Trajectory tool: Track and forecast

04/12/2012 News

A practical tool

The monitoring and predicting components developed by the project has been combined into a practical tool so as to track specific objects or oil spills and get early responses for mitigation.

Just connect and run

CDRIFT-TOSCAv1 is a web-based interface aimed at tracking the trajectories of oil spills or search-and-rescue operations on the ocean surface. The main difference between this tool and the existing ones is that end users need no software installing or previous knowledge of ocean dynamics to perform simulations 

The CDRIFT package relies on two main elements.

  • A central software –TOSCAV1.0– that performs forecasting tasks
  • A web interface that allows the end users to send a request for a specific forecast, and get the relevant image along with the output results.

72 hour-forecasting

The tool currently provides forecasting of a spill for the following 72 hours. The period can be changed and depends on the tool’s ocean model. The beta version is fed by the IMEDEA-Balop ROMS model that covers the West Mediterranean sea and provides ocean currents data for the next 72 hours.

Easy to use

All the end-user needs is a computer, internet access and a web browser to perform a simulation. This is a true improvement in real-world emergencies when experts are not immediately available. The end user only provides a location over a map (latitude and longitude) along with time of the spill and, when possible, the initial range ; then the interface retrieves from the ocean and atmosphere models the relevant data so as to perform simulations. Finally the plotting of possible trajectories is displayed.

An added value for local authorities

The beta version is operational. It provides simulations based on the existing operational models. If the model proves efficient then the forecast will as well. In this beta version we have thoroughly tested the tool. Further improvements are continuously on their way.

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