Sea Technology

AUG 2012

The industry's recognized authority for design, engineering and application of equipment and services in the global ocean community

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coarse grid to the finer grid through offline, one-way, asynchro- nous nesting that imposes the interpolation constraint on the total velocity, preserving the total volume transport after the in- terpolation procedures from the coarse- to the fine-resolution model. The models in BOOM are based on a 3D hydrodynamic (Top) The Strait of Bonifacio in the western Mediterranean Sea. (Bottom) The four phases of use and flow of information of the GUI. launching and analysis of the generated results. The GUI was constructed using an object-oriented approach and imple- mented in the Java programming language. These choices have two advantages: system modularity, making it easier to upgrade or modify the interface with new functions, and independence from the operating system (e.g., Windows, Unix, Linux, Sun). The GUI retrieves predictions generated by an ocean fore- casting system, the coastal part of which is the Bonifacio Oil spill Operational Model (BOOM). BOOM comprises a hierar- chy of fully coupled, high-resolution ocean numerical models based on the finite element and differences methods nested through a downscaling, or nesting, technique. This technique nests a hierarchy of successively embedded model domains for downscaling of the large hydrodynamics basin scale from the coarse-resolution model to finer grids for shelf and coastal areas. The values of temperature, salinity, ma- rine current velocity and elevation are transferred from the 38 st / AUGUST 2012 model, a wind-wave model, a Lagrangian trajectory model and a module for reproducing the main weathering processes af- fecting an oil slick. Inside BOOM, the GUI facilitates the setup and interpretation of simulations. These models are used to provide the hydrodynamics and fundamental variables con- trolling the trajectory of an oil spill and to forecast its dispersion within the Bonifacio coastal area. The GUI consists of two main areas on the screen: an input where the user specifies a scenario and an output where the user analyzes the results of simulations generated by the nu- merical model in an interactive and georeferenced map. The intermediate steps of communication with the model are au- tomatically performed without input from the user, who can initialize a 24-hour simulation. The GUI can be used in two ways: forecast and retrograde modes. The forecast mode allows the user to obtain the sce- nario on the characteristics and position of the slick from the point and time of discharge through the following 72 hours in the Bonifacio Strait and La Maddalena Archipelago. The retrograde mode provides the user with useful qualita- tive information to identify the cause of pollution by estimating the date and position of the origin of the oil spill. The GUI's retroactive investigation option, used in conjunction with ves- sel traffic service data, allows tracking back the surface trajec- tories of oil slicks to provide information on the most probable path and initial position of a slick, which helps to identify pol- luters. www.sea-technology.com

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