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Emergency ResponseHome | Image Galleries | Emergency Response

Oil Structure / Distribution

Photo examples of streamers, convergence, windrows, patches, tarballs, and "no structure" for oil slicks on water.

Click on an image below to see the full image.
This table provides six common descriptors for oil structure and distribution, and their corresponding structure codes.

Oil Structure Codes
(11.01.07, Location: Not applicable)

Streamers are narrow bands or lines of oil with clean water on each side.

Streamers (st)
(11.01.07, Location: Not available)

Aerial view of streamers of black oil that are breaking up into windrows.

Streamers (st) of Black Oil
(11.01.07, Location: Not available)

Two aerial views of convergence zones (long narrow bands of oil) on the water.

Convergence Zone (co)
(11.01.07, Location: Not available)

Two aerial views of windrows.

Windrows (wr)
(11.01.07, Location: Not available)

Three aerial views of patches of oil on water: 1 meter of crude oil; 50 meters of diesel; and 200 meters of crude oil.

Patches (pa)
(11.01.07, Location: Not available)

Three aerial views of tarballs: fist-sized tarballs viewed from a helicopter; 1-5 cm tarballs viewed from a boat; and 5mm-5cm tarballs from ground level on a beach.

Tarballs (tb)
(11.01.07, Location: Not available)

Two aerial views of No Structure distributions of oil.

No Structure (ns)
(11.01.07, Location: Not available)

Aerial view of a patch of emulsified oil surrounded by windrows of sheen.

Patch (pa) of Emulsified Oil
(11.01.07, Location: Not available)

View from a boat of dime to silver dollar-sized tarballs surrounded by dull-brown or metallic and silver/gray sheen.

Tarballs Viewed from Boat
(11.01.07, Location: Not available)

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