Oil on water from its appearance (Bonn Agreement code)
Lower and upper estimates of the volume and mass of oil in a slick from its area, coverage and film thickness, taken from its appearance by the Bonn Agreement Oil Appearance Code (BAOAC).
V = A · f · h · 10⁻⁶m = V · ρThicknesses follow the Bonn Agreement Oil Appearance Code (Aerial Operations Handbook): 1 µm over 1 km² is 1 m³ of oil. Code 5 has no upper bound: enter a measured thickness. The appearance is reliable when observed from above in daylight. Water-in-oil emulsion holds up to 50–80 % water, so its volume exceeds the oil volume.
Source: Bonn Agreement Aerial Operations Handbook, Bonn Agreement Oil Appearance Code (BAOAC)
Inputs
You can change a field's unit: the value is converted to the formula's units automatically.
The area with one kind of film; ha and km² are in the unit list.
The part of the area actually covered by this kind of film, as estimated by the observer.
Usually 800–900 kg/m³.
Unit converter for this formulaArea · Density and °API · Liquid volume · Mass · Fraction and percent
- m²1
- km²1·10⁻⁶
- ha0.0001
- 10³ m²0.001
- mm²1,000,000
- cm²10,000
- in²1,550
- ft²10.7639
- acre0.000247105
- V_max — Oil volume, upper estimate–
- m_min — Oil mass, lower estimate–
- m_max — Oil mass, upper estimate–
More in Spills and contamination
Results are engineering estimates from standard formulas; for design decisions check them against the codes, project documents and specialists' calculations. The formulas carried over from the original set are unchanged, and their errors are described in the notes.