Category:Behaviour of substances released into the aquatic environment

As now recognised by such Standard European Behaviour Classification, a released substance will distribute to the;

• Air
• Water surface
• Water column
• Sea floor

Combination of those behaviours is also possible.

Gases & evaporators will disperse in the air and move in accord with the wind vector while the affected volume grows inversely with its dilution effectively to zero.

Floaters will form a slick on the water surface, the movement of which is influenced by water current and wind vectors speed. A slick will also spread, causing the layer thickness to decrease while it evaporates, dissolves, disperses as droplets into the water column, or remains on water surface until arrives ashore, these options being dependent on the properties of the substance.

Dissolvers and droplet dispersers move in form of a plume in the water column on subsurface currents while continuing to dilute into ever-larger volumes of water until the concentration is effectively zero in a manner. This also happen to gases and vapours in the atmosphere.

Sinkers being heavier than water, and will sink to the seabed to form a layer from which, depending on its properties, it will dissolve, disperse slowly into the water column or remain on the seabed until recovered should this prove possible and necessary.

Similarly, released packages will sink, float or remain semi submerged depending on their relative density. Sinkers will remain on the seabed until located and recovered while floaters will eventually come ashore somewhere and the semi-submerged will eventually either come ashore or ground on the seabed in shallow water, all of these options being possible whether the package remains intact or not.

The effect of a released substance on human safety and the marine environment depends greatly on its location and concentration after release, these locations being the air, the water surface, the water column and the sea floor.

If the substance dissolves into the water column or sinks to the sea floor it is not considered a direct hazard to human life though it may cause damage to marine environment if the exposure concentrations are high enough. On the other hand, pollution of the air may be hazardous to human life, but is unlikely to impact on the marine environment while a pollutant on the water surface can have an influence on both human life and the marine environment.