The aqueous concentrations of sparingly soluble compounds resulting from oi
l, fuel, or chemical spills onto rivers predicted by numerical spill models
contain an inherent degree of uncertainty due to the inaccuracies, or bias
, of the user supplied rate coefficients. Methods for estimating the values
of spreading, evaporation, dissolution, volatilization, and longitudinal d
ispersion coefficients for a small sheltered river are reviewed, and the un
certainties associated with each coefficient are estimated. The uncertainti
es in the predicted aqueous concentrations are then computed using a concur
rently developed riverine spill model for a simulated spill of 10,000 kg of
jet fuel. The resulting aqueous concentrations were found to be most sensi
tive to the saturation concentrations and the dissolution rates, moderately
sensitive to the evaporation rates and longitudinal dispersion coefficient
, and nearly completely insensitive to the volatilization coefficient. (C)
1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.