Influence of projected climatic conditions and varying lateral points of release on oil slick transport in a tide-dominated estuary

Abstract Oil spills in estuarine systems can strongly endanger habitats and water quality. However, the impacts of projected climatic conditions on oil spill transport in estuarine environments have received little attention. To address these key gaps, we analyse here a range of simulations for the Humber Estuary, UK, using coupled hydrodynamic and oil spill model. These simulations indicate that, for this well-mixed macro-tidal estuary: (a) the influence of projected sea level rise and river discharge on oil slick impacted area, slick length and overall distance travelled is relatively minor (