Supported by:
MPI AREA X
The South Indian and Southern Oceans east of 80°E and south of 30°S to 95°E, to 12°S, to 127°E; thence the Timor Sea, South Pacific and Southern Oceans south of 10°S to 141°E to the equator, to 170°E, to 29°S, thence SW_wards to 45°S in 160°E, then the 160°E meridian.
AMOC : Australia
| Contact point Mr Phil Parker, Bureau of Meteorology, PO Box 1289K, Melbourne Victoria, Australia 3001 Tel: +61 3 9669 4510 Fax: +61 3 9669 4695 Email: p.parker@bom.gov.au Website: www.bom.gov.au | Operational contact point (24 h) Shift Supervisor, National Meteorological and Oceanographic Centre, Bureau of Meteorology, PO Box 1289K, Melbourne Victoria, Australia 3001 Tel: +61 3 9662 2182 Fax: +61 3 9662 1222 Fax: +61 3 9662 1223 Email: webops@bom.gov.au |
Supporting Services
Relevant contact points
| New Zealand Duty Manager, Meteorological Service of New Zealand, P.O. Box 722, Wellington, New Zealand. Tel: +64 4 470 0775 Fax: +64 4 471 2078 | Fiji Duty Manager, Fiji Meteorological Service, Ministry of communications and Civil Aviation, Private Mail Bag NAP 0351, Nadi Airport, Fiji. Tel: +679 72 4888 Fax: +679 72 0430 | Papua New Guinea Duty Manager, National Weather Service, P.O. Box 1240, BOROKO, Papua New Guinea. Tel: +675 325 2788 Fax: +675 325 2740 | Vanuatu Duty Manager, Vanuatu Meteorological Service, Private Mail Bag 54, Port Vila, Vanuatu. Tel: +678 822 932 | New Caledonia Duty Manager, Meteo France - New Caledonia, Noumea, New Caledonia Tel: +687 27 9300 Fax: +687 27 4295 |
Marine Pollution Emergency Response Authority
| Australian Maritime Safety Authority Mr Trevor Gilbert, Australian Maritime Safety Authority Emergency Response GPO Box 2181, Canberra ACT, Australia 2601 Tel: +61 2 6279 5680 Fax: +61 2 6279 5076 Email: trevor.gilbert@amsa.gov.au | 24h/Day Duty Officer, AMSA Rescue Coordination Centre GPO Box 2181, Canberra ACT, Australia 2601 Tel: +61 2 6230 6811 Fax: +61 2 6230 6868 Email: rccaus@amsa.gov.au |
Marine pollution transport model available under MPERSS
| Type of pollution model | Oil and Chemical |
| Name of model | OSTM (Combination of HYDROMAP & OILMAP) HYDROMAP (Hydrodynamic- continental shelf) OILMAP (Spill trajectory and weathering model) and ALOHA (Chemical gaseous plume model) |
| References | AMSA OSTM http://www.apasa.com.au/amsa_ostm.html Details OSTM: Top 30 questions http://www.amsa.gov.au/Marine_Environment_Protection/National_Plan/General_Information/Oil_Spill_Trajectory_Model/OSTM30.asp HYDROMAP: http://www.appsci.com/hydromap/index.htm OILMAP: http://www.appsci.com/oilmap/index.htm ALOHA: http://archive.orr.noaa.gov/cameo/aloha.html |
| Free | No |
| Input (pollutant data) | Type, grade, quantity of oil, geographic location, spill rate, start time and other critical time data. |
| Input (Environmental data) | Wind speed and direction at start and key times or way points. Provided by NWP model output from the Bureau of Meteorology. Continental shelf current (speed, direction) provided by HYDROMAP Offshore current (speed, direction) values provided through CSIRO surface current model. Sea surface temperature (SST) data |
| Trajectory algorithm: Wind | Provided by NWP model output from the Bureau of Meteorology Supported with real time coastal wind monitoring station data provide on-line web by BoMet. |
| Trajectory algorithm: Current | Output from a hydrodynamic model (HYDROMAP) but also utilises CSIRO geostrophic currents derived from satellite altimeter and sea surface temperature imagery. |
| Trajectory algorithm: Waves (generation method, effect on advection) | Provided by the numerical wave prediction model (WAM) operated by the Bureau of Meteorology. |
| Fate algorithm: evaporation, emulsification... | Yes |
| Model Validation | Use as evidence in prosecutions of ships polluting Australian waters Ground truth exercise carried out by AMSA http://www.amsa.gov.au/Marine_Environment_Protection/National_Plan/General_Information/Oil_Spill_Trajectory_Model/OSTM30.asp#questiontwentyseven SAR events are also used to evaluate the spill tracking system. |
| Application area | Metarea 10 |
| Real-time response capacity | The system is fully operable in real time. |
During recent years the following improvements to OSTM were made:
- high definition coastline vector datasets were added for mainland Australia and offshore territories;
- the interface of OSTM with Australian Hydrographic Office (AHO) raster based nautical charts (GeoTiff format) was enabled;
- S57 ENC chart data from AHO for Queensland was incorporated;
- digital bathymetry data has been increased significantly in coverage and resolution with that previously available (250m gridded Australia wide);
- evaluation and upgrade of the hydrodynamic model to HYDROMAP was undertaken;
- upgrades of the OILMAP software were made to provide additional data manipulation, data visualisation and model output features;
- interface of the spill model output of OSTM with the Oil Spill Response Atlas (OSRA) GIS system was enabled leading to improved delivery of information to National Plan stakeholders;
- casual staff were employed to digitise and update underlying operational datasets (bathymetry and detailed coastlines);
- efficiency testing of the model was undertaken using a ground truth exercise in Moreton Bay, Queensland;
- the ability to include large-scale currents measured by satellites supplied by CSIRO was implemented;
- use of detailed spatial wind data provided by BoMet for entire region (3 day forecast data) was enabled;
- tools were developed to integrate NetCDF wind and current data directly from the data providers web site via FTP;
- the ability to view and animate spatial wind files was implemented; and
- an additional tool was developed to allow a number of individual current and wind files to be added to generate predictions over longer time periods.
MPERSS trials
| Date(s) and period(s) of trials | Brief summary of results |
| Ongoing opportunistic in conjunction with SAR events. | The system has demonstrated its effectiveness during its operational phase over recent years. A number of datasets are under constant improvement. Regular updates are made to the following fundamental datasets of OSTM:
http://www.amsa.gov.au/Marine_Environment_Protection/National_Plan/General_Information/Oil_Spill_Trajectory_Model/OSTM30.asp#questiontwentyseven |
Actual marine pollution emergencies
| Date(s) and duration(s) of incidents | Brief summary of results |
| Numerous, see www.amsa.gov.au under "National Plan Incidents" | In addition to playing a key role during an oil spill response, modelling is becoming an integral part of evidence in court cases concerning oil spills and used as evidence in a number of prosecutions. A new hydrodynamic model, HYDROMAP, was implemented recently and expands the modelling capability and supports the incorporation of live metocean data, including satellite observations of large-scale currents from CSIRO, and detailed wind data from the Bureau of Meteorology. A new version of the oil spill mapping component of the model, OILMAP, was also recently installed. OILMAP is used by governments, research institutes and oil companies in at least 40 countries. AMSA will continue to monitor international developments in modelling systems for marine incident response. Further details of the system and its use can be found at: http://www.amsa.gov.au/Marine_Environment_Protection/National_Plan/General_Information/Oil_Spill_Trajectory_Model/OSTM_FAQ.asp |
(Last Updated: 09-08-2007)