NOTE: for general interest media (12 JUN 10)
News Release
For Immediate Release (#10-030)
By: / Scott Gallagher (503-725-8789)PSU Director of Communications
Source: / Chris Mooers, civil and environmental engineering professor at Portland State University
3D modeling system of Gulf of Mexico currents urgently needed to predict oil spill dispersion
(Portland, Ore.) June 8, 2010 – Portland State University (PSU) professor Chris Mooers started work on a two-and-a-half year, $1.56 M project ( to evaluate and demonstrate a computer modeling system to help predict the currents in the Gulf of Mexico. The recent Deepwater Horizon oil spill incident points to an urgent national need to model the three-dimensional dispersion of oil spills over periods of hours to months. The dispersion of spills depends upon large scale currents, “ocean weather” (meandering jets, large eddies, and fronts), and small scale turbulence--phenomena that have some degree of predictability.
The modeling system will be comprised of either a single superior computer model or a multi-model ensemble, plus satellite and coastal remote and on site observing systems. The system will take into account the complex bottom topography and coastlines, as well as the forcing of the circulation by the atmosphere, river discharges, tides, the inflow of the Yucatan Current, and the outflow of the Florida Current. Within the Gulf, it will predict the ocean weather; such as the physical state of the Loop Current and the physical responses of the Gulf to atmospheric weather, as well as the passage of tropical cyclones in summer and subtropical cold fronts in winter.
These new circulation predictions will produce much improved environmental and ecological information, foster more effective ocean operations such as secure oil and gas exploration and production, emergency management (e.g., search-and-rescue activities and oil spill mitigation), and ecosystem and fisheries management.
Funding for the project is provided through the Ultra-Deepwater and Unconventional Natural Gas and Other Petroleum Resources Research and Development Program authorized by the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
Project Partners
The participants in the project are modelers from Princeton University, North Carolina State University, Jet Propulsion Laboratory andUniversity of Californiaat Los Angeles, Naval Research Laboratory, Naval Oceanographic Office, National Ocean Service, and National Weather Service, plus data analysts from Texas A & M University and Portland State University. The project is sponsored by the Department of Energy via the Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America (RPSEA), Chris Mooers of Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Portland State University is the principal investigator.
About Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America (RPSEA)
RPSEA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit consortium with more than 160 members, including 24 of the nation's premier research universities, five national laboratories, other major research institutions, large and small energy producers and energy consumers. The mission of RPSEA, headquartered in Sugar Land, Texas, is to provide a stewardship role in ensuring the focused research, development, and deployment of safe and environmentally responsible technology that can effectively deliver hydrocarbons from domestic resources for use by the citizens of the United States. Additional information can be found at
About PortlandStateUniversity
Portland State University (PSU) serves as a center of opportunity for over 28,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Located in Portland, Oregon, one of the nation’s most livable cities, the University’s innovative approach to education combines academic rigor in the classroom with field-based experiences through internships and classroom projects with community partners. The University’s 49-acre downtown campus exhibits PortlandState’s commitment to sustainability with green buildings, while many of the 125 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees incorporate sustainability into the curriculum. PSU’s motto, “Let Knowledge Serve the City,” inspires the teaching and research of an accomplished faculty whose work and students span the globe.
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