Biofuel Slick Effect

The biofuel slick effect describes how a surface film of biofuel or other organic spill suppresses air-sea gas exchange and damps surface waves over the slick. Organic surfactant films, whether natural sea-surface-microlayer material or spilled petroleum and biodiesel, smooth small-scale roughness and add a diffusive barrier that can cut local CO2 transfer by up to about 15%. Biodiesel weathers and biodegrades faster than mineral oil but can still spread as a visible sheen and depress local oxygen exchange. The effect matters for spill fate modeling and for interpreting remote-sensing returns, since slicks alter sea-surface texture seen by radar.