ASA | Applied Science Associates :: Newsletter

October 2008

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Chemical disaster One of the challenges of modeling chemicals released into the environment is accurately determining how long they will persist. With this in mind, ASA has developed methods to incorporate both systemic and local changes in environmental state in order to provide the most accurate means of determining the temporal and spatial persistence of chemicals in the environment.

ASA recently delivered v1.0 (alpha) of the System for Hazard Assessment of Released Chemicals (SHARC™) to the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). SHARC was developed as part of a Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) project focused on the development of an advanced waterborne chemical transport modeling capability. SHARC was designed with the operational user in mind, and allows the operator to rapidly create and visualize incident characteristics and predictions from a single intuitive interface.

A chemical kinetics and fates module within SHARC incorporates available environmental information to provide thorough environmental fate determinations for a given chemical of interest. Hydrolysis is the major pathway for environmental degradation in an aqueous environment for water-reactive compounds which are moderately soluble to highly miscible. SHARC integrates chemical specific information, including solubility, density, and vapor pressure, with localized environmental variability to create a visual and analytical tool to provide the user with the ability to develop highly specific local fate scenarios. The model has the ability to calculate the hydrolysis rate instantaneously.

As with all of ASA’s systems, SHARC has a particular emphasis on near-real-time (NRT) data acquisition. As crucial as the underlying physics and chemistry is in providing realistic modeling results, the quality of the input data is a key factor. New web services-based technology allows servers to continuously evaluate different metocean data products, including winds and currents forecast data. The data services continually gather and integrate global and regional metocean datasets and make them available to operational responders on an as-needed basis. It has been shown that rapid access to present and future environmental information is essential when responding to a marine emergency.

SHARC figures SHARC is written in Java and represents ASA’s push to develop more applications that are compatible across different computing platforms. Java also leverages a number of open source components, including OpenMap. OpenMap is an open source JavaBeans™ GIS package developed and maintained by BBN Technologies. SHARC expands upon the base functionality provided by OpenMap™ by including layers and mapping tools specifically developed for viewing and manipulating both the environmental data ingested into SHARC as well as the model output. ASA has added support to OpenMap for formats such as NetCDF and Grib which are widely used in environmental sciences. SHARC also includes ASA’s TimeSlider component, which provides control over the presentation of time-varying data such as currents and the movement of chemical plumes. The system has been delivered to DTRA and is in pre-operational testing.

ASA's new office building Since 1979, ASA has helped clients around the world meet their environmental needs related to coastal and ocean projects. To accommodate our recent growth in response to ocean observing, maritime operations, climate change, and expanding energy needs, ASA recently relocated headquarters to 55 Village Square Drive, South Kingstown, Rhode Island. The new office space incorporates 10,000 square feet of open loft-style architecture complete with high ceilings, large windows and advanced technology and communications.

ASA's New Website The office is in a mixed-use commercial and retail plaza that conveniently includes a hotel for ASA visitors to stay while in Rhode Island. The location provides many amenities, is close to the University of Rhode Island, and is only 5 minutes from Narragansett Beach.

In conjunction with our physical relocation, ASA has launched a new corporate Website. The new ASA Web presence at www.asascience.com offers a project gallery showcasing the firm’s diverse range of global project work, downloadable software utilities, product demo videos, and a new blog, as well as sites for ASA’s global and regional offices.

ASA scientists have been supporting the offshore oil and gas industry for over 20 years with modeling services, contingency planning, forecasting, and environmental impact assessment services. Education on the conceptual components of these studies is essential to assist industry and regulators in understanding the role of science and the practical application of the results for the offshore community.

Oil and gas exploration and production has been active in the Gulf of Thailand for over 30 years. Currently there are over 200 oil and gas platforms operating in the Gulf of Thailand. Asia-Pacific ASA staff have been providing support for the very active Australia and Southeast Asia offshore regions, and are working closely with Chulalongkorn University and the Thailand Government looking at issues specific to the Gulf of Thailand.

ASA Model validations On 13 June, Sasha Zigic gave a 3-hour seminar in Bangkok, Thailand on the application ASA’s models for offshore Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA). The seminar provided insight into the main components of the studies, understanding the metocean conditions (winds and currents), classifying possible discharges and analyzing the possible impacts from offshore discharges. Sasha described the use of tools such as HYROMAP for circulation modeling, OILMAP for probabilistic and deterministic oil spill modeling, and MUDMAP for the modeling of cuttings, mud, and production water discharges. The seminar provided practical examples of the interpretation of model results.

The following day Sasha provided a more technical seminar for government regulators and Chevron personnel. The seminar went into greater detail on the model formulations and validation, classification of the metocean input data for the Gulf of Thailand, and world-wide applications.

A stringent HYDROMAP validation study was undertaken for the Gulf of Thailand, comparing model results with measurement data from 11 tide stations. There was a very good agreement between the measured and predicted surface elevation, phase and amplitude. The successful validation of the model in this region was very satisfying for the modeling team at APASA as the complexity of water movement within the Gulf of Thailand is a real challenge for numerical models.

U.S. Sailing in 2008 Olympics ASA extends congratulations to the 2008 U.S. Olympic Sailing Team for strong performances in Beijing. Anna Tunnicliffe led the team on the water with a gold medal in the Laser Radial class, the first gold medal for a U.S. female sailor in 20 years. Zach Railey in the Finn Class also had a strong performance, earning a silver medal for the U.S. ASA provided tide and current model predictions to team coaches and sailors for race planning and strategy. For the full press release on ASA’s models for U.S. sailors, visit www.asascience.com/news/releases.

Craig Swanson enjoyed an extended visit to ASA offices in Australia. His four-month sojourn, primarily in Perth, allowed him to work closely with the expanding Asia-Pacific office on several port-dredging projects associated with the rapidly growing resource extraction and export activities in Australia. The personnel in the Perth office were great hosts helping him with language and cultural differences. When Craig’s family came to visit, they had the opportunity to get “up close and personal” with some of the unique fauna of the country as they traveled from Perth to the Great Barrier Reef to Sidney.

From 19-23 May Mark West traveled to Nassau, Bahamas to provide training in the use of the OILMAP system newly implemented in several Bahamian agencies. Trainees included representatives from Bahamas National GIS Center, Grand Bahama Port, Port Department, Maritime Resources Department, Ministry of Maritime Affairs & Labour, Royal Bahamas Defence Force, Department of Environmental Health Services, and Department of Meteorology.

On 29 May Mark West provided OILMAP training to Pointer Tupper Marine Services in Nova Scotia, Canada. Point Tupper Marine Services is a division of Nustar Energy and a Tier3 oil spill response organization with responsibility for the Strait of Canso area.

Craig Swanson, Kelly Knee, Jennifer Cragan, and Lee Dooley attended the Environmental Business Council of New England’s 15th Annual EBEE Awards Celebration Dinner held on 5 June at the Westin Hotel Ballroom in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Eoin Howlett participated in a meeting at the Consortium for Ocean Leadership in Washington D.C. on 17 June, as a new member of the ORRAP (Ocean Research and Resources Advisory Panel) Ocean Observing Sub-panel.

From 7-11 July Kelly Knee provided OILMAP and CHEMMAP developer kit training to the Water Transport Institute (WTI) in Beijing China. WTI will be using ASA’s software developer kits (SDK) to create custom Chinese versions of ASA’s OILMAP and CHEMMAP software packages embedded in other mapping applications such as ESRI ArcGIS.

On 14-15 July Kelly Knee met with scientists from the Shanghai Academy of Environmental Science (SAES) in Shanghai, China. SAES is a technical partner of ASA in China and provides technical support for ASA’s model systems in the region.

Kelly Knee presented a paper entitled “Simulating Coastal Flooding–the Importance of Topography Data" at the Northeast Arc User’s Group (NEARC) Conference in Hyannis, Massachusetts held 22-24 September.

From 22-24 July Eoin Howlett and CJ Beegle-Krause attended a workshop of the Ocean.US Modeling and Analysis Steering Team (MAST), held in Arlington, Virginia. CJ is one of two vice-chairs of MAST. The workshop goal was to "Foster broad-based, partnership-community input to the planning of the Modeling and Analysis Subsystem for IOOS." The meeting brought many of the nation’s leading modeling experts together.

Eric Comerma spent July in ASA’s Sao Paulo office to cultivate inter-office workflow, focusing on consultancy services and integrated software strategies. He also visited MORKEN in Buenos Aires, which has been providing ASA support for several years in Argentina, to discuss new features of ASA modeling tools and data distribution services. While in Buenos Aires, Eric provided OILMAP Version 6 training for Prefectura Naval Argentina. Prefectura Naval (the Argentinean Coast Guard) is in charge of oil spill counter-pollution and search and rescue missions.

ASA is proud to acknowledge the accomplishment of triathlete Mark Wholey, who completed his first Ironman® triathlon on 20 July at the Lake Placid Ironman USA, finishing the 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run in less than 12.5 hours.

ASA South America completed its business structuring project in July, promoting Gabriel Clauzet to Manager, Technical Division, and Marco Antonio Correa to Manager, ASA Quality and Excellence. Along with Eduardo Yassuda (CEO) and the 24 professional staff, the new management team is focused on reinforcing ASA’s position as a leader in the provision of high quality science and engineering services for ocean and coastal projects throughout Latin America.

From August 4-8, Eoin Howlett attended the ESRI International User Conference in San Diego, California. Eoin presented a joint paper with Roy Mendelssohn of NOAA in the Climate and Weather Internet Applications session. The presentation topic was “ArcGIS Integration of Remote Ocean Data Hosted by THREEDS/OPeNDAP Servers”. Eoin also presented at NOAA’s Federal Showcase demonstration.

Xiongping Zhang presented the latest developments in search and rescue technology to a large audience at the 5th China International Rescue and Salvage Conference (CIRSC) held in Dalian, China during 16-18 September. Xiongping was recognized with an award for “outstanding presentation” on the search and rescue subject matter during the conference.

Deborah French-McCay and CJ Beegle–Krause participated in the kickoff meeting for the Oil Spill Modeling Working Group (MWG), organized by the Coastal Response Research Center (CRRC), and held at the University of New Hampshire on 16-18 September. The objectives of the MWG are to review the state-of-the-art in oil spill modeling, identify gaps in knowledge, and prioritize research needs. Of the four subgroups performing this analysis, CJ co-chairs the physical transport group, while Deb chairs the biological model subgroup.

On 23 September Matt Ward, Chris Mueller, and Jennifer Cragan delivered the alpha version of the latest chemical transport model and dynamic climatology toolkit to the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). The software toolkit will become a key part of the Department of Defense’s Hazard Assessment and climatology tools.

Craig Swanson, as the Rhode Island Chairman of the Environmental Business Council, organized and hosted an EBC Energy Seminar, Ocean Renewable Energy Developments in New England, held in Providence on 23 September. The seminar consisted of presentations by government officials, academic researchers, and members of the private sector who are actively involved in this evolving field.

Gabriel Clauzet attended the 1st Seminar on Oceanographic Numerical Modeling (I ModOceano), held at the Admiral Paulo Moreira Marine Research Institute (IEAPM), from 22-26 September. This was the first meeting at IEAPM which is focused on advances in the field of numerical modeling, data assimilation and ocean forecasting. The I ModOceano will support the establishment of a new forum, international in scope, focused on the state of the art of numerical modeling for ocean circulation.

Joanna Garcia-Webb

Joanna Garcia-Webb BE, BSc joined Asia Pacific ASA in September as a coastal engineer. Her 5 years of experience include projects from breakwater design to simulation of rail logistics. She has been involved in numerous wave transformation and simulation, coastal circulation, dredge dispersion, flushing, sediment transport and thermal and wastewater dispersion studies. Her focus at ASA will be numerical modeling of waves and hydrodynamics.

Maria Bustelo-Fitzpatrick

Maria Bustelo-Fitzpatrick joined the Perth office of Asia Pacific ASA in September as an office administrator. Her responsibilities include administrative oversight and support for the project managers.

Eileen Graham

Eileen Graham joined ASA in September as a biologist. With a strong background in marine science including marine ecology and physical/biological estuarine dynamics, she specializes in plankton community dynamics and food web interactions. With an M.S. in Environmental Science, she will function as a critical part of ASA’s Ecological Impact Assessment team.

Timothy LaRoque

Tim LaRoque joined ASA in June as a junior programmer. A recent Computer Sciences graduate, Tim will specialize in applications development. His technological immersion has encompassed a wide array of experiences ranging from database design with Oracle to game production using DirectX.

Julia Green

Julia Green joined ASA as an environmental engineer. Julia is a recent civil engineering graduate of Tufts University, focusing on environmental and water resources engineering. She was an active member of Engineers without Borders, with experience in site engineering. At ASA she will focus on water resources related projects, before leaving on a round the world expedition in 2009.

Sean Leary

Sean Leary joined ASA in July as a programmer/technologist. Sean has extensive experience with user interfaces, usability, development and architecture of data-driven applications. Utilizing Flash, Silverlight, ASP, .NET, ORACLE and SQL, Sean has designed and developed technology solutions for industries including healthcare and entertainment. Sean’s role at ASA will be in developing and supporting ASA applications.

On 16-18 October Kelly Knee will present a paper entitled “Visualizing Sea Level Rise along Estuarine Shorelines” at the New England Estuarine Research Society’s (NEERS) Fall Meeting focusing on Global Climate Change in Estuaries and Coasts on Block Island, Rhode Island.
ASA will be at the Clean Gulf Conference 2008 in San Antonio, Texas 28-30 October. Deborah French-McCay will present “Guidance for Dispersant Decision Making, Potential for Impact on Aquatic Biota” at the Pre-Conference Workshop: Applied Research for the Spill Response Community. Also attending the conference from ASA will be Eoin Howlett and CJ Beegle–Krause. ASA will be at booth 240-242 with Wilkens Weather and Nowcasting International. Demonstrations of the latest ASA software enhancements and integration with on-line metocean data and weather forecasting will be available.
Sasha Zigic will attend the 2008 APPEA environment conference on 8-9 October at Coolum Queensland, Australia.
Eric Comerma will attend Sea-Tech Week’s SAR Conference in Brest, France from 13-17 October. He will present the paper “Improvement of Drift Prediction: Evaluation of Different Metocean Data Products Using Drifters in Australia”.
Craig Swanson will participate in the upcoming International Conference on Marine Waste Water Discharge (MWWD 2008) to be held on the Dalmatian coast of the Adriatic Sea near Dubrovnik, Croatia, from 27-31 October. His paper is entitled “Use of a Lagrangian Particle Model to Simulate the Far Field Transport and Fate of Effluent Discharge from the Proposed LACSD Outfall”. It will be presented as part of a series of papers at a special session of the conference focused on a large new outfall proposed for Los Angeles.
Matt Ward and Jennifer Cragan will present a paper at the Chemical and Biological Defense Physical Science and Technology Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana from 17-21 November.

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