Asia-Pacific ASA

BP Angola recently acquired Version 6.0 of ASA's OILMAP and SARMAP. The version 6.0 technology allows users to tap into the power of web services to immediately access weather data and environmental information such as forecast winds and currents which are essential for accurate oil spill and search & rescue response.

Early on the morning of 7 January 2003, a large empty yellow plastic quarantine bag was found on the high tide mark of Wooli Beach, New South Wales, Australia. These heavy duty plastic bags are used for storage of items that pose a quarantine risk and are sealed on board ships by Quarantine Inspectors. As the disposal of plastic at sea is prohibited, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) undertook an investigation to determine the source of the bag. A suspect ship was identified, and AMSA inspectors boarded the ship and obtained documentation that confirmed eight days earlier the ship had travelled past Wooli Beach some 514 kilometres offshore. To assist AMSA, Asia-Pacific ASA performed a series of SARMAP model simulations (backward and forward) to determine the trajectory of the bag and establish whether the ship identified was in fact responsible.

ASA's staff in the USA and Australia are developing and testing a unique extension for ArcGIS 9.0 and are currently finalizing the supply of 8 licences of a NetCDF extension for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). The COASTMAP NetCDF Layer Extension allows NetCDF data that is COARDS and CF compliant to be viewed in ArcGIS for RAN operations. This data is generated by the Australian Science Agency, CSIRO, and Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM).

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) have been using ASA's oil spill model (OILMAP) since 1999, as part of marine protection and oil spill response for 18,000,000 square miles of ocean (1/10th of the globe). OILMAP is used as a decision support tool to predict the movement and weathering of oil spills as part of spill response training and to aid in the effective deployment of oil spill response personnel and equipment to protect environmentally sensitive areas in the event of an actual spill.OILMAP is also being used on a frequent basis in the investigation and prosecution of the illegal discharge of oil at sea by ships.

In June 2004 AMSA upgraded their hydrodynamic model to now include HYDROMAP, ASA's ocean/coastal model, to predict ocean currents for OILMAP's trajectory models. Embedded in a user-friendly interface, HYDROMAP's unique gridding features expand OILMAP's modelling capability, allowing AMSA staff to resolve the effects of high-resolution coastal features such as through-flows between small islands and circulation within ports and harbours. This advancement enables accurate predictions of the water movement in the event of spills near the coast.

The Department for Planning and Infrastructure (DPI) facilitate the protection of Western Australia's marine environment by policing pollution laws and providing an emergency response service. The DPI also trains the users of WA waterways to improve local response to pollution events such as oil spills, and provides tools to assist in that response. One such tool is the Oil Spill Response Atlas OSRA), which is a Geographic Information System (GIS) containing a state-wide database of coastal and marine information to aid contingency planning and decision making during marine pollution incidents. Asia-Pacific ASA has been commissioned to add another element to the OSRA: Oil Spill Risk Assessment contours for the state's ports. This will be achieved using ASA's HYDROMAP and SIMAP systems.

BHP Billiton commissioned Asia-Pacific ASA (APASA) to prepare an Oil Spill Response Manual to be used by all of their management centres as a guideline to writing and maintaining Oil Spill Contingency Plans. The guidelines manual was not designed to be used in the event of a spill, but to ensure that all of the company's oil spill contingency plans are standardized for each global operation.

Clearly, the closer a computer model approximates what acutally happen, the more valuable it is as an investigatory and management tool.

Working with DAL Science & Engineering, APASA has undertaken an extensive proving program for our combined HYDROMAP-MUDMAP system in Cockburn Sound.In every test our modeling system generted very close approximations to the observed distribution patters of suspended solids and sedimentation.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) co-ordinates Australia's international responsibilities in the area of marine environment protection and oil spill response for 18,000,000 square miles of ocean (approx 1/9th of the globe's surface area).

As of the 1 July 2003 the Asia-Pacific ASA have been assisting AMSA to expand and improve on the bathymetry and tidal database for a number of Australia's known high-risk area's, including the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and Sydney Harbour.

On 20 November 1944, a Japanese manned suicide torpedo struck and sank the US Naval tanker, USS Mississinewa, in 40 meters of water within Ulithi Lagoon in the north-western Pacific Ocean.

On the 6th August 2001, a tropical cyclone passing through the pacific disturbed the wreck, causing an estimated 70,000 litres of oil to leak into the lagoon. The leak was eventually plugged by contractors to the US Navy, however another 18 million litres remained on board.

The United States Government,off-loaded the remaining fuel (1.8 million US Gallons) on the 18th March to prevent further pollution of the lagoon.

Asia-Pacific ASA (APASA) carried out a detailed oil spill risk assessment to provide planners with an understanding of which environmental resources would be under threat if an uncontrolled oil release occurs. This work was carried out in collaboration with Trevor Gilbert from the Australian Maritime Safety Agency (AMSA) who has been assisting the Pacific Ocean Pollution Prevention Programme (PACPOL).

Recent discoveries of oil reservoirs off the northwest corner of Australia have prompted a flurry of oil and gas exploration activity. But the area is also environmentally sensitive. Large tracts of the North West Shelf and Timor Sea regions are made up of shoal areas and island chains with wide fringing reefs, and the area also supports rich benthic and demersal fisheries. Because oil spills and leaks from drilling and production pose a potential risk to local biology and habitats, Australian regulations require oil and gas companies to perform quantitative risk-assessment studies prior to drilling, or in planning new facilities. In the past, studies have focused on risks to shorelines from surface slicks. However, oil companies and their government regulators are now increasingly focusing on the risks presented to the subsurface environment by dissolved and entrained components of oil slicks.

The Gold Coast, just south of Brisbane on the east coast of Australia, is home to a perfect climate, picturesque beaches, and the famous Surfer’s Paradise. Winding its way through the Gold Coast is the Nerang River, with beautiful homes nestled against the riverbanks. The Nerang River is the largest and most significant river system on the Gold Coast, consisting of numerous canal and freshwater lake environments. The river provides the Gold Coast’s drinking water and plays a significant role in recreation and tourism. Hence, the Nerang River not only requires a standard of water quality capable of supporting aquatic/marine life and meeting appropriate environmental health standards for primary contact, but must also maintain the high aesthetic standard expected by both residents and visitors to the region.

The environmental effects of Produced Formation Water (PFW) discharged from offshore oil production platforms into the marine environment is of growing concern among environmental regulators and industry. Analyses of PFW discharges have found various concentrations of hydrocarbons, which are potentially toxic to marine organisms. Environmental agencies require petroleum companies to carry out predictive dispersion modelling to determine the likely distribution and concentration of PFW after discharge from a platform and its toxicity to surrounding marine ecosystems.