Assimilation of drifter data into an oil spll forecasting trajectory model and transmission of the information for decision making-case of the 1996 irving whale salvage in the gulf of St. Lawarence

摘要

As air surveillance for oil spills becomes standard procedure, our ability to identify a release before it threatens a coastline is increasing. In deep water, far from the coast, the principal compoent of the drift at sea is usually the intertial current driven by the recent wind history, rather than the actual wind and tides. Because these inertial currents cannot be forecasted at present, we propose here a technique that uses a combination of observation and modelling to forecast the trajectory of the observed spill. To acquire the necessary observations and to transmit the forecast for decision making purpose, an iformation transmission center was set up for the salvage of the Irving Whale barge by the local Regional Environmental Emergencies Team (REET). This transmission center proved to be so useful that its concept is being implemented for all emergencies.