appeared corrugated (from wave action). The oil behaved "like mercury." A 

 bubble of air would come up and move the oil out of a circle; wave action 

 might keep it apart for a while, but it would then come back together (Photo- 

 graph 20, Appendix III). The general area of the slick was sheen oil. Within 

 that sheen, there were several pancakes. No oil extended beneath the pan- 

 cakes and the bottoms of the pancakes were flat, similar to the tops. The 

 thickness of the oil above the heads of the divers was l^i to 2 inches, 

 similar to what the SOR Team observed on Sunday, December 19, at the end of 

 18 miles of slick. The photo-graphed pancake was 8 to 10 feet wide and 30 

 feet long. Its edges were well defined and no feathering was observed (Photo- 

 graph 30). The current was no more than 3/4 knots. In order to observe the 

 water motion directly under the slick, the divers released dye into the 

 water. Some of the dye moved with, some behind, and some ahead of the oil 

 (Photograph 31) . They saw one dye streamer sitting on the underside of the 

 pancake and staying with it. This is documented in the movie coverage. When 

 taking pictures of one certain glob of oil, the divers were 10 to 15 feet 

 from it. There seemed to be a lot of dye in one area. The oil was moving 

 back and away, and the dye was coming forward. A very light breeze was 

 blowing on the surface. The only time the divers experienced a stinging 

 sensation from the oil was when they were cleaning up. They found the best 

 cleanser to be "Edge" shaving cream. 



During the many sightings of large pancakes of oil on mapping flights, 

 it was observed that oil sheen was generally upwind of the pancakes (Photo- 

 graphs 37 and 44, in Appendix III). This implies that the sheen is fed from 

 the pancakes and moves at a slightly slower velocity, consistent with the 

 concept that the dif ferentical oil/water velocity is somehow proportional to 

 oil thickness. 



The following estimates of the thickness of the oil slick and pancakes 

 were acquired: 



Date Location (days) (inches) Comments 



12/19/76 End of slick 2-3 2 Visual during SOR sampling 



12/23/76 Slick near Argo 1-2 1.5-2 Divers - visual estimate 



Merchant 



12/25/76 Pancake #1 5-8 4-6 Estimated from the Vigilant 



12/31/76 Pancake 8-13 6-10 Estimated from the Spar 



While it is true that these measurements were not made on the same parcel of 

 oil, it appears that the pancakes consolidated and got thicker as they aged. 



2.2.3 Water Motion Measurements 



Both Eulerian (at a point) and Lagrangian (following a parcel) water 

 motion measurements were obtained in the vicinity of the Avgo Merchant and 

 the oil released from it. In addition some historical data have been un- 

 covered and are available. It should be noted that in the immediate area of 



22 



