Tar Distribution

The accumulation of tar at Coal Oil Point is temporally and spatially variable. The trends in distribution can give insight into possible sources of the tar, as well as the processes in which effect its accumulation variations. Tarballs were classified into 5 size classes and counted within 2-m quadrats along 12 transects centered at the point. Tarball count was converted into tarball mass by determining average masses for each size class. Transect counts were integrated over the entire study area and the distributions were analyzed for common trends. Distributions were further subdivided based on the local winds and currents for each day. GNOME (General NOAA Oil Modeling Environment) is an oil-spill modeling program that was used to determine possible sources and dominant forcing factors for the tar accumulation patterns.