Oil Spill Recovery Institute

Questions regarding Hydrological Model Validation RFP

wspegau — Mon, 14 May 2012 21:36:50 +0000

Below are questions (in black) regarding the hydrological model validation RFP and my answers (blue).

Q1: There are two objectives in this RFP:

1) “Either test the existing hydrological model to identify key areas for improvement, or
2) to test a new hydrological model designed to be coupled with the ROMS ocean circulation model.” Can we include the both objectives in the proposal? If we need to focus on one objective only, which one is the most urgent issue be to be addressed? These two objectives, if followed in proposals, can lead to very different work plan and research results.

You can do both if you like. The proposal must cover one of the two approaches. In many ways the second approach almost requires you to do the first.

Q2: In the RFP, it says, “It also must be demonstrated to provide an improved prediction of freshwater input compared the existing model.”
Do we need to show some initial results of comparison between our model and the
existing model in the proposal?

It doesn’t need to be shown in the proposal. The comment does indicate the importance of providing a Sound Predictions reference to provide some kind of indication of the possible magnitude of the error.

Q3: What is the scope of field observations? Validation of hydrological model needs meteorological observations and stream flow observations. Validation of ocean model (with input from hydrological model) needs oceanic observations. For meteorological observation, can we just use the existing observations such as those from SNOTEL, USGS, or regular meteorological station data?

The scope is for you to define, but it should be clear exactly what data is to be used and how it can provide the validation we desire. Definitely use any existing resource that you have.

Q4: When you talk about “Proposals must describe the methods to be used to compare the model results to observations”, does that mean we need to include sophisticated statistical methods for comparison between modeling results and observations?

There needs to be some discussion of the statistical methods to be used. The object is to allow the proposal reviewers the ability to determine if the proposed work can meet the objectives.

Q5: For coupling between ROMS and hydrological model, are you looking for a two-way coupling between the ROMS and the hydrological model, or using the output from the coupled atmosphere-hydrology model to drive the ocean model will be sufficient?

We are looking at the hydrological model as an input to the oceanic circulation model. So the one way coupling.

Q6: In the RFP, it states, “We prefer a validation effort that can test the model under high liquid precipitation, low freshwater discharge, and spring melt periods.” What is the “low freshwater discharge?”. Do you mean low point-source freshwater discharge?

Our low discharge season is in the winter when most of the precipitation is in the form of snow.

Q7: In the RFP, it says, “The ability to link freshwater flow to the measured precipitation is essential”, why does it mean here? Does it mean we need to use the measured precipitation to predict freshwater flow? Our method is that we ensure the model to reproduce the measured precipitation, and then use simulated precipitation to predict freshwater flow. Is that a sound method?

There needs to be a clear connection to measured values somewhere. It can be in validation of the precipitation model that feeds the hydrological model.

Q8: Does “a limited sensitivity analysis” mean that we should not emphasize the sensitivity analysis for this project?

It doesn’t need to be limited, but we wanted to ensure that there was at least some effort put towards the sensitivity analysis.

Q9: What is the contact information for Peter Olsson who does the Weather Research and Forecasting model work for the Alaska Ocean Observing System?

olsson (at) aeff.uaa.alaska.edu

Q10: Who will be responsible for running any new model that is developed?

That is to be determined by AOOS. The adoption of a new model will be dependent on the degree it improves the prediction of freshwater input.

Hydrological Model Validation RFP released

wspegau — Thu, 03 May 2012 16:40:10 +0000

The Oil Spill Recovery Institute (OSRI) in Cordova, Alaska along with the Alaska Ocean Observing System (AOOS) announce the release of a request for proposals to examine the validation of hydrological models. Both organizations support development of oceanic and atmospheric observations and models. During the Sound Predictions experiment in Prince William Sound (PWS) in 2009 it became obvious that the spatial and temporal freshwater input remains one of the most difficult, yet important, variables to model. Based on that need OSRI and AOOS are prepared to partner on a project to either test the existing hydrological model to identify key areas for improvement, or to test a new hydrological model designed to be coupled with the ROMS ocean circulation model.

Proposals must be submitted to OSRI by June 8, 2012. Please contact Scott Pegau at OSRI if you have questions regarding this opportunity. The full announcement is available here Hydrological Model Validation 2012 RFP.

Arctic spill response technology funding opportunity

wspegau — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:58:03 +0000

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) released their Broad Agency Announcement seeing white papers for several topics related to oil spill response technology. Of particular interest to OSRI are the subject areas of: Ice Month at Ohmsett , Methods to Increase Encounter Rate for Skimming and In Situ Burn Operations , Mechanical Technologies to Facilitate and Improve Oil Spill Containment and Recovery Under Arctic Conditions, and Remote Sensing. There are several other topics included in the BAA as well. BAA E12PS00004

OSRI Advisory Board meeting

wspegau — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:24:06 +0000

The OSRI advisory Board will be meeting on February 10th from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm. The agenda and board packet can be found at http://www.pws-osri.org/business/bod/bod_meetings.shtml. Included on the agenda are instructions for connecting to the meeting for people outside of Anchorage.

Graduate Research Fellowship Opportunity

wspegau — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 22:24:31 +0000

The Prince William Sound Oil Spill Recovery Institute (OSRI) in Cordova, Alaska annually awards graduate fellowships. In 2012, we are soliciting one new proposal for a graduate research fellowship. New fellowships will be made available on a competitive basis to students admitted to or enrolled in a full-time masters or doctoral program at accredited colleges and universities. Fellowships may be funded for up to two years for masters or three years for doctoral level research. Students completing this time period may reapply for additional funding, but their proposal will be evaluated as a new proposal. The current award amount is $25,000 per year that may be used for tuition and research related expenses. There is a 25% match requirement. For more information go to http://www.pws-osri.org/grants/rfp.shtml.

The deadline for submitting applications is February 24, 2012.
24, 2012.

Hoffman named the new Executive Director of OSRI

wspegau — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 18:18:41 +0000

The Prince William Sound Science Center is pleased to announce the appointment of Katrina Hoffman as President and Chief Executive Officer effective Dec. 1, 2011. Hoffman will also serve as the Executive Director for the PWS Oil Spill Recovery Institute. She replaces Nancy Bird who resigned to pursue other interests in Cordova and spend more time with her family.

Hoffman earned a Master’s degree in Marine Policy at the University of Washington and most recently worked for Washington Sea Grant on Puget Sound and West Coast shoreline management issues. She is an experienced science teacher and has also worked as a researcher at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and the University of California at Berkeley.

For the past two years, Hoffman served as Chairperson of the Sustainable Coastal Communities Action Coordination Team for the West Coast Governors’ Agreement on Ocean Health. She facilitated discussions among representatives with very diverse interests. Their work resulted in a policy action plan for the three states of Washington, Oregon and California to jointly focus on economic development, sustainable aquaculture and fisheries, non-consumptive tourism and recreation, and ports and clean marinas.

“I’m excited to be joining the PWSSC and OSRI,” said Hoffman. “I’m interested in the connections between scientific research, ecosystems, and community priorities. A key feature of that is establishing partnerships and securing funding that enables researchers to investigate compelling issues and develop technologies that creatively solve problems and ultimately benefit both ecological sustainability and human enterprises.”

“I am looking forward to facilitating the research and education programs at the institutes. The diversity of the education programs alone are impressive and have great value in Cordova and beyond.”

Established in Cordova in 1989, the PWS Science Center works to promote a sustainable future for the world’s richest waters. Science Center research programs focus on the oceanography, fisheries and wildlife of Prince William Sound and the Copper River Delta. Education programs serve a diverse audience of school-age children to adults in the Prince William Sound region.

Hoffman also holds a Bachelors of Arts from Oberlin College with a double major in Biology and Environmental Studies, and she earned teaching credentials from Chapman University. She says coastal environments have generated the most important formative experiences of both her personal and professional life.

“My respect for the ocean and understanding of its value has developed through so many experiences in my life—from childhood vacations spent exploring the shores of the Outer Banks of North Carolina, to studying marine biology on the Baltic Sea; from teaching marine science to thousands of students to conducting oceanography research in the equatorial Pacific. I have traveled to over thirty countries on six continents and can’t think of a single place that took my breath away the way Prince William Sound did the first time I flew over it. I can’t wait to get started.”

Hoffman joins the PWSSC staff in mid-November and expects to arrive in Cordova about December 1.

Encountering oil: where do we need to go

wspegau — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 15:46:48 +0000

One result of the Deepwater Horizon spill was the Wendy Schmidt X-prize competition, which challenged people to come up with a system capable of collecting 2500 gal/minute with at least 70% oil to water. The winners of the challenge have recently been identified (http://www.iprizecleanoceans.org/blog/2011/10/11/and-winners-are). The ability to meet the goals of the challenge are extremely important steps forward in our ability to recover oil. But the challenge was unable to address a very important aspect of any recovery effort and that is the encounter rate. Encounter rate basically is how large an area that can be covered in a given amount of time. Given the speeds boats pull boom and the width of the collecting area the oil would have to be nearly 10 mm thick (~1/2 inch) to be thick enough to require the capabilities of the skimming system that won the challenge. More typical thicknesses are maybe a millimeter or hundredths of an inch thick in the thicker patches of oil. This requires that we now devise a means to encounter more oil in order to meet the capabilities of a skimmer. This can be done in part by using different tactics, such as a gated u-boom, to feed oil from a greater area to a skimmer, or by increasing the advancing speed of the collection system. Typical advancing speeds are around two knots. An increase in advancing speeds will be important for collecting enough oil to meet the capabilities of the skimmers. We look forward to seeing improvements in the collection systems to allow enough oil to be collected to meet the capabilities of the new skimming systems. Congratulations to the competitors in the Wendy Schmidt X-prize competition. Let’s continue to advance our recovery capabilities.

Detecting oil under ice

wspegau — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 21:53:34 +0000

With the increasing interest in oil exploration and development in the ice covered seas of the arctic, it has become important to improve our abilities to recover oil in those waters. The first issue will be in the detection and tracking of spilt oil. The standard approach is to fly over the spill region and visually look for the presence of oil on the water. With ice present the oil is likely to be encapsulated in the ice or trapped under it and thus undetectable based on the traditional approaches. This summer OSRI started funding a technology evaluation program aimed at technologies to detect oil from autonomous underwater vehicles that would fly below the ice. The concept being that it may be easier to find the oil from below because the system won’t have to penetrate through snow and a large portion of the ice to reach the oil. The cost of autonomous underwater vehicles and remotely operated vehicles has now come down to the point where it is economically feasible to use a large number of these assets to map the underside of the ice for oil. The
important thing is to have sensors that can be deployed on these vehicles that can detect the oil from a distance of a few meters.

The work is being conducted by investigators at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and the Scottish Association of Marine Sciences. They plan to test the ability of acoustic and optical systems to detect oil under ice using a test tank at the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory in Hanover, NH. Testing is scheduled for the spring of 2013 and we hope to be able to use the results to guide future detection and tracking efforts.

Schematic of the proposed sampling layout

OSRI releases a request for proposals for hydrological model validation

wspegau — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 17:46:45 +0000

Freshwater input and winds are critical for understanding circulation in the coastal regions. Heavy precipitation along Alaska’s southern coast sets up currents that will affect oil spill recovery in that region. The circulation models need to be able to account not only for the local precipitation, but also river and glacial input. At this point OSRI is interested in knowing how well the local precipitation component is being modeled and how it may affect coastal circulation modeling. OSRI and the Alaska Ocean Observing System are partnering to sponsor research that provides validation of a hydrological model used as input to circulation models. The full RFP can be accessed at http://www.pws-osri.org/grants/rfp.shtml.

FY10 Annual Report available

wspegau — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 22:44:32 +0000

The OSRI annual report for fiscal year 2010 is now available at http://www.pws-osri.org/publications/reports.shtml. This report covers the last year of the previous five-year research plan. It covers the activities we conducted under each of the OSRI goals. Fiscal year 2010 was most notable for its extremely low deposit to sponsor activities.

Pictured is a balloon-based spill surveillance system being tested near Deadhorse, Alaska. The inset is an infrared picture from the balloon showing a truck, a person, and two puddles of warm water. The warm water was visible below the snow along the edge of the road.