Development of Spilled Oil and Gas Tracking and Monitoring Autonomous Buoy System and its Application to Marine Disaster Prevention

Abstract

Abstract This paper describes the ongoing project on autonomous spilled oil and gas tracking buoy system and application to marine disaster prevention system for 5 years since FY2011. The objectives of this project are as (1)autonomous tracking and monitoring of spilled plumes of oil and gas from subsea production facilities by an underwater buoy robot(SOATB-I), (2)autonomous tracking of spilled oil on the sea surface and transmission of useful data to a land station through satellites in real time by multiple floating buoy robots(SOTAB-II), (3)improvement of the accuracy of simulations for predicting diffusion and drifting of spilled oil and gas by incorporating the real-time data from these robots. SOTAB-I is different from normal type underwater gliders in terms of vertical and horizontal movement, because SOTAB-I focuses on almost the same movement in horizontal plane as in vertical movement. It installs an underwater mass spectrometry, CTD and ADCP so that the vehicle can identify the characteristics of oil and gas and the place where they are leaked using data obtained by the vehicle in combination with numerical simulation of blowout of oil and gas from deep water. SOTAB-II utilizes the control low of a sail so that the buoy drifts along the resultant velocity vector of water current and 2-5 % of wind velocity watching the drifting substances on sea surface by sensors mounted on the mast. Multiple SOTB-IIs are deployed just after an oil spill accident to track patches of spilled oil. SOTAB-II can provide us with real-time measured data on position of spilled oil on sea surface, the meteorological and oceanographic data and characteristics of spilled oil for a long range. The combination of the real-time data and the numerical simulation of the drifting spilled oil on sea surface will enable us to predict the precise drifting of the spilled oil.