural seeps were measured (first ever) and were either broad distributions, 
Final Technical Summary - Leifer 

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or narrow and about 2000-3000 μm radius. Oil was found to form small gassy droplets in both 

cases, although the mechanism was different. It was also discovered that the trajectories of the 

gassy oil droplets were different from the oily bubbles. 

STUDY PRODUCTS: 

Publications: 

Boles, J.R., J.F. Clark, I. Leifer, and L. Washburn. 2001. Temporal variation in natural 

methane seep rate due to tides, Coal Oil Point area, California. J. Geophys. Res. 

106C11, 27077-27086. 

Leifer, I., and J. Clark. 2002. Modeling trace gases in hydrocarbon seep bubbles. Application 

to marine hydrocarbon seeps in the Santa Barbara Channel, Russian Geology and 

Geophysics {Original - Geologiya I Geofizika} 43(7): 613-621.

Leifer, I., J. Clark, and R. Chen. 2000. Modifications of the local environment by a natural 

marine hydrocarbon seep, Geophys. Res. Lett. 27(22): 3711-3714. 

Leifer, I., G. De Leeuw, and L.H. Cohen. 2003. Optical measurement of bubbles: System‚ 

design and application. J. Atm. Ocean. Tech. 20(9): 1317-1332.

Leifer, I., and A.G. Judd. 2002. Oceanic methane layers: A bubble deposition mechanism from 

marine hydrocarbon seepage. Terra Nova 16: 471-425. 

Leifer, I., and I. MacDonald. 2003. Dynamics of the gas flux from shallow gas hydrate 

deposits: Interaction between oily hydrate bubbles and the oceanic environment. Earth 

Plan. Sci. Lett. 210(3/4): 411-424. 

Leifer I., and R. Patro. 2002. The bubble mechanism for transport of methane from the 

shallow sea bed to the surface: A review and sensitivity study. Cont. Shelf Res. 22: 

2409-2428.

MacDonald, I.R., I. Leifer, R. Sassen, P. Stine, R. Mitchell, and N. Guinasso Jr., 2002. 

Transfer of hydrocarbons from natural seeps to the water column and atmosphere, 

Geofluids 2: 95-107.

Roy, L.A., S. Steinert, S.M. Bay, D. Greensteain, Y. Sapozhnikova, O. Bawardi, I. Leifer, and 

D. Schlenk, 2003. Biochemical effects of petroleum exposure in hornyhead turbot 

(Pleuronichthys verticalis) exposed to a gradient of sediments collected from a natural 

petroleum seep in CA, USA. Aquatic Toxicology 65(2): 159-169.
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Presentations: 

Conferences and Workshops

Bergmann, S., M. LaMontagne, I. Leifer, and P. Holden. Assessment of the effect of marine 

oil seeps on sediment bacterial diversity and community structure by PCR-TRFLP. 

American Society of Microbiologists General Meeting, Salt Lake City, Utah, May 19-

23, 2002.

Leifer, I., Bubble transport to the sea surface of seep methane. USGS Workshop on Naturally 

Occurring Fossil Methane Seepage as a Factor in Global Climate Change, Portland, 

Oregon, May 2-4, 2001. 

Leifer, I., J. Boles, J. Clark, P. Holden, M. LaMontagne, B. Luyendyk, C. Olman, and L. 

Washburn. Predicting the fate of oil in the marine environment from the seabed to 

surface oil slicks and beyond. California and the World Oceans ‘02, Santa Barbara, 

CA, Oct. 27-30, 2002. 

Leifer, I., J. Clark, B. Chen, L. Washburn, B. Luyendyk, and T. Egland. Observations of gas 

bubbles from the Coal Oil Point marine hydrocarbon seeps in the Santa Barbara 

Channel. Shallow Gas Group 6th International Conference, Gas in Marine Sediments, 

St. Petersburg, Russia, Sept. 5-9, 2000. 

Leifer, I., J. Clark, and B. Luyendyk. From the Seabed to the Sea Surface: Measurments and 

implications of hydrocarbon seepage in the Santa Barbara Channel (abstract), AAPG 

HEDBERG CONFERENCE “Near-Surface Hydrocarbon Migration: Mechanisms and 

Seepage Rates” April 7-10, 2002, Vancouver, BC, Canada, Search and Discovery, 

Article #90006, 2002. 

Leifer I., and A. Judd. Seep bubble layer deposition due to sharp bubble dissolution. XI 

European Union of Geosciences, Strasbourg, France, 8-12, April, 2001. 

Lorenson, T., W. Ussler III, J. Dougherty, C. Paull, S. Mitra, R. Keaten, K. Kvenvolden, and I. 

Leifer. Dissolved methane concentrations adjacent to natural oil and gas seeps off Pt. 

Conception, California. AGU San Francisco, 8-11 Dec. 2002. 

Seminars

1. MMS Camarillo, CA, May 16, 2002. Marine hydrocarbon seeps: A natural laboratory for 

studying processes related to petroleum exploration, spill mitigation, and ecological 

adaptation 

2. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Woods Hole, MA. Sep. 2002. The contribution to 

marine hydrocarbon seepage from catastrophic seepage events. 

3. Venoco Inc., Carpenteria, CA. Aug. 2002. The Shane Seep blowout and our understanding 

of the role of marine hydrocarbon seeps to the global environment 

4. California State Lands Commission, Long Beach, CA. Oct. 2001. The unique environment 

of marine hydrocarbon seeps. 
Final Technical Summary - Leifer 

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Educational Products: 

1) Narrated Video - Surveying Shane Seep, 16 minutes 

2) www.bubbleology.com website most recently receiving 14500 hits per month (see 

www.bubbleology.com/stats) presents some of the research including allowing manuscripts to 

be downloaded.