As the oil slick from the Iranian oil tanker Sanchi continues to spread, its possible environmental impact could be limited or it could see trace pollutants reaching as far as the west coast of North America
As the authorities battle to clean up toxic fuel leaking from the sunken wreckage of Iranian oil tanker Sanchi, scientists are looking at how the spill may affect the region and beyond.
The vessel was carrying nearly one million barrels of ultralight, highly flammable crude oil when it collided with a freighter east of Shanghai on January 6.
After burning for about a week, it exploded and sank 150 metres (492 feet) to the seabed midway between Zhejiang province and Japan’s Ryukyu Islands on Sunday.
As the oil slick continues to spread, its possible environmental impact could be limited or it could see trace pollutants reaching as far as the west coast of North America.
Here are three possible scenarios, based on interviews with Chinese government scientists.
1. Trace pollutants could reach US shores
Some trace pollutants from the Sanchi could ride sea currents and reach as far as the west coast of North America, according to Chinese government scientists.
The location of the wreckage, which is likely still leaking, is dozens of kilometres away from the Black Tide, or Kuroshio current. The Black Tide is as strong as the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic Ocean and transports warm, nutrition-rich water from west of the Ryukyus, north to Japan’s main islands.
It is connected to the North Pacific Current, which heads east to British Columbia, Canada where it splits into two courses – one going north to Alaska and the other turning south to California.
Pollutants from the Sanchi could be carried by some of the most powerful ocean currents, according to Zhu Xiaohua, a researcher at the Second Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration in Hangzhou, Zhejiang.
