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| Questions and answers about the development, updating, and use of OR&R's spill response and planning software products. |
ADIOS2 • top
Here are answers to questions about development, updating, installing, and using OR&R's oil weathering model, ADIOS2.
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Q. Why can't I view the ADIOS2 manual on my Windows-based computer?
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| A. ADIOS2 comes with an HTML manual that contains valuable information on using the program correctly. To use this manual, you must have installed the HTML Help system on your computer. If you're using Windows 98, Windows Me, or Windows 2000, you need not install HTML Help Viewer, because it's already part of your operating system. If you're using Windows 95 or Windows NT, and you don't have Microsoft Internet Explorer version 4.0 or above on your computer, then you probably should install the HTML Help system. HTML Help is becoming the standard help system for the Windows platform. You'll find lots of information about Microsoft HTML Help on Microsoft's website.
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Q. Does ADIOS2 have any bugs?
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| A. No. An earlier ADIOS version contained the following bug, which has been corrected:
Some ADIOS2 estimates of initial benzene concentration were too high by two orders of magnitude. That is, ADIOS reported a benzene concentration of 200 ppm when it should have reported a concentration of 2 ppm. The bug was manifested only if the ADIOS2 oil properties library did not include an initial benzene fraction in the selected oil. It was the default estimation routine which had the bug. To check whether ADIOS2 has an initial benzene fraction value for an oil of interest: (1) select that oil from the oils and products list, (2) click Oil Information, (3) click the More Properties tab, and then (4) see whether there's a value for "benzene" (if not, "--" appears).
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Q. How can I install HTML Help support on my computer?
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| A. The easiest way to install HTML Help is to install the latest version of Internet Explorer. We recommend version 5.0 or above. You can download the latest version of Internet Explorer from Microsoft's website.
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Q. I don't want Internet Explorer to be the default browser on my computer. How can I install HTML Help in this case?
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| A. There are two ways to do it:
If you want to continue to use a different default browser for your web surfing, you can "silently install" Internet Explorer. You do this by installing only the essential files that HTML Help requires. See the link How to Create a Minimal Install of Microsoft IE5 for detailed instructions on how to do this.
Another way to avoid having the complete, latest version of Internet Explorer as your default browser is to download and run the HTML Help Update utility. This free utility from Microsoft will guide you through installing the latest HTML Help system onto your PC. Because HTML Help requires Internet Explorer, you'll need to have installed Internet Explorer, version 3.0 or later, on your computer before you run HTML Help Update. You can find out how to determine which version of Internet Explorer you are using from the Microsoft Web page, How to determine which version of Internet Explorer is installed.
Note: Installing on an Windows NT system will require administrative privileges on the system.
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Q. Can you tell me about the algorithms that ADIOS2 uses to make its predictions?
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| A. You can find this information in the ADIOS2 HTML manual, which comes with the program. You also might want to read the following reference:
Lehr, W., D. Wesley, D. Simecek-Beatty, R. Jones, G. Kachook, and J. Lankford. 2000. Algorithm and interface modifications of the NOAA oil spill behavior model. Pp. 525-540. In Proceedings of the Twenty-Third Arctic and Marine Oilspill Program (AMOP) Technical Seminar, June 14-16, 2000, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Volume 2. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Environment Canada.
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| Related Pages on Our Site |
- ADIOS2 Automated Data Inquiry for Oil Spills (ADIOS) is an oil weathering model that incorporates an extensive database of crude oils and refined products, and provides quick estimates of the expected changes in an oil's properties once it has spilled.
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Chemical Reactivity Worksheet • top
Here are answers to questions about development, updating, installing, and using the Chemical Reactivity Worksheet.
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Q. Is there a way to include air or water as one of the chemicals in the Mixture Worksheet?
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A. Air and water aren't included in our database of hazardous chemicals, so you can't add them to the "mixture" of chemicals in order to learn whether a chemical reacts with either. But you can find out about air and water reactivity in other ways:
- When you select a chemical, check its chemical information card for special warnings in the "Special Hazards" area. These special reactivity warnings, in red text, include air and water reactivity (shown as "Air-Reactive" and "Water-Reactive").
- Check the "Air & Water Reactions" section, under the "Response Information" tab, for more details about the air and/or water reactivity of the chemical.
- Click the "Additional Information" tab to check the "Chemical Profile" section for an even more detailed overview of the chemical's reactivity.
- In the Mixture Worksheet, check the Hazards Statement (in the lower scrolling box) for the "Special Hazards of Each Chemical" section. Air and Water reactivity information is displayed in this section.
- Whenever you print out the results of mixing chemicals on the Mixture Worksheet, we encourage you to also print out the chemical information card for each chemical as well. To do that, in the Mixture Worksheet, click on the name of each chemical in the upper box, click "Info on Selection" to view the information card for that chemical, then press the printer icon in the upper right corner of the card to print the card.
Many people have asked to be able to add air or water to the mixture. We are reviewing the Worksheet's design to see if there's a better way to present air and water reactivity.
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Q. When I combined nitric acid and sodium hydrosulfide, one of the hazard statements was "flammable gas generation." Can the Worksheet tell me what flammable gases could be expected?
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| A. In this case, yes, but this version of the Worksheet provides this information only for some chemicals. You won't see this information on the Mixture Worksheet (where you see hazard statements for the mixture), but sometimes you can find it by selecting the name of each chemical in the mixture, then clicking Info on Selection. For example, by doing this, you can see that sodium hydrosulfide mixed with an acid generates flammable hydrogen sulfide vapors.
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Q. What are "reactive groups"? I've never heard that term before.
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| A. To develop the Worksheet, we assigned each chemical in its database to one or more reactive groups. These are categories of chemicals that react in similar ways because they are similar in their chemical structure (to see descriptions of all the reactive groups we defined, from the Mixture Worksheet, click Reactive Groups). To predict the reactivity of a mixture of chemicals, the Worksheet first identifies the reactive groups to which the chemicals belong, and then predicts the kinds of reactivity likely to occur when members of these groups are mixed together. You can add reactive groups as well as specific chemicals to a mixture (and you may want to do this if you know, for example, that a substance is, say, a base, but don't know its name or CAS (Chemical Abstracts Service) registry number). (To add a reactive group to a mixture, from the Mixture Worksheet, click Reactive Groups, click the name of the group you want to add, then click Add Selected Group to the Mixture.)
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Q. Can I add as many chemicals as I want to a mixture?
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| A. The Worksheet does not place any set limit on the number of chemicals in a mixture, but its calculations tend to bog down if you add more than about 15 chemicals.
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Q. Does the Worksheet have any bugs?
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A. Here are the known bugs in the current version of the Reactivity Worksheet:
- Mixture save files are not compatible between versions of the Worksheet. For example, if you saved mixtures in version 1.5, the save file will not work properly in version 1.7. Unfortunately, you must recreate the mixtures. Also, note that the database of chemicals changes between versions. Some chemicals may no longer be in the database and some mixture results may change.
- Some Windows users have experienced printing problems. To work around this problem, press the Print button, then click Save to save your work as a text file; you then can print the text file normally.
- Some Windows users have reported background colors changing to black and white or other color combinations while the program is running. The colors return to normal once you exit the program.
Bugs in earlier versions: A bug in version 1.3. (released in January 2001) caused incorrect hazard statements to appear in the Compatibility Chart (a new feature not in version 1.2). This bug was fixed in version 1.4 (released in March 2001).
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Q. Is there a way I can add more chemicals to the Worksheet's database or make other modifications to the Worksheet?
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| A. We've written up a brief technical document to answer this question.
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Q. Do we need to obtain either individual or site licenses to use the Worksheet?
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| A. The Worksheet runs in the Oracle Media Objects (OMO) Player, a commercial application. Both the Player and Worksheet may be freely distributed at no charge.
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Q. Can we run the Worksheet from our server?
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| A. The Oracle Media Objects Player was not designed to run over a server, so we recommend that you install the Worksheet on each user's machine (the Player is automatically installed when you run the Worksheet installer).
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Q. Is the Windows version a 16-bit or 32-bit application?
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| A. The Oracle Media Objects Player is a 16-bit application. It runs in Windows 3.1 as well as in Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000, and XP.
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Q. My company has decided to adopt 32-bit compliance for the software used by its employees. Can you provide us a full 32-bit version of the Worksheet so we can continue to use it?
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A. We developed the Reactivity Worksheet in the Oracle Media Objects Environment, and it runs within the OMO Player, which dictates that the program is 16-bit. Oracle has no plans at this time to put out a new version of OMO, so the Worksheet will remain 16-bit for a while longer--sorry.
| Related Links |
| CAMEO We have developed a new version of the Chemical Reactivity Worksheet in Filemaker Pro, a 32-bit application. This version is available as a small part of a large software application known as CAMEO (Computer-Aided Management of Emergency Operations). |
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Q. What kind of software is the Worksheet?
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| A. The Chemical Reactivity Worksheet ("reactive.sta" and supporting files) is an Oracle Media Objects "stack" (much like a HyperCard stack) that runs on Macintosh computers and in Microsoft Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000, and XP. To run, it needs the runtime application "OMOPlayer" (on a Macintosh) or "Omoplay.exe" (in Windows) and supporting files, which are all distributed with the Worksheet.
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Q. Who created the Worksheet?
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| A. The Worksheet was developed by the Chemical Reactivity Team at the Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R), National Ocean Service, NOAA.
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Q. What is the latest version of the Worksheet?
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| A. The latest Worksheet is version 1.9.2, released on January 7, 2008, which you can download now from the main Chemical Reactivity Worksheet page.
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Q. What recent changes have you made to the Worksheet?
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| A. The newest version, 1.9.2, released in January 2008, matches the data in the latest version of CAMEOfm.
Version, 1.9, released in April 2007, contained updates to the chemical data and Compatibility Chart. It matched the data found in CAMEO version 1.2.
Version 1.7, released in February 2006, contained 50-100 edits to general descriptions and case history information. We also made a few edits to assignment of the reactive groups, and changed the wording for several hazard statements in the Compatibility Chart.
Version 1.6, released in November 2004, contained about 200 new chemicals with new case history information. We also added data from experiments conducted at Argonne National Laboratory on the rates of reaction of about 50 "water reactive" substances. At this time, we discontinued the download option that allowed users to copy a version onto diskettes.
Version 1.5, released in July 2002, contained new case history information in the "Chemical Profile" field, and we corrected formatting in the general description field, edited synonyms, and edited Chemical Abstract Service numbers. We also discontinued the version of the Worksheet for Windows 3.1.
In early 2001, when we released version 1.4, we added 2,500 new chemicals to the Worksheet's database. At that time, we also added chemical profiles and information about water reactivity for those new chemicals, along with new case study information about many of the chemicals in the Worksheet and information about the products that could be generated during some kinds of reactions.
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Q. I used the Worksheet to "mix" some chemicals together. It predicted "No reaction expected." Should I trust this prediction?
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| A. We believe that the Worksheet accurately predicts whether or not a reaction will occur between two chemicals that you select. But sometimes, there's more to the story. For instance, to predict the reactivity of a mixture of more than two chemicals, the Worksheet predicts the reactivity between all possible pairs of those chemicals. But sometimes, three or more chemicals can react together in ways the Worksheet can't predict. In some cases, for example, a chemical may catalyze (speed up) the reaction between two other chemicals, making that reaction more violent than the Worksheet would predict.
Here's another example: if you mix lithium aluminum hydride with an ether, such as diethylene glycol dimethyl ether (DGD), the Worksheet will correctly predict no reaction between those two chemicals. But there are two other potential hazards associated with this mixture:
- Over time, ethers such as DGD can combine with atmospheric oxygen to form peroxides. These peroxides can combine explosively with lithium aluminum hydride.
- If the ether contains water, the lithium aluminum hydroxide and water can react--in a potentially violent manner--to form hydrogen.
The Worksheet alerts you to both these hazards, but you need to check the information it shows you about each chemical--not just the information on the Mixture Worksheet--to see this. (To see the information about a chemical in your mixture, from the Mixture Worksheet, click on the name of that chemical, then click Info on Selection.) Check "Additional Information" about DGD to see that DGD reacts with oxygen to form peroxides, and check "Special Hazards" and "Air and Water Reactions" for lithium aluminum hydride to see that it's a water-reactive chemical that can react violently with water to generate hydrogen.
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| Related Pages on Our Site |
- The Chemical Reactivity Worksheet The Worksheet is a free program you can use to find out about the reactivity of substances and mixtures of substances. Version 1.9.2 is now available for download.
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GNOME: Diagnostic Mode • top
Questions and answers about GNOME's diagnostic mode.
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Q. What do I need to make my own Location File or Diagnostic Save File?
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A. Most people make their own Diagnostic Save Files. Unless you plan to market a Location File, you can put all the same physics in a Save File without having to construct the Wizard expert system or the dialog boxes. What you'll need are:
- Vector map of the shoreline
- Hydrodynamic model output for the currents
- Estimate of the eddy mixing
- Wind forecast
You can get the latest input/output data formats and the GNOME format documentation in the GNOME Data Formats document. Example data files are discussed in the documentation and are also available.
MOSS file format information is available in the NOAA HAZMAT Report, Digital Distribution Standard for NOAA Trajectory Analysis Information. See Appendix A of the report for the MOSS standard input file format.
Note: The data files have been compressed (zipped) so that you can download them from the Internet. Follow these steps (in a new window) to uncompact them. Once you've uncompacted the data files, you can open them in a text editor or in GNOME.
If you have questions about the GNOME data formats, you can send them to the GNOME Wizard. Questions are answered weekly (usually on Fridays) as time permits, with spill response and other duties taking precedence.
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Q. How do I open GNOME's Diagnostic Mode?
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| A. To change to Diagnostic Mode, from the File menu, choose Preferences. In the Preferences window, click the Mode tab then, under Model Mode, choose Diagnostic. (If you want to work predominantly in Diagnostic Mode, you can instruct GNOME to open in that mode each time it starts up. On the right side of the Preferences window, under Startup Model Mode, choose Diagnostic.) When you change to Diagnostic Mode, GNOME will alert you that you are changing to a mode that requires detailed knowledge of trajectory modeling, and will suggest that you first save your Location File settings.
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Q. Can I use my own currents or winds in Diagnostic Mode?
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| A. Yes, you can import maps, currents, estimates of eddy mixing, and winds into GNOME. See the answer to the question, "What do I need to make my own Location File or Diagnostic Save File?" above.
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Q. Where can I get digital shoreline data easily?
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| A. The USGS Coastline Extractor is a source of detailed coastline data for the U.S. and the world. We are working to make GNOME accept one of the Coastline Extractor formats. You can still use the data files now, but you will need to modify them to follow bna format. The Coastline Extractor page also makes river locations and political boundaries available; however, you should check that any political boundaries in your area of interest are up-to-date.
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Q. Will I ever be allowed to "paint" in my current vectors?
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| A. No. Algorithms that "spread" velocities between observations by simple smoothing operations do not conserve mass or water, in our experience. We require hydrodynamic model output for currents so that the current fields reflect the physics the user intends: mass conservation, Coriolis effects, geostrophic balance, Ekman dynamics, etc.
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Q. What are the arrows on the map?
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| A. Arrows indicate (1) velocity vectors if "Show velocities" is selected on one of the current patterns or (2) movement distance in one timestep if "Show Currents" is selected under Model Settings.
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Q. Why do the movement arrows look strange?
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| A. Try turning off or scaling down the Random diffusion. Depending on the currents, the diffusion can add a little randomness to the pattern or completely dominate it. The Windage setting in the Variable Winds window may also cause this. Normal values of windage are 1 - 4 percent.
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Q. Why are the arrows so far apart?
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| A. We'd bet you are looking at the Movement grid with the zoom set far out. Try zooming in on an area of interest, and the arrows should look better (closer together in absolute distance). The spacing of the arrows for the movement grid is calculated on the map window size; the size of the arrows is calculated on map scale. Zooming in will increase the size of the arrows and their apparent spacing.
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Q. What are the triangles where the water should be?
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| A. "Show Grid" must be selected for one or more of the current patterns. This shows the finite element grid used for creating the current pattern.
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Q. Why is my spill just a single dot that I can hardly see?
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| A. You probably have the diffusion turned off. Try a very low value of diffusion (e.g. 50 cm2/sec) so that you can see the spill, without allowing the diffusion to dominate the model outcome.
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Q. Does the GNOME ArcView Extension work with the new ArcGIS Desktop versions (i.e., 8.x, 9.x) or does it only work with ArcView 3.x?
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| A. The GNOME ArcView extension is for 3.x. You can use the GNOME trajectory import tool, created in May, 2005, to import GNOME "splots" or NOAA trajectory products into ArcMap 9.x. Both tools are available in the GNOME Toolkit.
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Q. Where can I find model data for my region?
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| A. The OceanWatch Web site is a source that provides satellite sea surface heights (SSH)-derived currents and winds. Click the link for "Live Access Server (LAS) for Satellite Imagery and Data," then select a link for "Sea-Surface Height and Geostrophic Currents" or "QuikSCAT Ocean Surface Winds." Export the data as NetCDF files.
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| Related Pages on Our Site |
- GNOME The GNOME Development team has released a Location File for New York Harbor, plus an updated GNOME 1.3.0!
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- GNOME References Here are references for some of GNOME's methodologies and uses.
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GNOME: General Questions • top
Here are answers to questions about development, updating, installing, and using OR&R's oil spill trajectory model, GNOME.
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Q. I can't create movies. What's the problem?
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| A. Most likely, you just need to install QuickTime [free download from Apple Computer]. Both Windows and Macintosh users need QuickTime to view movies. It's also possible that you don't have enough hard drive space for the moving-making process and writing out the movie file. When there's too little space, GNOME appears to go through the process of making a movie, but no file appears.
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Q. Why can’t I include a GNOME-produced movie in my Windows PowerPoint presentation?
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A. A GNOME QuickTime Movie (.mov) file may not play in PowerPoint on a computer running Windows, even if you have QuickTime installed. You may need to convert the file to an .avi (Audio Video Interleave) file. One of our users reported that he had successfully used the converter tool, "mov2avi", from Digital Digest (see link, below). He used the command line "mov2avi.exe" with no compression, e.g., "mov2avi gnome_output.mov -c19", where the -c19 means choose option 19 for CODEC, which is "none".
| Related Links |
| MOV2AVI A tool available on the Digital Digest Web site for converting Apple QuickTime MOV files to Audio Video Interleave AVI files. [leaves OR&R site] |
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Q. Why don't my GNOME dialog boxes display properly (in Windows)? In particular, the wind dialog box has the bull's eye partially hidden.
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A. You need to set the screen display to 640 * 480 pixels or higher. There are two ways to do this:
- In the Start Menu, point to Settings, then to Control Panels. Select Display to get the Display Properties dialog, then select the Settings Tab and change your settings.
- Place your cursor on an empty portion of the screen, then depress the right mouse button to view a popup menu. From the menu, select Properties to view the Display Properties dialog. Select the Settings Tab, and change your settings.
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Q. (Macintosh only) Some of the dialog boxes are too big to fit on my display. I can't seem to cancel out of them easily. What should I do?
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| A. The Macintosh version is set for a screen resolution of greater than 640 * 480 on a 15-inch monitor. If your resolution and screen size don't allow you to see the entire dialog box, you can move it so that you can see the bottom. Ordinarily when you grab a dialog box with the cursor, you can't move it far enough up to make the top bar move out of view. Here's the trick: If you very carefully grab it with the cursor on the very outer side edge, you can them move it up as high on your monitor's real estate as you would like (this was a new trick for the GNOME Wizard, so if it's new to you, don't feel bad). You may also wish to change your monitor's resolution to something higher.
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Q. Could we see graphics of the tides and the wind on the screen?
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| A. These enhancements are planned, but not yet implemented.
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Q. How do I know which spill listed in the left section of the map window corresponds to which particular spill on the map?
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| A. A feature added to GNOME 1.2.6 offers some help with this problem. Beginning with this version, when you create a spill, you can name the spill in the dialog box. Then, in the left section of the Spill Information window, the spill name will document the details of your spill (pollutant type, quantity released, release time and position, and mass balance). We are still working on a feature that will help you match each spill name in the left section with its corresponding spill on the map.
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Q. Can you provide some documentation on the GNOME methodology?
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| A. We're still working on the technical documentation for GNOME, and we'll make it available at this website as soon as we can. See the GNOME References page (link at page bottom) for GNOME-related publications.
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Q. Has the GNOME model been verified?
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| A. The GNOME model is used in all NOAA Emergency Response Division (ERD) spill responses that require modeling. The model's algorithms function perfectly, but the user is the key to setting up the model in Diagnostic Mode for spill response. Since the primary forces that move the oil (wind, currents, etc.) are not generated by GNOME, but input by the user, then the user is ultimately responsible for the results.
During spill response at NOAA ERD, the trajectory analyst selects the physics she believes is most appropriate for the spill and sets up the model accordingly. She selects the appropriate hydrodynamic model for the currents, simulating tides and hydrology as necessary, obtains a wind forecast from the NOAA National Weather Service, and estimates other parameters from reviewed literature and experience. Once the model is set up, a prediction is made and later compared with overflight information from onscene. If the current and wind predictions are accurate, and if the windage and diffusion parameters are set accurately in GNOME, then GNOME will generate very good trajectories. A 48-hour prediction of where the oil will go can be expected to be within 1-2 miles. If the model and observations differ, hindcast model runs are made to tune the model to the local conditions before the next forecast is made. The forecast winds and currents are usually not accurate enough to generate trajectories within 1 mile of accuracy after 48 hours. This is why GNOME supports user-specified uncertainty bounds, which are set according to the uncertainty in the input data. This is also why the GNOME input data is constantly updated during an event, and the model is rerun at least once a day during a spill.
Making predictions in tidally dominated areas is much easier than in eddy-rich offshore environments. The availability of local real-time data and good wind forecasts (from the NOAA National Weather Service) are key to good spill trajectory estimates.
The Location Files are tuned to simulate local climatological conditions to the best of our knowledge. Though tides are predictable, other environmental conditions are not so simple. Location Files are not appropriate for spill response, just as an almanac is not appropriate to predict the weather for a particular day.
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Q. How does GNOME relate to TAP (Trajectory Analysis Planner)?
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| A. GNOME is our trajectory model and TAP is our Trajectory Analysis Planner. What's the difference? GNOME runs single trajectories. If GNOME is run thousands of times (using historical winds, tides, and currents), you can use TAP to analyze all those trajectories and calculate statistics from them.
TAP provides the probability of oil movement by looking at those thousands of trajectories. These probabilities allow planners to look at "what if" situations based on the regional oceanography and climate. Decision-makers can use TAP to decide whether to buy more boom or another skimmer, or where to site a lightering area.
TAP cannot be used in the event of a real spill. The situation on a particular day may not be well represented in the statistics, because spills often happen due to unusual circumstances. In the case of a real spill, GNOME can be quickly set up to represent the environmental conditions of the spill. TAP is best used for planning, when it is not known what conditions will be when a spill occurs.
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Q. What's the difference between GNOME and OSSM (On-Scene Spill Model)?
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| A. You might call OSSM (b. June 3, 1979) the father of GNOME. OSSM was the first trajectory model developed at NOAA OR&R, and was written as a command line Fortran code application. GNOME was developed next and was first released March 16, 1999. GNOME is written in C++, which was chosen for two reasons: (1) the addition of a graphical user interface to aid ORR responders and outside users in quickly setting up models, and (2) the support of objects in C++, enabling nifty abilities in Diagnostic Mode.
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Q. Why do the evaporation estimates for GNOME and ADIOS2 differ, and which one should I use?
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| A. GNOME uses a simplistic 3-phase evaporation algorithm, which is appropriate for simple drills and educative comparisons. The oil weathering model, ADIOS2 (Automated Data Inquiry for Oil Spills), has the better evaporation and oil fate estimates compared to GNOME. ADIOS also has an extensive oil library.
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Q. Do we need to obtain either individual or site licenses to use GNOME?
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| A. No. GNOME may be freely used and distributed at no charge.
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Q. Does the Windows version run in all Windows 2000 versions?
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| A. Yes, the latest version of GNOME does (as do all versions from 1.1.4 on).
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Q. Is the Windows version a 16-bit or 32-bit application?
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| A. GNOME is 32-bit (so it runs in Windows 2000/XP, but not in Windows 3.1).
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Q. When was GNOME first released?
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| A. GNOME 1.0 was released on March 16, 1999.
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Q. Does GNOME have any bugs?
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| A. We've corrected a number of bugs in earlier versions of GNOME. Please send reports of any problems or bugs you encounter to the GNOME Wizard (e-mail link at page bottom).
Here is a list of significant bugs in earlier versions of GNOME:
- Earlier Windows versions of GNOME were missing the windage button in the overflight dialog. Fixed 02/18/07.
- Earlier Windows versions of GNOME had a bug affecting users who were importing NetCDF currents or winds. The base time cannot be earlier than January 1, 1970 00:00 GMT, otherwise the Windows function localtime() returns an error and Gnome defaults the base time to January 1, 1970 00:00 GMT. Gnome still loads the file but the times are all off. We added an alert for future versions of Gnome. Fixed 01/06.
- Earlier versions of GNOME allowed users to output MOSS files for GIS systems with the Minimum Regret (Uncertainty) solution turned off; however, the GIS tool requires that Uncertainty be turned on for the run. We added error checking with a message to alert users to turn on the Uncertainty solution and re-run the scenario before outputting GIS files. Fixed 12/05.
- Earlier versions of the Santa Barbara Channel Location File for Windows had a bug in Diagnostic Mode. Opening the map dialog would cause an error due to conflicting messages from the wizard command file. (Mac file did not have this problem). Fixed 08/05.
- Earlier versions of GNOME had a problem with multiple entry dialog boxes in Location Files. These versions would highlight the last entry box, which was confusing to the user. The new version highlights the first entry box. Fixed 06/04 with GNOME 1.2.5.
- Earlier installers didn't work properly for Windows XP. Fixed 05/03 with GNOME 1.2.3.
- GNOME Diagnostic Mode users could not open recent .sav files from previous versions of GNOME. Fixed 10/02 with GNOME 1.2.2.
- The Macintosh version of the Santa Barbara Channel Location File had a bug that made the currents go a little faster than they should. Fixed 10/02.
- Earlier versions of GNOME set the age of spilled pollutant incorrectly. Fixed 11/00.
- Earlier versions of GNOME allowed oil to "jump" over land, and did not properly initialize oil age for oil weathering. Fixed 6/00.
- Versions of GNOME earlier than v. 1.1.1 did not show the wind fields when you went through the Location File a second time.
- GNOME versions 1.1 and later were corrected to read Location File Save (.lfs) files made in GNOME 1.0 for an evaporation-related bug.
- Windows versions of GNOME earlier than v. 1.1 incorrectly displayed years after 1999 in the map window list.
- The GIS output from versions of GNOME earlier than v. 1.1 had a sign error in the output longitudes, causing the data to be read in and placed in the opposite hemisphere.
- Earlier versions of the Prince William Sound Location File for Windows were missing some background flow information (Mac file did not have this problem). Fixed 10/5/99.
- In earlier versions of the Central Long Island Sound Location File, the tidal reference file was not correct. Fixed 6/8/99.
- In earlier versions of the Columbia River Estuary Location File, river scaling was not scaling river transport. Fixed 6/1/99.
- In earlier versions of the Prince William Sound Location File, uncertainty horizontal mixing was too high. Fixed 6/2/99.
- Versions of the Prince William Sound Location File previous to 4/2/99 were missing the detailed help topics for using GNOME.
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| Related Pages on Our Site |
- GNOME The GNOME Development team has released a Location File for New York Harbor, plus an updated GNOME 1.3.0!
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- GNOME References Here are references for some of GNOME's methodologies and uses.
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GNOME: Location Files • top
Questions about Location Files, which are generally used in GNOME's Standard or GIS Mode.
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Q. For what regions will you be creating Location Files?
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| A. You can see our list of upcoming Location Files on our News page. Each Location File will be made available as soon as it's completed. If you don't see a Location File for a region you'd like to model, please send email to the GNOME Wizard.
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Q. Can you make a Location File for my region?
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| A. We're currently preparing Location Files to support the work of the U.S. Coast Guard's Marine Safety Offices (under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, we're mandated to support the Coast Guard). We do provide trajectory support for drills, including preparing GNOME Location Files, on a "time-available" basis. Requestors go into a queue, with the U.S. Coast Guard at the top of the list, other U.S. Federal and State agencies next, and industry/private companies next. If the Coast Guard is participating in your drill, they can work with their local NOAA Science Support Coordinator to decide whether or not to submit a request for a Location File. From time to time, in support of some of our international projects, we also will create Location Files for regions outside of the U.S.
Another option is for you to learn to use GNOME in Diagnostic Mode to create your own Diagnostic Save Files (you then can use these files to model potential spills in your area). However, be forewarned that creating Location Files and Diagnostic Save Files requires regional physical oceanographic expertise.
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Q. What do I need to make my own Location File or Diagnostic Save File?
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A. Most people make their own Diagnostic Save Files. Unless you plan to market a Location File, you can put all the same physics in a Save File without having to construct the Wizard expert system or the dialog boxes. What you'll need are:
- Vector map of the shoreline
- Hydrodynamic model output for the currents
- Estimate of the eddy mixing
- Wind forecast
You can get the latest input/output data formats and the GNOME format documentation in the GNOME Data Formats document. Example data files are discussed in the documentation and are also available.
MOSS file format information is available in the NOAA HAZMAT Report, Digital Distribution Standard for NOAA Trajectory Analysis Information. See Appendix A of the report for the MOSS standard input file format.
Note: The data files have been compressed (zipped) so that you can download them from the Internet. Follow these steps (in a new window) to uncompact them. Once you've uncompacted the data files, you can open them in a text editor or in GNOME.
If you have questions about the GNOME data formats, you can send them to the GNOME Wizard. Questions are answered weekly (usually on Fridays) as time permits, with spill response and other duties taking precedence.
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| Related Pages on Our Site |
- GNOME The GNOME Development team has released a Location File for New York Harbor, plus an updated GNOME 1.3.0!
|
- GNOME References Here are references for some of GNOME's methodologies and uses.
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