Drift cards in the Salish Sea and beyond: observation meets modeling.
Presentation Abstract
The Salish Sea Spill Map project involved the deployment of over 4,000 drift cards (4x6” small pieces of plywood) over 2 years. This project builds on the many thousands of drifters deployed in Washington for various purposes. Previous to this study, there was a paucity of drifter studies in the Canadian waters of the Salish Sea. Deployment locations were selected along the shipping route from Vancouver to near Race Rocks, including one drop location about 30km upstream from the Strait of Georgia on the Fraser River. To date, nearly 2,000 cards have been recovered from throughout the Salish Sea, and further afield along the west coast of Vancouver Island, central and northern British Columbia, Haida Gwaii and Alaska. This project had a number of goals, including comparing real world observational data with oil spill models and known oceanographic patterns, and improving our understanding of local or regional “hot spots” that appear to be at higher risk of receiving pollutants by ocean. Analysis of the recoveries provides insight into both oil spill modeling and our current understanding of larger scale ocean circulation patterns in the Salish Sea and beyond. By looking at time-frame and distribution of the recoveries, and tidal and weather patterns, we can also make inferences to individual card trajectories. As oil spill modeling is not often publicly available, this project is also a good example of a relatively simple and cost-effective study that can add information to planning processes, while providing a platform for citizen engagement.
Session Title
Fossil Fuel Export Through the Salish Sea- Impacts of Trains and Ships
Conference Track
Fate and Effects of Pollutants
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2016 : Vancouver, B.C.)
Document Type
Event
Location
2016SSEC
Type of Presentation
Oral
Genre/Form
presentations (communicative events)
Contributing Repository
Digital content made available by University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Oil spills--Risk assessment--Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.); Ocean circulation--Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.)
Geographic Coverage
Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.)
Rights
This resource is displayed for educational purposes only and may be subject to U.S. and international copyright laws. For more information about rights or obtaining copies of this resource, please contact University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225-9103, USA (360-650-7534; heritage.resources@wwu.edu) and refer to the collection name and identifier. Any materials cited must be attributed to the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference Records, University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Type
Text
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
Drift cards in the Salish Sea and beyond: observation meets modeling.
2016SSEC
The Salish Sea Spill Map project involved the deployment of over 4,000 drift cards (4x6” small pieces of plywood) over 2 years. This project builds on the many thousands of drifters deployed in Washington for various purposes. Previous to this study, there was a paucity of drifter studies in the Canadian waters of the Salish Sea. Deployment locations were selected along the shipping route from Vancouver to near Race Rocks, including one drop location about 30km upstream from the Strait of Georgia on the Fraser River. To date, nearly 2,000 cards have been recovered from throughout the Salish Sea, and further afield along the west coast of Vancouver Island, central and northern British Columbia, Haida Gwaii and Alaska. This project had a number of goals, including comparing real world observational data with oil spill models and known oceanographic patterns, and improving our understanding of local or regional “hot spots” that appear to be at higher risk of receiving pollutants by ocean. Analysis of the recoveries provides insight into both oil spill modeling and our current understanding of larger scale ocean circulation patterns in the Salish Sea and beyond. By looking at time-frame and distribution of the recoveries, and tidal and weather patterns, we can also make inferences to individual card trajectories. As oil spill modeling is not often publicly available, this project is also a good example of a relatively simple and cost-effective study that can add information to planning processes, while providing a platform for citizen engagement.
Comments
The project website is: www.salishseaspillmap.org