Reducing Trajectory Modeling Response Time In Texas

Abstract

ABSTRACT Oil spill trajectory models are one of the few tools that can help response teams stay ahead of an oil slick, but the process of trajectory modeling requires many time-consuming steps. Hydrodynamic modeling, used to generate the current forecasts required by trajectory models, can consume hours of operator and computer run-time. The Texas General Land Office and the Texas Water Development Board have automated the daily operation of hydrodynamic models to produce current forecasts for two Texas bays. Each midnight, computers running the hydrodynamic models for Galveston Bay and Corpus Christi Bay download the latest water level measurements from a real time tide gage network. The models use this data to produce a 2-day forecast of the currents for the two bay systems. In the event of a spill, the trajectory modeling team retrieves the recently generated current forecasts for immediate input to the trajectory model. Model automation saves two hours in computer run-time alone for these two bays. Along similar lines for the offshore environment, Texas A&M University is developing an automated gridded wind forecasts and a wind-driven, shelf circulation (spectral) model to predict near-surface current patterns and velocities along the inner Texas shelf on an operational basis.