Oil Spill | Texas Deploys Automated Buoy System

Where do you think the oil will go? During an oil spill, many important and time-critical response decisions are based on the answer to that question. The answer, in turn, depends on an accurate knowledge of both currents and winds in the spill area. Because of the easy accessibility of weather forecasts, many responders are surprised to learn that there have been no similar sources of real time information for Texas coastal currents until now.

The Texas Automated Buoy System (TABS) is a Texas General Land Office (TGLO) program to provide the spill response community with critical information on offshore surface currents in near real time. The data is used by GLO and others to drive trajectory models that predict the movement of oil spills. TABS represents a significant break from the use of average monthly currents used in earlier spills. In fact, it's the only program of its type in the United States to provide real time surface current information specifically for spill response. Designed from the latest in off-the-shelf current measurement and cellular telephone technology, TABS network of offshore buoys was developed by the Texas A&M Geochemical and Environmental Research Group (TAMU-GERG) at the direction of the GLO. At the Texas Land Commissioner's urging, the buoys were fast-tracked through the Research and Development phase with the first deployment taking place just nine months from the project's inception. TABS is operational and provides half-hourly current measurements to the spill response community four times daily under normal conditions. During spills, the data is updated every two hours.

Access

Access to TABS is provided via an Internet web page which allows the user to easily "point-and-click" on a buoy map to pull up a graph or data from the latest current measurements. A faxing capability is available upon request.

TABS in Action: the Buffalo 292 Oil Spill

If the question asked of the oil spill research and development community is, "What have you done for me lately?" the solid answer is "TABS" and its contribution to the Buffalo 292 cleanup and protection effort. Working together, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Response and Restoration modeling team and the GLO's trajectory modeling team used TABS data and computer simulations to forecast the movement of the oil to an unprecedented level of accuracy. For the first time, trajectory modelers did not have to begin their work with only educated guesses about the offshore currents. The currents were known within minutes of the spill and were continuously tracked for the next 24 days.

Though the currents had been up-coast during the first half of the spill (an unusual condition by historical standards), the trajectory modelers anticipated a switch back to a down-coast flow and then witnessed the change within two hours of its occurrence.

The benefit to cleanup and protection operations was that TABS allowed the incident command to stand-down the alert to the Sabine Pass area and refocus efforts down-coast a full day earlier than would have been possible before the TABS network was in place. This prevented an expense of time and effort in areas where they were not needed.

Partners

TABS began as the sole effort of the GLO, but has welcomed the participation of Aramco Services Company, the Marine Spill Response Corporation (MSRC), and the Mobil Corporation. MSRC has been donating ship time for deployment and maintenance of the TABS buoys. Aramco provided the forum for the first public TABS meeting and has given TAMU-GERG a $30,000 grant to help in the maintenance of the system. More industry partners are being sought because industry involvement is critical to maintaining the operational focus of the TABS project.

Future Plans

Plans for TABS include the addition of a simple hydrodynamic model automatically driven by TABS data for generating current forecasts along the Texas Coast. This will be similar in concept to the automated hydrodynamic model for Galveston Bay developed by the GLO and the Texas Water Development Board for oil spill response. In addition, TAMU-GERG is working with Louisiana State University and the Marine Industry Group to develop a similar program in Louisiana waters since oil spills do not respect state boundaries.

For More Information

If you would like to know more about TABS or how your organization can participate in its operation, please contact Dr. Robert "Buzz" Martin or Dr. Norman Guinasso.

Dr. Robert "Buzz" Martin
State Scientific Support Coordinator
Texas General Land Office
1700 North Congress Avenue, Suite 340
Austin, Texas 78701-1495
Phone: (512) 475-4611
Fax: (512) 475-1560
Email:buzz.martin@glo.state.tx.us

Dr. Norman L. Guinasso, Jr. - Director
Geochemical and Environmental Research Group
Texas A&M University
833 Graham Road
College Station, Texas 77845-9668
Phone:(979) 862-2323
Fax: (979) 862-2361
Email: norman@gerg.tamu.edu