Newsletter

May 2008

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MARCOOS SAROPS figureA sophisticated monitoring system using weather stations, satellites, coastal radar, and a fleet of robotic underwater vehicles is producing a three-dimensional view of real-time ocean conditions in the coastal Mid-Atlantic. This component of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) aims to provide decision makers with highly accurate predictions of ocean and atmospheric conditions useful for a range of management issues, from search and rescue operations, to predictions of hurricane tracks, coastal flooding, energy demand and the fate of pollutant spills, to fisheries management.

The Mid-Atlantic Regional Coastal Ocean Observing System (MARCOOS) covers the coastal ocean from Massachusetts to North Carolina and brings together a group of 20 institutions representing academia, government, and industry led by Rutgers University. ASA is the lead partner for the Data Management and Communications (DMAC) group and is responsible for DMAC strategies as well as the specific integration of data for search and rescue operations.

Four technologies are being used for the actual ‘observing’ or data collection: a network of automated coastal weather stations, satellite imagery, coastal ocean radar, and a fleet of undersea robotic vehicles. The weather network provides high resolution wind observations at the land-sea interface. Satellites provide a wide spectrum of ocean conditions, from surface temperature to biological activity. Coastal Ocean Radar provides real-time ocean surface conditions (current and wave height) that dictate the fate of objects or materials on the surface. Undersea robotic ‘gliders’ provide a variety of subsurface data throughout the water column as they glide downwards and then upwards along a programmed pathway that may be hundreds of kilometers long.

These data streams are processed into a near real-time four-dimensional model of surface and subsurface ocean conditions. This allows much more accurate predictions of the track of major weather events like hurricanes and nor’easter storms; conditions affecting sea breezes, navigation, and rip-tides; and biological features like harmful algal blooms or distribution of shellfish larva. The system is intended to augment emergency management, search and rescue, and pollution response efforts, as well as enhance management of natural resources through better prediction and management of energy consumption, fisheries stocks, beach and coastal sediments, and storm water.

NOAA is funding this three-year effort. In the first year, ASA is focusing on integration of meteorological data from Weatherflow’s observation network and surface currents from the extensive high-frequency radar network managed by Rutgers University and the Universities of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Forecast data from numerical models run at Rutgers, Stevens Institute, and UMass Dartmouth will be integrated in the second year and will provide high resolution forecast data for search and rescue operations and predicting the fate of oil and chemical spills.
   

ASA has been working with NOAA Fisheries to build a new extension for ArcGIS that allows users to browse THREDDS catalogs and connect directly to OPeNDAP servers to access large amounts of scientific data and ingest the data into ArcGIS desktop 9.2.  This capability will be especially important as NOAA moves towards ecosystem-based approaches to marine resource management.

“One of the challenges faced by our marine scientists is integrating satellite-derived data which is typically stored in scientific formats such as Grib, HDF and NetCDF with commercial GIS tools.  The continuity, global coverage, and high temporal and spatial resolution of satellite data make it an important tool for monitoring and characterizing marine ecosystems, but data have been largely inaccessible for scientists working with GIS tools.  This extension now allows users to connect directly to servers that manage these data and bring it into ArcGIS”, said Cara Wilson from NOAA Fisheries. “The tool opens up a huge amount of data that is available as part of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) and other national and global science initiatives”.

The Environmental Data Connector (EDC) extension uses a Java-based browser to allow users to connect to THREDDS (Thematic Real-time Environmental Distributed Data Services) catalogs. The connector leverages existing components from the Unidata libraries so that users can filter large amounts of data in space and time. The data is then converted to raster or feature classes in ArcGIS and is available for standard GIS analysis and display. The raster and feature data are connected to ASA’s TimeSlider™ extension so that the data may be animated and analyzed over time. Special customizations were made to the TimeSlider for this project to manage data with non-uniform time steps; the scientific data is highly variable in time with some data, such as in-situ current and wind measurements, being measured every few minutes to climate data that may be measured in terms of decades.

Future developments for consideration include support for the ERDDAP web service, a RESTful service that can access seven different protocols, and the OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium) standards.

EDC interfaces

Development of the EDC was funded by NOAA’s Satellite Research and Operation (R&O) project.


dredging

One of the challenges related to dredging operations is managing the disposal of dredged material. metric tons of crude oil into the sea. The Corps of Engineers and other agencies use Dredge Material Management Plans (DMMPs) that incorporate the latest science, public input and practical solutions for management of dredging programs. One of the tools used to support these plans is MDFATE (http://el.erdc.usace.army.mil/index.cfm), a model for determining the mound development and fate of disposed material. Capping graph

ASA has developed a system for the New England District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that integrates MDFATE with tools to help manage the disposal of marine sediment dredged from New England waters. The tool allows Corps staff to determine the volume of material required to cap dredge spoils on the seafloor. The underlying MDFATE model simulates the open water disposal of dredged material released from barges, and the Cap Model runs successive simulations of MDFATE to determine the seafloor placement of dredge spoil material and an associated cap to cover the spoil mound. Through a series of iterative runs, the model determines the optimal volume of cap material necessary to cover a dredge spoil mound.

  • From 4-8 February Deborah French McCay, Eric Comerma, Melanie Schroeder, Tatsu Isaji and Kathy Jayko of ASA provided oil and chemical spill modeling training for Ali Khelifa of Environment Canada. The Emergencies Science Division of Environment Canada uses ASA’s OILMAP and CHEMMAP model systems for spill planning and response.

  • During the week of 18-22 February, Eric Comerma and Adelaida Alarcon visited the R&D Center of CEDEX in Madrid, Spain to provide an advanced 3-day OILMAP training course. CEDEX is the research agency of Spain that provides multidisciplinary support in the civil engineering sector including technical assistance, applied research and technological development to various public and private institutions.

Alaska landscape

 

  • From 25-27 February Kelly Knee visited the Valdez, Alaska offices of the Alyeska Pipeline Company to provide training sessions in the use of ATOM (Alyeska Tactical Oil Spill Model) for the operators in charge of oil spill emergency response.

  • On 17-19 March Kelly Knee presented a paper entitled “Coastal Risk Analysis: Combined Effects of Storm Surge and Rainfall" at the American Water Resources Association (AWRA) GIS and Water Resources Conference in San Mateo, California.

  • On 18-20 March Gabriel Clauzet and Eduardo Yassuda went to Puerto Montt, Chile to deliver OILMAP v6 to COPEC, the Chilean Petroleum Company. As part of the training, COPEC invited personnel from the DIRECTEMAR and the local University.

     

 
COPEC team
Mark West in Angola

 

  • Mark West provided OILMAP and SARMAP training to BP in Angola in April.

     


1st Marine Oil Spill Forecasting and Response Seminar

 

  • The 1st Marine Oil Spill Forecasting and Response Technology Seminar was held in Qingdao, China from 19-21 March. Xiongping Zhang was invited to present OILMAP and its application. Representatives from numerous agencies involved in oil spill response were in attendance, including China Offshore Environmental Service Ltd (COES), the 1st Institute of Oceanography, Yantai Oil Spill Response Technical Center, central and regional MSA of China, Waterborne Transportation Institute of China, Ocean University of China, and Dalian Maritime University.

  • On 15 April Mark Wholey presented at the Underwater 3-D Situational Awareness Workshop sponsored by the Center of Excellence in Undersea Technology (COEUT) which convened at the University of Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay Coastal Institute.  Mark’s talk focused on environmental data feeds for modeling, simulation, and visualization software.

  • From 29 April – 1 May Judy Ogg attended “Extending the ArcGIS Desktop Applications” training at ESRI world headquarters in Redlands, California.  Judy is one of ASA’s developers for the version 6 ASAMAP applications and ArcGIS extensions.

  • The 1st Annual ASA Summit took place in Perth, Australia on 11-13 April. Representatives of the ASA offices came together to discuss shared vision, synergies, and synchronization of service work to meet the needs of a global client base. Scientists from offices in Australia, Brazil, and the U.S are collaborating on numerous coastal modeling projects.

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ASA Summit
ASA South America rafting

 

  • During his visit to ASA’s Sao Paulo office, Eoin Howlett was guided by ASA South America’s Eduardo Yassuda and team in fearlessly testing the waters by rafting class 4 whitewater. A good soaking was enjoyed by all.

  • Eoin Howlett, Deborah French McCay, Eric Comerma, Xiongping Zhang, and CJ Beegle-Krause attended the International Oil Spill Conference (IOSC) in Savannah, Georgia on 4-8 May, and manned booth #421.  Deborah French McCay presented two papers at the conference:  “Dispersed Oil Transport Modeling Calibrated by Field-Collected Data Measuring Fluorescein Dye Dispersion”, and “Modeling as a Scientific Tool in NRDA for Oil and Chemical Spills”.  The first paperdescribed the use of fluorescein dye studies to calibrate ASA’s oil transport model, assuming oil to be dispersed into the water column under similar conditions.   The second paper discussed the controversy over use of modeling versus field data, and suggested that the most scientific approach involves a combination of both modeling and field data collection. CJ Beegle-Krause served as the Risk Modeling/GIS Oral Session Chair.

 
ASA at IOSC 2008

Judy Ogg

Judy Ogg has joined ASA as a software engineer.  Judy has ten years of experience in software engineering focusing on Windows applications and services.  Her expertise covers analysis and design of applications and systems, software development, database development, and technical design documentation.  She holds a B.S. in Wildlife and Conservation Biology from the University of Rhode Island’s College of Environment and Life Sciences.

Melissa Murray has joined ASA as an accounting and contracting assistant. She brings 5 years of accounting experience and looks forward to continuing her path toward a BS in Accounting.  Payroll and Accounts Payable will be Melissa’s primary duties at ASA. 

Melissa Murray

Murray Burling, Nuala Fitzpatrick, Dr. Brett WallaceThe Perth office of Asia Pacific ASA is expanding significantly in May with the addition of three experienced coastal engineers and modelers. Leading the charge is Murray Burling, bringing 15 years of experience in modeling and project management for major coastal infrastructure developments and environmental assessments in Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Murray’s modeling expertise covers hydrodynamics, wave dynamics, coastal geomorphology, port and harbour studies, dredging, wastewater discharges and water quality dynamics. Also joining the team are Nuala Fitzpatrick and Dr. Brett Wallace. Nuala has 6 years professional experience as a coastal engineer on international and Australian projects. In addition to hydrodynamic modeling, Nuala’s expertise includes coastal structure design, vessel motion modeling and berth operability assessment. Brett’s experience as a planning engineer and modeler on major infrastructure projects involves skills ranging from assessment of impacts from discharges and port development to discrete element modeling for optimizing shipping and rail movements.

 

Several new faces have been added to the Asia Pacific ASA Gold Coast office.  Three students are involved in research proRashitha Perera, Ben Amon Brushett, Samantha Danchukjects.  Rasitha Perera (standing) from Auckland University in New Zealand has been enhancing capabilities within WQMAP to include flooding and drying, flushing of canal estates and integration of diffuser flows. Ben Amon Brushett (middle) from Griffith University on the Gold Coast has been creating high resolution hydrodynamic models for Australian waters as part of his Industrial Affiliates Programme. Ben is completing a database that encompasses the entire coastline of Australia to be used for search and rescue and emergency response. Samantha Danchuk (right) from Louisiana State University has been carrying out a comparative test of the NCOM (U.S Navy) and BlueLink (CSIRO) datasets to determine their skill for large scale current predictions. Samantha has been using SVP drifter buoy information and OILMAP to carry out the sensitivity testing.

 

The ASA family is pleased to announce a few very new additions. At APASA, on 31 January, Sydney was born to Trevor Gilbert and wife Rean. Then on 10 February, Sasha Zigic and wife Zandra welcomed Alexander Harrison.  Meanwhile, back in Narragansett, Jill Rowe, her husband Greg and their daughter April (age 2) had welcomed baby Patrick a few weeks earlier on 16 January.

new ASA babies

Warm congratulations to all. The babies are happy and healthy, their parents are doing well…and it seems quite possible there is a future scientist among them.

 

 

  

  • NOAA and ASA will present a paper at the ESRI International User Conference in San Diego on 4-8 August. The paper is titled “THREDDS/OPeNDAP Tools for ArcGIS 9.2” and will be presented in the “Climate and Weather Internet Applications” conference session.

  • Deborah French McCay will attend Environment Canada’s 31st Arctic and Marine Oilspill (AMOP) Technical Seminar, 3-5 June in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Deb will present two papers: “Transport and Impacts of Oil Spills in San Francisco Bay - Implications for Response” and “Evaluating Chemical Spill Risks to Aquatic Biota Using Modeling”.

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