Oil Spill Simulation
In this lab,we had to use a program named GNome, to recreate the 1960 santa barbra oil spill.
It was pretty easy using this program, with the guidence of our teachers Ms. ogo, and Greg.
Materials:
Part I:
Warm Up: Re-Create the Santa Barbara Oil Spill of January 28, 1996:
The goal of part one is to test the model. Does is work? Can we actually use it? Scientists call this "hind-casting" (rather than forecasting).
Procedure:
1) Set up the spill in the model using the "GNOME manual" and the details of the spill and local weather conditions provided below:
- Model Run Duration: 3 days
- Weather conditions:
Current: Davidson current ( "Relaxation state")
Wind: Variable
Day 1: N N W, 10 knots ( Auto increment by 24 hours)
Day 2: W N W, 10 Knots
Day 3: W S W, 15 Knots
- Spill location: 34 degrees 19'54" N and 119 degrees 36' 47'' W
- Spill amount: 100,000 barrels (non-weathering)
2) Simulate the oil spill by pushing the play button and pay attention to the wind, time, and location where oil comes onshore.
Part I Question(s):
1) Does the spill you modeled agree with the local account of the actual Santa Barbara oil spill below? List some similarities and differences between the model and the observations of the actual spill.
It was fairly the same... except that ray's and i were a little different because ours seperated a bit when the santra barbra one didnt.
Local account of the Oil Spill:
Santa Barbara was experiencing a stormy weather, with a large flood event occurred on January 25, just three days before the blowout. Enormous amounts of fresh water were still running off shore from local streams, flowing south and southwest in the vicinity of the rig. Combined with the prevailing north- north westerly winds typical of the area between storm systems, this pushed the expanding oil slick away from the shore. And it seemed for several days that the beaches of Santa Barbara would be spared. However, another huge storm system affected the region on February 4, with winds moving around the compass clockwise from southeast to west; this pushed the oil slick north into Santa Barbara harbor and onto all the beaches of the southern Santa Barbara County and northwestern Ventura County.
Part II:
Part 2:
What if the spill happened today?
Disaster! There has been a spill off the coast of Santa Barbara.
It is your job as a NOAA oceanographer to do everything possible to reduce the impact of the oil spill on the coastal environment. There are 10 miles of booms available at the NOAA response station in Santa Barbara, but more booms and other coastal cleanup materials need to be loaded and driven from Los Angeles- this will take 24 hours.
You must decide where to deploy the 10 miles of booms in Santa Barbara and what to do with the remaining resources available a day later.
-Today's Weather Conditions:
Current: Winter (Sep-Feb) choose ''Relaxation''
Spring (Feb-May) choose ''Up welling''
Summer (June-Aug) choose ''Convergent''
Wind: 10 Knots, E S E (all three days) or consult the local forecast.
-Spill Location: 34 degrees 19'54''N and 119 degrees 36'47''W
- Spill Amount: 100,000 barrels (non- weathering)
Part II Questions:
1) Describe some of the differences between the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill and this hypothetical spill.
One difference between the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill and today's spill is that the Santa Barbara spill is more onshore, but the hypothetical spill is more separated when the wind blows it.
2) Where did the oil make landfall after the first day? How about the second and third days?
First day: 34 degrees N and 120 degrees W
Second day: 36 degrees N and 123 degrees W
Third day: 38 degrees N and 125 degrees W
3) As a NOAA oceanographer, where would you recommend the 10 miles of booms stored at Santa Barbara be deployed? Where would you send the extra resources from LA; a day's drive away?
Ray and I would recommend the 10 miles of booms be stored at these location coordinates:
34 degrees 15.41'N
and
121 degrees 01.84'W
In this lab i had a great time with my partner ray recreating the oil spills and stuff, it was fun.
It was pretty easy using this program, with the guidence of our teachers Ms. ogo, and Greg.
Materials:
- GNOME(General NOAA Operational Modeling Environment) installed with a location file. In this case we use the Santa Barbara Location file.
- Pencil
- Lab sheet
- GNOME manual
Part I:
Warm Up: Re-Create the Santa Barbara Oil Spill of January 28, 1996:
The goal of part one is to test the model. Does is work? Can we actually use it? Scientists call this "hind-casting" (rather than forecasting).
Procedure:
1) Set up the spill in the model using the "GNOME manual" and the details of the spill and local weather conditions provided below:
- Model Run Duration: 3 days
- Weather conditions:
Current: Davidson current ( "Relaxation state")
Wind: Variable
Day 1: N N W, 10 knots ( Auto increment by 24 hours)
Day 2: W N W, 10 Knots
Day 3: W S W, 15 Knots
- Spill location: 34 degrees 19'54" N and 119 degrees 36' 47'' W
- Spill amount: 100,000 barrels (non-weathering)
2) Simulate the oil spill by pushing the play button and pay attention to the wind, time, and location where oil comes onshore.
Part I Question(s):
1) Does the spill you modeled agree with the local account of the actual Santa Barbara oil spill below? List some similarities and differences between the model and the observations of the actual spill.
It was fairly the same... except that ray's and i were a little different because ours seperated a bit when the santra barbra one didnt.
Local account of the Oil Spill:
Santa Barbara was experiencing a stormy weather, with a large flood event occurred on January 25, just three days before the blowout. Enormous amounts of fresh water were still running off shore from local streams, flowing south and southwest in the vicinity of the rig. Combined with the prevailing north- north westerly winds typical of the area between storm systems, this pushed the expanding oil slick away from the shore. And it seemed for several days that the beaches of Santa Barbara would be spared. However, another huge storm system affected the region on February 4, with winds moving around the compass clockwise from southeast to west; this pushed the oil slick north into Santa Barbara harbor and onto all the beaches of the southern Santa Barbara County and northwestern Ventura County.
Part II:
Part 2:
What if the spill happened today?
Disaster! There has been a spill off the coast of Santa Barbara.
It is your job as a NOAA oceanographer to do everything possible to reduce the impact of the oil spill on the coastal environment. There are 10 miles of booms available at the NOAA response station in Santa Barbara, but more booms and other coastal cleanup materials need to be loaded and driven from Los Angeles- this will take 24 hours.
You must decide where to deploy the 10 miles of booms in Santa Barbara and what to do with the remaining resources available a day later.
-Today's Weather Conditions:
Current: Winter (Sep-Feb) choose ''Relaxation''
Spring (Feb-May) choose ''Up welling''
Summer (June-Aug) choose ''Convergent''
Wind: 10 Knots, E S E (all three days) or consult the local forecast.
-Spill Location: 34 degrees 19'54''N and 119 degrees 36'47''W
- Spill Amount: 100,000 barrels (non- weathering)
Part II Questions:
1) Describe some of the differences between the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill and this hypothetical spill.
One difference between the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill and today's spill is that the Santa Barbara spill is more onshore, but the hypothetical spill is more separated when the wind blows it.
2) Where did the oil make landfall after the first day? How about the second and third days?
First day: 34 degrees N and 120 degrees W
Second day: 36 degrees N and 123 degrees W
Third day: 38 degrees N and 125 degrees W
3) As a NOAA oceanographer, where would you recommend the 10 miles of booms stored at Santa Barbara be deployed? Where would you send the extra resources from LA; a day's drive away?
Ray and I would recommend the 10 miles of booms be stored at these location coordinates:
34 degrees 15.41'N
and
121 degrees 01.84'W
In this lab i had a great time with my partner ray recreating the oil spills and stuff, it was fun.