GENERAL NOAA OIL MODELING ENVIRONMENT (GNOME): A NEW SPILL TRAJECTORY MODEL

Abstract

ABSTRACT The General NOAA Oil Modeling Environment (GNOME) is a standard Eulerian/Lagrangian spill-trajectory model designed to meet the needs of planners and expert responders through three different user modes: Standard, GIS Output, and Diagnostic. Spills are modeled by Lagrangian Elements (LEs or splots) within continuous flow fields. GNOME supports the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/Hazardous Materials Response Division (HAZMAT) standard for Best Guess and Minimum Regret trajectories by providing information about where the spill is most likely to go (Best Guess solution) and the uncertainty bound (Minimum Regret solution). The public, including spill responders, industry, and students, can use GNOME in Standard or GIS Output mode to prepare spill scenario-related products and for intuition building. These GNOME modes require a Location File that contains a regional trajectory model with a Mini-Expert System to aid in setting up the model. The Mini-Expert System sets up the trajectory model based on user input via dialog boxes. Information sources also are provided to help users answer the dialog questions. Responders can use GNOME's Diagnostic mode to quickly set up custom trajectory models for any area, as HAZMAT does during spill response. GNOME's Diagnostic model can accept circulation patterns from any hydrodynamic model (from two-dimensional steady-state to three-dimensional time-dependent models) with proper formatting. GNOME allows all users to save their work in files and create QuickTime movies. In GIS Output and Diagnostic modes, users can export the model results to GNOME Analyst to convert the data from LEs or splots to oil-concentration contours. Both the splots and contours can be exported to a GIS system (HAZMAT provides an ArcView extension). HAZMAT presently is creating Location Files for U.S. Coast Guard and NOAA priority locations with a design philosophy to allow users significant control over the model setup without requiring extensive spill modeling experience. GNOME, all Location Files, and documentation are available for download from NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration Web site1 under Aids for Oil Spill Responders.