The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill[back to top]

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill began on April 20, 2010 and with it commenced ASA's involvement in responding to the incident. ASA is a member of a team of contractors that work with NOAA on Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA), as per regulations under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, to assess the damages of oil spills on the natural environment. ASA has been involved in NRDA cases before employing SIMAP to model oil spills to determine impacts. Because the Deepwater Horizon spill continued for several months, scientists that work on the NRDA were able to collect real-time data as the release continued. ASA employees Jenna Cragan, Eileen Graham, and Yong Kim were on location in the gulf to assist the data collection by staffing vessels that were sent out close to the well head. From the ASA office in Rhode Island, Debbie French McCay used SIMAP, in addition to daily reports produced by NOAA, the USCG, and others, to direct the boats to areas of interest where data on the oil and how it was behaving in the environment was collected. Dr. French McCay is co-lead of the Water Column, Plankton and Fish Technical Working Group of scientists evaluating the impacts of the spill.

In addition to sampling, the ASA team working on the spill was kept busy researching the best ways to further sample the environment. ASA worked to find the best people and tools to assist in the efforts to collect information about the oil - both at the surface and deep in the water column. Working with other companies in Rhode Island, ASA was able to modify off-the-shelf instruments to withstand the pressure of 1,500 meters of water which allowed researchers to get real-time information on the water properties pertinent to determining the presence of oil. ASA also worked with scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (Massachussetts) to deploy state-of-the-art plankton imaging equipment to capture pictures of oil droplets in situ.

ASA continues to work on the oil spill by compiling historical and recently collected data, writing field sampling plans for biological, chemical, and physical parameters, and providing expert analysis on trajectory and fate of the oil in the environment.

For more information visit: www.asascience.com/news/Deepwater/index.shtml

Assessment of Potential Impacts of Oil Spills in the Major Rivers of South West China [back to top]

With the increasing demand for oil to support China's growing economy, pipelines and associated infrastructure are being built in China to distribute oil efficiently. As a component of China's environmental policies, scientific studies are being performed to analyse potential risks and pollution to the surrounding environment, including streams and rivers that may be impacted by a pipeline rupture or oil spill. Scientists from ASA were invited to join a CH2M Hill research team to work on a modeling study to assess the risks and potential impacts of crude oil spills from pipelines traveling through Southwest China. The modeling study used ASA's GIS-based oil spill modeling tools to simulate several types of potential oil spills, including spills originating from pipelines on land, and subsequent trajectory and fates modeling of oil that could enter into the river systems. The study included a hydrodynamic model to simulate the currents based on river geometry and observed flow at monitoring stations along each river. ASA's modeling systems, OILMAPLand, OILMAP, and SIMAP, were used to predict the fates and trajectories of oil spilled on land and over rivers, and determine potential water column and sediment contamination. An analysis of potential impacts to the shoreline, wildlife, fish and invertebrates was conducted.

NOAA American Samoa[back to top]

ASA has been contracted by the American Samoa Department of Commerce (ASDOC) with the NOAA Coastal Services Center to develop a web-based GIS modular data portal and query tools. The web portal has been designed to provide geographic information to the public and government users through an online web mapping application. This application allows for viewing, analysis, and reporting of geographic information within a web browser. The first module to be developed, Land Use Planning, will provide access to geospatial data and related query tools in support of local planning and decision making including land use permit review and acceptance.

The web portal was designed to support the integration of additional modules to support other needs over time. Changes to the functionality of the application can be made through a series of web configuration files that are used to set various properties of the application allowing system administrators to easily customize functionality without having to recompile the application.

For more information on this project, please contact Kelly Knee, kknee@asascience.com

MA Ocean Resource Information System (MORIS)[back to top]

Massachusetts Ocean Resource Information System (MORIS) is an online mapping tool that went live on February 14. It hosts an impressive warehouse of biological, oceanographic, human use and other data about Massachusetts' coastal ocean. The new ocean data system is the product of a working collaboration among the Massachussetts Ocean Partnership, the Commonwealth (Massachussetts Coastal Zone Management and Massachussetts Geographic Information System) and Applied Science Associates and was made possible by investments from MOP and the state.

http://massoceanpartnership.org/science-stakeholders/overview/integrated-data-network/moris/update/

Anatomy of a Deepwater Blowout[back to top]

A deepwater (nominally defined as water depths of 1000 ft or greater) blowout is a release of an oil and gas (methane/natural gas) mixture, typically from a failed blowout preventer. This release is driven by the excess pressure in the reservoir compared to that at the sea bed. The release rates could vary from several thousand to over 100,000 barrels of oil per day depending on the well and the reservoir being tapped. Most risk analyses typically target 10,000 to 25,000 barrels per day. ASA scientists have been working with the oil industry to provide a white paper that discusses the scientific dynamics and practical implications of responding to deepwater oil spills in response to regulations issued by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE).

For more information about this project, please contact Dr. Malcolm Spaulding: mspaulding@asascience.com

ASA Project in Abu Dhabi Wins ESRI Award[back to top]

In July 2010, the Environment Agency — Abu Dhabi (EAD) launched the Coastal Resources Atlas and Vulnerability Index, an online mapping tool for Abu Dhabi's coastline and waters. ASA developed the ArcGIS Server-based Coastal Atlas that includes detailed information about the coastal environment of the emirate, and decision support tools to support Marine Spatial Planning (MSP).

The result of two years' work, the atlas is the first comprehensive resource of its kind in the Gulf region and one of the most technologically-advanced in the world, EAD has said. "The atlas serves as an interactive guide that will cater to a broad range of people ranging from policy-makers, scientists and coastal developers to community members," said Thabit Al Abdessalaam, director of EAD's Biodiversity Management Sector.
The Coastal Atlas received a Special Achievement Award for Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in Environmental Management for 2010 at the ESRI International User Conference.

http://www.asascience.com/news/bulletins/index.shtml#atlas

NOAA Model Testbed[back to top]

A $4 million grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is helping a team lead by the Southeastern Universities Research Association to implement a modeling testbed. Eoin Howlett and Kyle Wilcox attended the project kick off meeting at SURA's office in Washington D.C. in June 2010. The project has 4 components: Inundation Modeling, Shelf Hypoxia Modeling, Estuarine Hypoxia Modeling, and Cyberinfrastructure.

http://testbed.sura.org/

Vessel Collision[back to top]

On 8 October 2010, at about 1500 hrs the 225 m Liberian-owned bulk grain carrier, the MV Grand Rodosi lost main engine control and collided with the port side of the Apollo S., a 47 m tuna boat in Port Lincoln, South Australia. Eye witnesses described the collision as 'watching a can opener on a can of baked beans'. The impact scuttled the $17 million tuna vessel which took only 20 to 25 minutes to sink.
The APASA RESPONSE duty officer was activated at 2000 hrs to model any potential diesel spill from the scuttled tuna vessel. The diesel oil was predicted to initially make contact with the main jetty/pier. However, as the jetty is free standing the oil was predicted to pass under and move towards the shoreline in a NW direction from the sunken vessel. Landfall of the potential spill on the shorelines of Port Lincoln was estimated within 3 hours of spill.

New Faces[back to top]

Haydn Strikwerda joined APASA in August 2010 as a Graduate Ocean Scientist with expertise in marine and coastal science as well as a broader environmental science background. He has a Bachelor's Degree in Marine & Coastal Planning, Management & Sustainability from the University of Western Australia. Haydn currently specializes in field data analysis and oil spill modeling and has proficiency in data processing programs such as SediView and WinADCP.

Sandy Ng is currently completing her PhD in Environmental Engineering at The University of Western Australia, studying "The Physical and Biological Controls of Phytoplankton Patchiness in Lakes". Her expertise includes hydrodynamic and ecological modeling, applications of remote sensing information for inland and coastal waters, and environmental fluid dynamics. Sandy also possesses high level proficiency in MATLAB, computer programming, and geographic information systems.

Ben Brushett completed his Bachelor of Coastal Engineering at Griffith University on the Gold Coast in 2008. During his final year he was involved in a project with APASA which involved developing and validating tidal current databases for Australian coastal waters. Ben is currently working toward a Doctor of Philosophy which examines "Assessing Oceanic and Tidal Forecast Data for Search and Rescue and Pollutant Response Purposes".

Stephen Sontag joined ASA as a software Developer in January 2011. He is an active developer that incorporates his broad background in GIS data visualization and analysis skills as part of ASA's web development team. Stephen has created multiple rich client web applications leveraging standard and non-standard geographic data formats for TomTom International navigation services.

Dave Foster is an experienced application developer on a variety of languages, platforms, and technologies. In his spare time, he works on several open source programs and develops web applications. His expertise lies in Application Development: C, C++, C++/CLI, C#, .NET Framework, Ruby, Python and Web Development: PHP, Ruby on Rails and Sinatra.

Matt Queenan joined ASA as a Software Developer. He specializes in Java development and designing, implementing, testing and automating software in a variety of languages. His professional experience includes 5 years in the aerospace and defense industry as well as independent web development work. Matt graduated from the University of Rhode Island in 2005 with a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science.

Rachel Shmookler has a background in environmental science with a specialization in earth system science and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). She uses data processing techniques on oil spill model outputs, and integrates geospatial data sets for environmental modeling and analysis.

William Nichols has 15 years experience designing and coding Windows client-server software solutions in many diverse industries. He has extensive expertise in C++, SQL, Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, object oriented software design, GIS development and Windows user interface design.

Nick Cohn has a strong scientific background including experience with geologic field studies, coastal and estuarine dynamics, and geographic information systems. He is proficient with ArcGIS and Matlab, and has recently been using ASA's in-house tools extensively for a range of modeling services. His expertise is in coastal oceanography, geographic information systems (GIS), MATLAB data analysis and oil spill trajectory and fates modeling.

Danielle Reich is a biologist at ASA and a certified Associate Fisheries Professional with experience in fisheries ecology, population dynamics, protected species issues, field research, statistical analysis, resource management, and ecological modeling. Since entering the environmental consulting field in 2007, Danielle has supported a wide variety of complex projects, specializing in state and federal permitting and the preparation of environmental impact statements pursuant to NEPA.

Alex Crosby comes from an engineering background specializing in the marine sciences. He has experience using MATLAB for modeling, data analysis and visualization, as well experience with ArcGIS mapping software. His goal is to provide infrastructure and science for smart decision making.

Michael Smith joined ASA as a Systems Engineer in July. He has a background in systems administration, networking, and design. He is adept in the implementation, expansion and maintenance of systems and networks as well as web design and asset management. At ASA Mike focuses on user support and continuance of ASA's IT infrastructure. Mike is currently working towards his Bachelors of Science in Computer Science.

Eric Bernier joined ASA as a Software Developer. He specializes in Web Services development and has been designing and developing software in a wide variety of languages for various platforms for the past 5 years. His work experience includes development work for the financial industry, as well as software used by the aerospace and defense industry. At ASA he will be working on the Environmental Data System (EDS) and other various projects. Eric received his Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Rhode Island in 2006.

Xiaowen Xiao graduated from ECNU with a Master's degree in Cartography and GIS in 2010. He specializes in developing and applying GIS, programming with C# and Flex and web development in PHP, Ruby on Rails and Sinatra. As a programmer, he is engaged in developing Flex interfaces, setting up the servers and managing GIS data for projects.

Lin Xing is the administrative assistant for Shanghai Office. She helped construct the website for Shanghai Academy of Environmental Sciences and she produced the Chinese translation for the OILMAP interfaces. She is looking forward to translating more ASA software into Chinese.