Fig. 2.

Sequence of the main oil–ice interaction and weathering processes in (top) open water conditions, (middle) ice conditions in summer and (bottom) ice conditions in winter (based around original figure by Bobra and Fingas (1986) and Wilkinson et al. (2013)). The main environmental factors influencing (top) ‘warm’ open-water weathering processes (besides oil composition) include amount of wind and wave energy; (middle) Summer sea ice weathering processes include amount of open water, wind-wave conditions, oil migration processes, wind herding in leads and the movement of ice; (bottom) Winter sea ice weathering processes include ice type, amount of daylight, drift of ice, encapsulation of oil, in new ice types as well as at the bottom of older ice * Not shown in this figure is a further scenario, specific to fast ice, whereby heat and/or gas contained within the oil, from rising blowout plume, inhibits ice formation and keeps an area of open-water ice free from late summer, and throughout the following winter (Lewis 1976)