ASA Delivers Bathymetry Fusion Software to the U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office
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An important building block of environmental modeling and analysis is high quality bathymetric or topographic data. To assist the U.S. Navy to generate the best possible data sets for use in wave and surf modeling, ASA developed bathymetry fusion software designed specifically to merge disparate data sources into a unified high-resolution dataset. The individual data sources can range in quality and resolution from coarse global collections, to high-resolution, highly accurate data such as LIDAR or field surveys.
 The software, applied for the first time in an operational setting, is an ArcGIS extension providing automated and interactive data fusion tools that utilize the spatial filtering and raster analysis capabilities of ArcMap and adds cutting-edgedata blending algorithms developed by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). In addition, an innovative bottom features tool has been developed which allows users to digitize transient bottom features such as sandbars from aerial photos, assists in the definition of their underwater profile, and varies their shape based on user defined uncertainty estimates. Outputs from the NRL blending process can be automatically exported to a variety of hydrodynamic and wave model input data formats including the Navy Standard Surf Module, SWA N wave model, ASA’s HYDROMAP and WQMAP, and FEMA’s Runup model. The software also has topographic fusion analysis capabilities that can be purposed for flood modeling and coastal risk analysis. For more information contact Matt Ward, mward@asascience.com.
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Bathymetry fusion surface output with associated error estimates, displayed in ArcGIS.
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For more information
contact Matt Ward, mward@asascience.com |
Denmark Adopts COASTMAP Web Mapping Services
The Royal Danish Administration of Navigation and Hydrography (RDANH) manages a wide variety of oceanographic and meteorological observation and model data as part of their mission of ensuring the safety of navigation at sea in Danish, Faroese and Greenland waters. As part of an initiative to streamline the process of publishing the data to their public web site, RDANH has contracted with ASA to implement COASTMAP components that will integrate the data with their ESRI GIS servers. The integration will allow visitors to the web site to view time-varying data from models and observations in an interactive map interface where data is efficiently layered with GIS maps. Users can view data over time and extract time-series data from points on the map. The project integrates gridded data stored in NetCDF and point observations managed by Oracle databases.
For more information
about ASA's COASTMAP Web mapping services contact Mark Wholey, mwholey@asascience.com. |
COASTMAP Web mapping interface displaying NetCDF model data and time series interrogation graph.
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ASA Assists China’s Response to South Korea's Largest Oil Spill
On 7 December 2007, the oil tanker Hebei Spirit, anchored 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of Seoul, was pierced by a crane-carrying barge, releasing 10,500  metric tons of crude oil into the sea. 
China offered support to Korea under the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Northwest Pacific Action Plan. ASA’s OILMAP is used in China and the Oil Spill Emergency Response Center of China's Maritime Safety Administration (MSA) looked to ASA for support. Dr. Xiongping Zhang, ASA’s Asia Project Director, provided modeling services to predict the trajectory and fate of the spill immediately following the accident. OILMAP’s connection to ASA’s COASTMAP real-time environmental data server (EDS) was used to access crucial Metocean data from various sources to increase the accuracy of the predictions. In addition, stochatic simulations based on environmental data spanning the past twenty years were used to assess the potential impact of the spill to China’s coast.
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Modeling Impact Tradeoffs of Dispersant Use
 The successful application of dispersants can reduce oil spill impacts to wildlife and shoreline habitats, but with the tradeoff that the dispersed oil may increase impacts to water column organisms. Oil spill fate and transport modeling can be used to evaluate these tradeoffs by determining the maximum potential water column hydrocarbon concentrations and surface areas oiled with and without dispersant use. 
ASA has performed this type of analysis in several studies to evaluate the potential net environmental benefit of dispersant use. In these studies, comparisons were made between oil spill scenarios with and without the use of dispersants. In one study, for example, comparisons were made of the concentrations (dissolved hydrocarbons and dispersed oil droplets) that would be expected in the surface mixed layer for the largest potential volume of oil that could be dispersed at any one location and time assuming varying dispersant efficiencies. Scenarios assuming no dispersant use were compared to those where dispersant was applied after 8 or 16 hours of weathering, for two wind conditions. This matrix allowed comparison of worst-case impacts on water column organisms with dispersant use versus effects on wildlife if no dispersant was used. In other studies, comparison of shoreline impacts was also included.
Several papers on this topic are available at http://www.asascience.com/publications/publications.htm (e.g., French-McCay and Payne, 2001, and French-McCay et al., 2004).
Model prediction of maximum dissolved aromatics
concentrations (ppb) in the water column, with
cross section, following the use of dispersants.
For more information
contact Deborah French McCay, dfrenchmccay@asascience.com.
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Personnel News
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Chris Galagan attended the GIS for Oil and Gas Conference sponsored by the Geospatial Information & Technology Association (GITA) in Houston, TX, 24-26 September. He gave a presentation on the use of oil spill models in the pipeline industry.
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On 15-17 October Jill Rowe participated in a meeting with Lighthouse Technical Consultants, Inc. (LTCI) and trustees from Puerto Rico in San Juan, PR. The focus of the meeting was to discuss the kick-off of the pre-assessment phase for an oil spill that occurred off southwestern Puerto Rico in late August/early September. The LTCI team and trustees devoted one day to exploring the area of the spill and assessing the potential damage.
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On 16-17 October NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration hosted a two-day interactive workshop in Washington, D.C. for the purpose of strengthening collaborative approaches to expedient and technically sound NRDA settlements following oil spills. Deborah French McCay presented the use of ASA’s SIMAP model for natural resource damage assessments, focusing on the evaluation of bird impacts. The workshop was jointly sponsored by NOAA, the International Group of Protection and Indemnity Clubs (IGP&I) and the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation (ITOPF) and coincided with the renewal of the Memorandum of Understanding between NOAA and the IGP&I.
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Eoin Howlett attended the 12th North Atlantic Maritime Rescue Control Centre (RCC) Conference in Dublin Castle, Ireland on 24-25 October. This annual meeting is a forum for international search and rescue (SAR) controllers to discuss a variety of topics related to maritime search and rescue. Eoin and Mark White from Nowcasting International demonstrated the use of SARMAP for SAR planning in Irish waters with on-line high resolution forecast data from Nowcasting. Art Allen from the United States Coast Guard presented SAROPS, the new U.S. SAR tool jointly developed with ASA, and its use in U.S. Coast Guard SAR operations.
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During the week of 29 October Eric Comerma visited AGIP-KCO offices in Atyrau, Kazakhstan, to provide CHEMMAP training to the HSE/OSR team. This group is using CHEMMAP and OILMAP for preparedness and contingency planning.
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On 30 October Deborah French McCay and Jill Rowe provided oil spill modeling training for the Minerals Management Service (MMS) in New Orleans, LA. The training sessions covered oil trajectory, fates and biological effects, focusing on algorithms and approaches used by ASA and in the SIMAP model.
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In November, the Environmental Business Council of New England, Inc. (EBC) added longtime member Craig Swanson, to its Board of Directors. In this role, Craig will assist EBC to maintain working relationships with government agencies, regulators, and elected officials to gather and disseminate pertinent budget and policy information.
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Deborah French McCay and CJ Beegle-Krause made presentations at the 17th Annual Clean Gulf Conference, 15-16 November in Tampa, FL. Deborah presented "Damage Assessment Modeling -- New Directions", in which she discussed coordinated use of modeling and field data collections in natural resource damage assessments for oil spills, as well as data needs for model inputs. CJ presented “Interdisciplinary Modeling” as part of the Spill Modeling session.
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Eoin Howlett spent a week with Shell in Miri, a city in the Malaysian state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo. OILMAP was delivered to the Shell team and Eoin trained a group represented by staff from the Geomatics, Environment, and Metocean groups. They focused on the use of OILMAP for emergency response and planning, with a focus on integration of regional data.
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In the first week of December Eoin Howlett visited Saudi Arabia where he spent time working with the global oil response team from Saudi Aramco. The trip included an OILMAP/ArcGIS training session at the Ras Tanura terminal.
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On 6-7 December Mark Wholey represented Mid Atlantic Regional Coastal Ocean Observing System (MARCOOS) at the IOOS (Integrated Ocean Observing System) Obs Registry Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) meeting. The IOOS Obs registry is composed of non-Federal and Federal experts on IOOS Data Management and Communications (DMAC) issues. For more information about the registry, visit http://obsregistry.com.
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On 11-12 December Deborah French McCay and Jill Rowe hosted Louis “Coke” Coakley and John Hampp of Florida Power & Light (FPL) for oil spill modeling training in Narragansett, RI. FPL has been working with ASA's SIMAP model since 1994. In September 2006, FPL used SIMAP and ASA's tidal hydrodynamics to correctly predict the trajectory of a spill at its Manatee Port. The accurate prediction allowed equipment to be effectively deployed to combat the spill. The successful response was praised in local newspapers.
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On 30-31 January Eric Comerma presented a paper entitled “The COASTMAP Inundation Module: A Framework for Modeling Coastal Flooding" at the Coastal Risks SHF Colloquium - New Approaches of Coastal Risk, in Paris, France.
Eoin meeting the European Union Ambassador to the United States, John Bruton.
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Eoin Howlett was invited to the State of Rhode Island House of Representatives by the Speaker of the House, William Murphy, to attend a session, "How Globalization Will Impact the Future of EU-U.S. Economic and Political Relations” presented by EU Ambassador John Bruton. The EU is the number one source of foreign direct investment dollars flowing into Rhode Island. In 2004, such investments totaled more than $2.5 billion.
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Estuarine & Coastal Modeling Conference 10
ASA was strongly represented at the 10th International Conference on Estuarine and Coastal Modeling held in Newport, RI from 5-7 November. Eight papers were presented by ASA staff from the U.S., Brazil and Australia offices. ASA also sponsored a reception on 6 November to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the conference with special recognition to Malcolm Spaulding who has been the driving force in making it a success over the years.
ASA papers included the following:
Craig Swanson presented “Modeling of the thermal discharge from a power generating facility into a tidal-like hydropower controlled pool on the Connecticut River” with co-author Subbayya Sankaranarayanan.
Eoin Howlett presented “Analysis of coastal and ocean data products for search and rescue modeling” with co-authors Arthur Allen and Chris Turner of the USCG, and Tatsu Isaji and Mark Wholey.
Scott Langtry presented “Defining zones of dredging impact for coral habitats in wave-affected areas” with co-authors Matt Rayson, Marc Zapata and Oleg Makarynskyy.
Nathan Benfer presented “Modelling the effect of flow structures on canal estate residence time” with co-authors Brian King, Charles Lemckert of Griffith University and Sasha Zigic.
Subbayya Sankaranarayanan presented “Two-dimensional hydrodynamic modeling of circulation in Great South Bay” with co-authors Deborah French McCay and Jill Rowe.
Mark Wholey presented “An undersea sensor and communication network for real-time coastal observation and analysis” with co-authors Malcolm Spaulding, Matt Ward, and Al Hanson and Percy Donaghay of the University of Rhode Island.
Eduardo Yassuda presented “Evaluation of an operational met-ocean model to support marine operations in Angra dos Reis Bay (Brazil)” with co-authors Gabriel Clauzet, Jose Edson Pereira, Tiago Bomventi and Ricardo Camargo of the University of Sao Paulo.
Eduardo Yassuda presented “The performance of a regional ocean outfall system along the coast of Sao Paulo” with co-author Marco Antonio Correa. |
Senior Scientists Join ASA Team
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ASA welcomes CJ Beegle-Krause, Ph.D. to its team of oceanographic experts. She has over 25 years of experience in the physical oceanography field, including nine years as an oil spill response specialist for NOAA’s Hazmat office in Seattle, WA. CJ will lead ASA’s new satellite office in Seattle, where she will manage ASA projects for the U.S. West Coast region. Concentrating on environmental modeling, decision support and analysis for oil and gas industry clients, her areas of expertise include hydrodynamic modeling, chemical and hydrocarbon trajectory modeling, diagnostic modeling, numerical modeling, sampling experience, and data analysis |
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ASA welcomes Trevor Gilbert to its Asia-Pacific, Gold Coast Australia office. Trevor brings 27 years of career experience working as an environmental scientist, marine pollution emergency responder, chemist, and oil exploration geochemist. As Senior Scientist: Maritime, Environment and Chemical Services, Trevor brings to the Asia-Pacific ASA team a broad range of chemical and environmental knowledge and skills from the oil and gas, shipping, and power generation industries as well as oil spill/HAZMAT response and maritime casualty experience.
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Upcoming Conferences
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ASA staff will be at the International Oil Spill Conference (IOSC) in Savannah, GA on 4-8 May.
Deborah French-McCay will present 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”.
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ASA and strategic partner HydroQual Inc. will be co-exhibitors at the 7th International Conference on Coastal and Port Engineering in Developing Countries (COPEDEC) held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates from 24-28 February.
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