Texas Automated Buoy System (TABS)

Transcription

1 Texas Automated Buoy System (TABS) Ocean Science, Technology and Operations Workforce Workshop November 10-12, 2008 Norman L. Guinasso Jr., John N. Walpert, Leslie C. Bender Geochemical and Environmental Research Group Texas A&M University

2 In June of 1990, the supertanker Mega Borg carrying 41 million gallons of light Angolan crude exploded and caught fire at a lightering area 60 NMI south of Galveston 5.1 million gallons of oil were released into the Gulf of Mexico. 50% of the light crude burned and 25% evaporated leaving nearly 1.3 million gallons of oil in the water Historical climatology of the area and local wind data suggested the oil would be carried south toward Corpus Christi Contrary to the historical data, the currents were running up coast and transported the oil northeast to the Bolivar peninsula with some tar balls reaching as far as the Louisiana coast

3 310 million tons of imported crude oil are transported through the Gulf of Mexico every year. Over 20% of that is lightered to smaller tankers for delivery to ports in Texas. On average 5 tankers/day (10,000 DWT or larger) call on the port of Houston the state of Texas passed the Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act and named the Texas General Land Office (TGLO) as the lead agency in responding to and preventing oil spill damage along the Texas coast The Coastal Protection Fund was established by state law in the same year. This law allows the TGLO to impose a 2 cent/barrel tax on all oil or condensate passing through Texas ports. Fund is capped at 25 million dollars.

4 In the fall of 1994, GERG responded to a request from the TGLO to design a system to provide spill response managers with near real time surface current information Three months prior to the deployment of the first TABS buoy, the M/T Skaubay collided with M/T Berge Banker in the lightering area south of Galveston releasing approximately 2000 barrels of oil into the Gulf Data should be a public resource, made available in near real time to the public All data were to be archived and accessible over the web

5 TABS program is funded by the state government primarily through the 2 cent per barrel tax collected by the Coastal Protection Fund TABS is an operations focused program, a science program and a public resource. Data are also used in education, research, commercial and sport fisheries, search and rescue operations etc. GERG involves graduate and undergraduate student workers in the operation, maintenance and development of TABS buoys Engineering students work with software development, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering

6

7 TABS I buoy. Typically deployed in depths of 30m or less TABS II Buoy with MET station. Typically deployed in water depths of up to 100m 2.25m buoy at the Flower Garden Banks 3m buoy with R/V Gyre at site H

8 The standard sensor component for a TABS II or larger buoy consists of: Other sensors include ADCP s, spectrophotometers, nutrient analyzers, DO sensors, flow cytometers, transmissometers, PAR Aanderaa DCS4100R single point Doppler current sensor SBE-37 MicroCat temperature and conductivity sensor or Aanderaa 3919B conductivity sensor Wet Labs ECO-FLNTUS flourometer/turbidity sensor (larger buoys only) Gill Windsonic Anemometer (TABS II) and RM Young Anemometer (larger buoys only) Rotronics temperature/humidity, Vaisala PTB210 barometer Garmin GPS for position, watch circle alarm and system time Crossbow IMU Inertial sensor for waves (discus buoys only)

9 Incoming data are disseminated to the TGLO over the internet via FTP and to the general public via our web page TABS buoys have been given NDBC designates so current, wave and meteorological data are re-formatted then uploaded to the NDBC archive Data are archived and backed up hourly on two different servers at different locations both on and off Texas A&M s main campus in College Station. The website and software are mirrored every hour onto two different machines located in different buildings in case of a power or hardware failure

10 Hurricanes and Tropical Storms to Hit Texas since : Dolly, Gustav, Ike and Tropical Storm Eduard 2007: Humberto, Tropical Storm Erin 2005: Rita, Emily 2003: Claudette, Erica, Ivan, Tropical Storms Bill, Grace, Matthew 2002: Tropical storms, Bertha, Faye 2001: Tropical storm Allison 1999: Hurricane Brett

11 Buoys Lost to Hurricanes Buoy K Buoys N and V Buoys N and V Hurricane Bret Hurricane Claudette Hurricane Rita, Ike

12

13 2006 designed a 2.25m buoy due to a need for greater reserve buoyancy than a TABS II buoy could provide Another has finished its burn in tests and is awaiting deployment. We have an additional 2 currently in fabrication First two were deployed on the Flower Garden Banks in November, 2007, a third deployed in the western Gulf last week

14 Hurricane IKE

15 person title Edu. Description Norman Director PhD Physical and Chemical Oceanographer, 35 years as seagoing oceanographer Leslie Associate Res. Scientist PhD PI, 17 years as Physical Oceanographer Alexey Research Associate PhD Marine biologist from Ukraine, 20 years experience as seagoing marine technician Linwood Research Associate MS MS Oceanography, 16 year experience at GERG, analyst, data manage web design Lei Programmer I MS Electrical Engineering, 10 years experience, assistant professor electrical engineering at Michigan Technical University, engineering consulting John Erik GERG Ocean Science Personnel Sr. Marine Instrumentation Specialist Research Instrumentation Specialist BS BS FIT Oceanographic Technology, 28 years experience, Canadian Fisheries & Oceans, oceanographic consulting companies, buoy fabrication & design, supervisor of GERG ocean technical group 10 years experience, nutrient analyst, oxygen, navigation Ronnie Machinist II BS BS Mechanical Engineering, 30 years experience as marine tech technician, coring operations, capable machinist Andrew Electronics Tech II AS 7 years US Navy avionics/electronics, 2 years Northrup Grumman as avionics repair instructor, 3 years experience as seagoing ET Edward Electronics Tech II AA 25 years experience, 23 as a seagoing ET Martin Welder HS 12 years experience at seagoing marine tech, coring, winch operations, capable welder Paul Research Instr. Specialist HS 20 years offshore experience with seismic exploration, gravity/piston cores, CTD operations, current meters, buoy maintenance Willie Electronics Tech II HS 30 years experience, US Maine Core electronics training, Metrology Tech with S. Texas Nuclear Power Plant, Lockheed Martin Missile & Space, Aerotek (BF Goodrich)

16 Future Plans To sustain operations at, at least the current level of funding and seek out opportunities to provide additional sensor support (ADCP s on all buoys) To design a small quick response buoy to profile near bottom currents as well as measure near surface currents, directional waves and winds To redesign the TABS I to take advantage of newer electronics and make it software compatible with other buoys