PISCESII 2 90 User Manual Eng

© Transas Ltd. June, 2007

PISCES II (VERSION 2.90)

USER MANUAL

© 2007 Transas Ltd. All rights reserved. The information contained herein is proprietary to Transas Ltd. and shall not be duplicated in whole or in part. The technical details contained in this manual are the best that are available at the date of issue but are subject to change without notice. Transas Ltd. pursues the policy of continuous development. This may lead to the product described in this manual being different from the product delivered after its publication. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

PISCES II (v. 2.90). User Manual 1

This document contains:

Preamble.....................................................................................................................7 Printing House Conventions ...................................................................................9

1 Exercises and Scenarios....................................................................................11 1.1 Exercises and Scenarios.............................................................................13 1.2 PISCES II Workplaces.................................................................................13 1.3 Stages of Working on Exercise ...................................................................13 1.4 Scenario Operation Stages .........................................................................14

1.4.1 Preparation .....................................................................................14 1.4.2 Forecast..........................................................................................15 1.4.3 Conduct ..........................................................................................16 1.4.4 Debriefing .......................................................................................16

1.5 Model Time..................................................................................................17 1.6 Exercise Management.................................................................................18

1.6.1 Create .............................................................................................18 1.6.2 Open...............................................................................................19 1.6.3 Close...............................................................................................19 1.6.4 Copy ...............................................................................................20 1.6.5 Rename ..........................................................................................20 1.6.6 Delete .............................................................................................20 1.6.7 Edit Exercise Description................................................................21

1.7 Scenario Management ................................................................................22 1.7.1 Create .............................................................................................22 1.7.2 Activate Scenario............................................................................22 1.7.3 Join Scenario..................................................................................23 1.7.4 Deactivate Scenario .......................................................................24 1.7.5 Copy ...............................................................................................24 1.7.6 Rename ..........................................................................................25 1.7.7 Delete .............................................................................................25

1.8 Joint Operation of Configurations via Internet.............................................26 1.8.1 Connection Setup ...........................................................................26 1.8.2 Work with Common Scenario .........................................................27 1.8.3 Switching Model Object Control Rights ..........................................28

1.9 Exit from PISCES II .....................................................................................29 2 Scenario Control .................................................................................................31

2.1 Elements of User Interface..........................................................................33 2.2 Standard Elements ......................................................................................34 2.3 Chart Window ..............................................................................................35 2.4 Data Window ...............................................................................................36 2.5 Sorting in the Data Panel ............................................................................38 2.6 Link between the Chart Window and the Data Window..............................38

2.6.1 Edit Several Objects .......................................................................41 2.7 Scenario Checklist.......................................................................................42 2.8 Layouts ........................................................................................................43 2.9 Scenario Operation......................................................................................44

2.9.1 Start ................................................................................................44 2.9.2 Stop ................................................................................................44 2.9.3 Make Save Point ............................................................................44 2.9.4 Reset To .........................................................................................45 2.9.5 Jump To..........................................................................................46 2.9.6 Backward Playback ........................................................................46


2.9.7 Speed............................................................................................. 47 2.9.8 SYNC Real Time Mode.................................................................. 47 2.9.9 Leave Scenario .............................................................................. 48 2.9.10 Scenario Properties ....................................................................... 48

2.10 Observer Management ............................................................................... 49 2.11 3D Visualization .......................................................................................... 50

2.11.1 Viewpoints...................................................................................... 50 2.11.2 Connection to 3D Visualization Channel ....................................... 51

2.12 Preparation of Reports................................................................................ 52 2.12.1 Print................................................................................................ 52 2.12.2 Export Chart Window to a File ....................................................... 53 2.12.3 Stop Export to File ......................................................................... 53 2.12.4 Export of Data Window in MS Excel .............................................. 53 2.12.5 Export of Chart Panel to Word....................................................... 54

3 Working with Charts .......................................................................................... 55 3.1 Electronic Charts......................................................................................... 57

3.1.1 Chart Load ..................................................................................... 58 3.1.2 Chart Unload.................................................................................. 59

3.2 Informational Layers ................................................................................... 60 3.2.1 Own Layers .................................................................................... 60 3.2.2 Model Object Information............................................................... 60 3.2.3 Additional Information .................................................................... 61 3.2.4 Managing Layer Visibility ............................................................... 61

3.3 Chart Handling Tools .................................................................................. 61 3.3.1 Chart View Control Panel............................................................... 61 3.3.2 Adding Information......................................................................... 68 3.3.3 Show Word Map ............................................................................ 72 3.3.4 Revert............................................................................................. 72 3.3.5 Centre ............................................................................................ 72 3.3.6 Zooming Area................................................................................. 73 3.3.7 Scale up ......................................................................................... 73 3.3.8 Scale down..................................................................................... 73 3.3.9 Ruler............................................................................................... 73 3.3.10 Reference Point ............................................................................. 74 3.3.11 Information on TX97 Chart Objects ............................................... 74

3.4 Chart View Management ............................................................................ 75 3.4.1 New View ....................................................................................... 75 3.4.2 Save View ...................................................................................... 75 3.4.3 Open View...................................................................................... 75 3.4.4 Delete View.................................................................................... 76

4 Environment Conditions.................................................................................... 77 4.1 Impact Area................................................................................................. 79 4.2 Coastline ..................................................................................................... 81

4.2.1 Coastline Import ............................................................................. 81 4.2.2 Importing Coastline from Overlapping or Adjacent Charts ............ 83 4.2.3 Edit Coastline................................................................................. 83 4.2.4 New Island ..................................................................................... 84 4.2.5 Coastline Type ............................................................................... 84 4.2.6 Parcels ........................................................................................... 85


4.3 Field of Currents ..........................................................................................88 4.3.1 Field of Currents Visualisation........................................................88 4.3.2 Surface and Tidal Currents.............................................................89 4.3.3 Add Current Vectors .......................................................................90 4.3.4 Editing Current Base Vectors .........................................................90 4.3.5 Import of Basic Field of Currents Vectors.......................................91 4.3.6 Import and Export of Current Base Vectors to File ........................93 4.3.7 Map of Currents..............................................................................95 4.3.8 Importing Maps of Currents from XML File ....................................96 4.3.9 Displaying Field of Currents in the Chart Window..........................99

4.4 Field of Winds..............................................................................................99 4.4.1 Field of Winds Visualisation............................................................99 4.4.2 Add Wind Vectors.........................................................................100 4.4.3 Editing Wind Vectors ....................................................................101 4.4.4 Import and Export of Wind Base Vectors to File ..........................102 4.4.5 Displaying Field of Winds in the Chart Window............................104

4.5 External Sources of Hydrometeorological Data ........................................104 4.6 Weather Conditions ...................................................................................106

4.6.1 Import and Export of Weather Conditions to Text File .................107 4.6.2 Connection to External Data Source ............................................109

4.7 Ice Conditions............................................................................................110 4.7.1 Set Ice Conditions ........................................................................110 4.7.2 Ice Chart .......................................................................................112

4.8 Environmental Sensitive Areas .................................................................113 4.9 Location Points ..........................................................................................116

4.9.1 Main Location Point ......................................................................116 4.9.2 Additional Location Points ............................................................117

5 Pollution Parameters........................................................................................119 5.1 Spill Sources..............................................................................................121

5.1.1 New Spill Source ..........................................................................121 5.1.2 Set Oil Product Properties ............................................................125 5.1.3 Simultaneous Simulation of Several Sources ..............................127 5.1.4 Edit Spill Sources .........................................................................127 5.1.5 Source Behaviour .........................................................................128 5.1.6 Export and Import of Spill Sources...............................................129

5.2 Setting Oil Model Parameters ...................................................................131 5.2.1 Level of Detail ...............................................................................131 5.2.2 Interaction with Environment ........................................................133 5.2.3 Processes in the Oil Slick .............................................................134 5.2.4 Simulation Parameters .................................................................135

5.3 Spill Statistics ............................................................................................136 5.3.1 General Statistics .........................................................................136 5.3.2 Spill Statistics History ...................................................................136 5.3.3 Limited Area Statistics ..................................................................137 5.3.4 Coastline Parcel Statistics ............................................................138 5.3.5 Environmental Impact Statistics ...................................................139

5.4 Display of Pollution Area ...........................................................................140 5.5 Spill Backtracking Calculations .................................................................141

5.5.1 Probable Spill Position Diagrams .................................................141 5.5.2 Determining Probable Pollution Source .......................................144


5.6 Aerial Pollution Forecast ........................................................................... 145 5.6.1 New Air Pollution Source ............................................................. 145 5.6.2 Edit Air Pollution Source .............................................................. 146 5.6.3 Import Data from ALOHA............................................................. 146

5.7 PISCES Built-in Smoke Contamination Model ......................................... 147 6 Response Resources....................................................................................... 149

6.1 Creation of Response Resources............................................................. 151 6.1.1 Response Resource Categories.................................................. 151 6.1.2 Create a New Response Resource ............................................. 152 6.1.3 General Response Resource Parameters................................... 152 6.1.4 Individual Parameters of the Response Resource Types ........... 155

6.2 Response Resources in the Data Window ............................................... 158 6.2.1 List of Response Resources........................................................ 158 6.2.2 Resource Structure ...................................................................... 158

6.3 Import and Export ..................................................................................... 162 6.3.1 Export........................................................................................... 162 6.3.2 Export Setting Scheme ................................................................ 163 6.3.3 Import ........................................................................................... 164

7 Response Simulation....................................................................................... 165 7.1 Assignment Structure................................................................................ 167 7.2 Response Statuses................................................................................... 168

7.2.1 Organisational Statuses............................................................... 168 7.2.2 Locating Statuses ........................................................................ 171 7.2.3 Operational Statuses ................................................................... 173 7.2.4 Command Panel .......................................................................... 174

7.3 Setting Resource Route............................................................................ 175 7.3.1 Importing Resource Routes from Text Files ................................ 176

7.4 Targets ...................................................................................................... 177 7.4.1 External Targets........................................................................... 177 7.4.2 Simulated Targets........................................................................ 178 7.4.3 Attaching Resources to Targets................................................... 180 7.4.4 Automatic Linking of Platforms to Targets ................................... 183

7.5 Areas......................................................................................................... 185 7.5.1 Burning......................................................................................... 185 7.5.2 Using Dispersants........................................................................ 187 7.5.3 Sorbent Application...................................................................... 190

7.6 Using Booms............................................................................................. 191 7.7 Use of Boom Formations .......................................................................... 193

7.7.1 Creating Formations .................................................................... 193 7.7.2 Formation Geometric Form.......................................................... 195 7.7.3 Formation Components ............................................................... 196 7.7.4 Formation Route .......................................................................... 197 7.7.5 Use of Boom Formations ............................................................. 198

7.8 Using Oil Skimmers .................................................................................. 199 7.9 Using the Shore Cleanup Equipment ....................................................... 200 7.10 Use of Platforms ....................................................................................... 201 7.11 Automatic Control of Resources ............................................................... 202

7.11.1 Preparation of Drill with the Use of Automatic Object Control ..... 202 7.11.2 Conducting Drill with the Use of Automatic Control of Objects.... 203

7.12 Cost of Operation...................................................................................... 205 7.13 Event Log.................................................................................................. 206 7.14 Event Script............................................................................................... 210


8 PISCES II Settings.............................................................................................211 8.1 Measurement Units ...................................................................................213 8.2 Warnings ...................................................................................................214

8.2.1 Alarm Thresholds .........................................................................214 8.2.2 Alarm Setting ................................................................................214

8.3 Screen Settings .........................................................................................215 8.3.1 LSD Settings.................................................................................215 8.3.2 Colors of “Read-only” Fields.........................................................220 8.3.3 Refresh Rate ................................................................................220

8.4 Oil Spill Display Settings ...........................................................................221 8.4.1 Spill Thickness..............................................................................221 8.4.2 Spill Trajectory..............................................................................222 8.4.3 Pollution Footprint.........................................................................222

8.5 Air Pollution Display Settings ....................................................................222 8.6 Spill Statistics History Display Interval ......................................................223 8.7 Synchronizing Delay Settings....................................................................223 8.8 Displaying Windows ..................................................................................224

Copyright Transas Ltd., 2007

PREAMBLE

Printing House Conventions

Preamble 9

PISCES II concept and its basic capabilities are described in the PISCES II (V. 2.90). SHORT MANUAL. Please familiarize yourself with this document prior to working on PISCES II.

This manual describes working on the applications “Primary Instructor Workplace” and “Additional Instructor Workplace”.

PRINTING HOUSE CONVENTIONS

Sample of notation Usage comments

PISCES II (V. 2.90). SHORT MANUAL

To highlight names of documents

1.6 Exercise Management To highlight sections of a document

SCENARIO/CONDUCT MODE To highlight menu items

<Escape> To highlight names of keyboard keys

“Activate” To highlight names of windows, pages, buttons, etc.

*.txt To highlight messages, commands, files and other Windows OS information

PISCES II/ConstData/MapOfCurrents To highlight path to a file, folder


1. CHAPTER 1 Exercises and Scenarios

Exercises and Scenarios

Chapter 1. Exercises and Scenarios 13

1.1 EXERCISES AND SCENARIOS

A variant of emergency situation event development is called scenario. A scenario includes all objects and events related to a single incident.

Within a session of working on PISCES II, several users participate in the same exercise. An exercise might contain several scenarios depending on exercise objectives and aims. The scenarios in an exercise are independent of each other and might be conducted at different times and in different areas. Several users can work simultaneously at the same scenario, each from his instructor workplace. All changes introduced by a user within the scenario are reflected for all users participating in this scenario.

The number of simultaneously conduced scenarios is limited by the number of model servers in the current configuration. A separate PISCES II Modelling Server is required for operation of each active scenario.

1.2 PISCES II WORKPLACES

PISCES II workplaces are divided into 3 types:

• primary instructor;

• instructor;

• observer.

The primary instructor creates and starts exercises.

The instructor can work on the exercise only after its creation and run by the primary instructor.

The observer gives the user all information on the current scenario but no possibility of editing the model objects. The observer can operate the scenario only after its connection by the scenario owner.

1.3 STAGES OF WORKING ON EXERCISE

The whole cycle of working on an exercise is considered to consist of three successive stages:

1. Exercise Management.

At this stage, the user can create and open exercises and perform standard operations of copying, renaming and deleting files.

The work at this stage is described in the section 1.6 Exercise Management.

2. Scenario Management.

The user can create and start scenarios within the exercises created/opened at the first stage and perform standard file operation of copying, renaming and deleting them.

The work at this stage is described in the section 1.7 Scenario Management.

3. Scenario Operation.

The basic mode of PISCES II operation. The user operates in the scenario created or started at the second stage.

The work at this stage is described in the Chapter 2.

Scenario Operation Stages


1.4 SCENARIO OPERATION STAGES

A PISCES II scenario can be in one of two statuses in an open exercise: inactive or active.

Inactive scenario – is one not loaded into PISCES II from the disk, the model time doesn’t change in it and nothing happens.

A scenario loaded to PISCES II becomes active, it features development of events and possible run of model time.

To start working on an available scenario, it should be activated using the “Activate” command. It can be done by any instructor (unlike an exercise, which can be created or started by the primary instructor only). The instructor that activated the scenario becomes the Scenario Owner. The scenario activated by the Owner becomes his own one.

Any number of users can join an activated scenario using the “Join” command. They become Scenario co-operators.

The commands “Activate” and “Join” are described in the section 1.7 Scenario Management.

The scenario owner can change model objects, control the scenario model time (see the section 1.5 Model Time), stop and close the scenario. The co-operators can change model objects, but they cannot control the model time. Any changes introduced by a user are reflected for all users.

An active scenario, in turn, can run in one of the following four modes: Preparation, Forecast, Conduct and Debrief. The Preparation, Conduct and Debrief modes correspond to the Oil Spill Response (OSR) drill stages.

See the PISCES II (V. 2.90). SHORT MANUAL for more detailed information on conducting OSR drills.

1.4.1 Preparation The preparation mode allows returning to the scenario start or a save point for subsequent simulation of another variant of event development.

Save point is a model time moment, at which the system situation has been saved. You can run the scenario back to the save point and then “outact” its continuation.

The need for returning is caused by the fact that scenario preparation usually takes several iterations. It involves simulation of some variant of event development, assessment of such variant acceptance, and development of an alternative by the instructor, if the variant is recognized as unsuccessful.



By default, after activation the scenario is run in the preparation mode. For this purpose select an inactive scenario from the “Scenarios” list of the “Scenario Management” panel and click the “Activate” button:

The scenario will be activated and run in the preparation mode. Further work on the scenario in this mode is described in the section 2.10 Scenario Operation.

1.4.2 Forecast The Forecast mode is intended for obtaining prompt oil spill behaviour forecast, the response forces taken minimum account of. In this mode, model calculations are made at an increased time step.

To switch to the forecast mode, activate scenario (for more detailes see 1.4.1 Preparation) and select the SCENARIO/FORECAST MODE command in the program menu. This command is only available on the scenario owner’s menu.

The scenario in the forecast mode can at any time be returned to the preparation mode. To return the scenario to the preparation mode, select the SCENARIO/PREPARATION MODE command from the menu.

At switching between forecast and preparation modes during scenario preparation spreading adjustment is broken. If model exactness is important it is recommended to make calculations from the beginning and up to the end of the scenario only in a mode of the forecast or preparation.

Switching between forecast and preparation modes have no effect on quality of modelling.

ATTENTION!



1.4.3 Conduct In the conduct mode, the model events are irreversible, and there is no possibility to “come back” and replay the scenario. Model objects can be edited.

The scenario activated in the forecast or preparation mode can be switched over to the conduct mode. This being the case, the model situation will be restored for the last moment reached during the previous run of the current scenario in the conduct mode. If the scenario has not been run in the conduct mode, it will be returned to its beginning. Further work on the scenario in this mode is described in the section 2.10 Scenario Operation.

To switch over to the conduct mode, select the SCENARIO/CONDUCT MODE command in the program menu. This command is available only in the Primary Instructor’s menu, if he is the scenario owner. The instructor-operators’ menu has no command SCENARIO/CONDUCT MODE.

To return to the forecast or prepapation mode, select the SCENARIO/FORECAST MODE or SCENARIO/PREPARATION MODE command of the program menu. In this case the model situation will remain the same, and simulation will carry on from the current moment of time, i.e. from the moment reached by the end of playback in the conduct mode.

1.4.4 Debriefing The debriefing mode allows forward and reverse playback of the model event record. There is no possibility of editing model objects in this mode.

To start the inactive scenario in the debriefing mode, select the scenario you need from the “Scenarios” list in the scenario control panel and click the “Debrief” button:

Viewing the completed scenario record is run without the model server, so a direct transfer from this mode to the forecast, preparation or conduct modes is not possible.

To change over to any other mode, it is necessary to exit the viewed scenario using the command FILE/LEAVE SCENARIO in the program menu (see the section 2.10 Scenario Operation for a more detailed description of these commands) and activated it by clicking the “Activate” button.

Model Time


To switch over to any other mode, exit the viewed scenario using the FILE/CLOSE SCENARIO command in the program menu (see the section 2.10 Scenario Operation for a more detailed description of these commands), and activate it by clicking the “Activate” button.

1.5 MODEL TIME

PISCES II works on a succession of events happening to the model objects. Simulated events can be processed faster or slower, depending on the computer productivity. Main relationships between the simulated events, however, remain intact. If one event occurred earlier than another, this is true at any speed of modeling. The ratio of time intervals between events is also invariant. The notion of modeling time is used to describe these properties of simulated events.

Model Time (MT) is a provisional unit used for computation of model events i.e. movement of response resources, changes in the oil slick, etc.

The reference point for tracking events in PISCES II is the Scenario Start Time (SST), which is provisional date/time, from which the model time starts to run. These data are used for import of currents and weather data.

For example, the oil spill began February 11, 1984 at 12:05.

The scenario start time can match the current time, e.g. for in site drills.

The scenario start time is to be specified in the Scenario Properties (SCENARIO/SCENARIO PROPERTIES menu command).

The sum of the scenario start time and model time allows the Scenario Time (ST) to be determined. These are provisional current date and time in the current scenario.

MTSSTST +=

Apart form the internal temporal characteristics, PISCES II also features an external one: Clock Time (CT), which is time of user’s existence. It is taken to coincide with the computer system time.

The model time indicator reads all PISCES II time characteristics:

A mouse right-hand button click on the indicator opens a four item context menu:

The first three items (SCENARIO TIME, MODEL TIME and CLOCK TIME) allow selecting a mode for representation of the temporal characteristics:

• Scenario Time format is [hours:minutes day:month:year];

• Model Time format is [hours:minutes];

• Clock Time format is [day:month:year hours:minutes].

The fourth SHOW SCENARIO PROPERTIES item, or just a double click on the model time indicator, invokes the “Scenario properties” dialog box, which allows setting the scenario start time.

Exercise Management


Ratio between the internal and exterior PISCES II times allows determination of modeling speed. This is a ratio of model time shift to the clock time this shift has taken.

For instance, 1:60 speed means that simulation of a 1 hour duration oil spill has taken 1 minute of real time.

The modelling speed is read by the modelling speed indicator:

The modelling speed indicator shows an expression of the following format “1:n [m]”, where n is the set time scale, and m is the real computation speed depending on compressor capacity. If the values m and n differ only slightly, the set time scale will be shown in “1:n” format.

If the scenario is stopped, the time indicator background is grey, otherwise it is white.

1.6 EXERCISE MANAGEMENT

1.6.1 Create To create a new exercise, click the “New” button of the “Exercise Management” panel:

The “New Exercise” window will appear:

To save the newly created exercise, enter its name in the “Name” field and its description in the “Description” field. Click “OK” to save the created exercise or “Cancel” to quit saving and close the dialog box.

The created exercise requires creation of a scenario. This operation is described in section 1.7 Scenario Management in greater detail.

Exercise Management


1.6.2 Open To open a previously created exercise, select the one you need in the “Exercises” list of the “Exercise Management” panel and click the “Open” button:

The program will switch over to the scenario management mode. This mode is described in section 1.7 Scenario Management in greater detail.

1.6.3 Close You can close the exercise both in the mode of scenario management and in the mode of scenario operation.

To close the exercise in the scenario management mode, click the “Close Exercise” button on the “Scenario Management” panel:

To close the exercise in the scenario operation mode, select the FILE/CLOSE EXERCISE command in the menu of the primary instructor.

Exercise Management


1.6.4 Copy To make a copy of the selected exercise under a given name, click the “Copy” button on the “Exercise Management” panel to open the “Copy Exercise” window:

Enter the name, by which you wish to save the exercise. Click “OK”, to copy the exercise or “Cancel” to quit copying and close the dialog box.

1.6.5 Rename To change the name of the selected exercise, click the “Rename” button on the “Exercise Management” panel to open the “Rename Exercise” window:

Enter the new name for the exercise. Click “OK”, to rename the exercise or “Cancel” to quit renaming and close the dialog box.

1.6.6 Delete To delete a selected exercise, click the “Delete” on the “Exercise Management” panel. The “Exercise management” dialog window will appear:

Click “OK”, to delete the exercise or “Cancel” to quit deleting and close the dialog box.

Exercise Management


1.6.7 Edit Exercise Description The exercise name and its description are given in the “Exercise Properties” window. You can change the name invoking the “Rename” command (see above).

The exercise description can be edited in the scenario management mode or in the scenario operation mode.

Click the “Change” button on the “Scenario management” panel or select the FILE/EXERCISE PROPERTIES command in the program menu:

Use the appeared panel “Exercise properties” to edit the exercise description in the “Description” field. Click the “OK” button to save the description or “Cancel” to quit changing the description and close the dialog box:

Scenario Management


1.7 SCENARIO MANAGEMENT

1.7.1 Create To create a new scenario in the exercise, click the “Create” button on the “Scenario Management” panel. The “Create Scenario” window will appear:

For the newly created scenario, enter its name in the “Name” field and set the scenario start date and time in the “Time” field. Use “Time zone” field to enter the time determining the time zone of modelling. From this point on, this data will be used for import of currents and weather conditions. If the license includes 3D visualization option, there will be “3D Scene” list in the dialogue box. From “3D Scene” list, you can choose one of installed 3D scenes (for more details of 3D scene installation see PISCES II (V. 2.90). INSTALLATION GUIDE).

Click the “Create” button, to save the created scenario or “Cancel” to quit creating scenario and close the dialog box.

PISCES II will close the “Scenario management” panel, switch to the mode of scenario operation and activate the workplace main interface. To continue working on the new scenario, you have to initiate it. This operation is described in section 4.1 Impact Area.

1.7.2 Activate Scenario To activate the scenario created in the exercise, use the “Inactive” category to select the scenario you need from and click the “Activate” button:

PISCES II will close the “Scenario management” panel, switch to the mode of scenario operation and activate the basic interface of the instructor workplace.

Scenario Management


If the scenario was created in the previous PISCES II versions, after activation the program will suggest creation of a scenario copy:

Enter a new scenario name and press “OK” in order to create a scenario copy which the current PISCES II version can operate with, or “Cancel” to close the scenario converting dialogue box.

The newly created scenario will be a copy of PISCES II scenario without saving a full model recording of the scenario returned at the moment immediately after the scenario start. Activate it as you would activate regular scenarios by using “Activate” button.

1.7.3 Join Scenario The “Join” command allows the user to join the active scenario: his own one or those activated by other users.

For this purpose, use the “Scenarios” list of the “Scenario management” panel to select scenarios marked “Active” or “Own” and click the “Join” button:

PISCES II will close the “Scenario management” panel, switch to the mode of scenario operation and activate the workplace main interface.

Also you can join the external scenarios the same way (for more details see 1.9.2 Work with Common Scenario).

Scenario Management


1.7.4 Deactivate Scenario The “Deactivate” command allows deactivation of the active scenario, the user being able to deactivate only his own scenario.

The scenario deactivation operation is available both in the mode of scenario management and in the mode of scenario operation.

To deactivate a scenario in the scenario management mode, select one you wish to deactivate from the list of own scenarios (“Own” in the “Scenarios” list of the “Scenario management” scenario control panel) and click the “Deactivate” button:

If you are not the owner of the current scenario, this button will be disabled.

To deactivate the scenario in the scenario operation mode, select the FILE/DEACTIVATE SCENARIO command in the program menu. If you are not the owner of the current scenario, this command will not be available.

1.7.5 Copy To create a copy of the scenario you have selected under another name, click the “Copy” button on the “Scenario management” panel. The window “Copy scenario” will appear:

Enter the name, by which you wish to save the scenario. Click “OK” to copy the scenario or “Cancel” to quit copying and close the dialog box.

The command allows you to save a scenario prepared for the drill after proper simulation of response resource application, or to save a copy of the active scenario.

To save the objected scenario, select the FILE/DEACTIVATE command in the program menu.

Do not perform the “Reset To” operation, otherwise the model record will be deleted.

ATTENTION!

Scenario Management


The “Scenario management” panel will appear. Select the scenario you wish to save from the “Scenarios” list, and click the “Copy” button. Specify a new name for the scenario.

To conduct the drill, you have to activate the scenario and set it for the start of events by the “Reset To” command (this command is described in detail in the section 2.10.4 Reset To).

To copy the active scenario, exit it using the FILE/LEAVE SCENARIO menu command. The “Scenario management” panel will appear. Use the “Scenarios” list to select the scenario you wish to copy, and click the “Copy” button. After copying you can choose to come back to this scenario using the “Join” command or to continue working on its copy.

1.7.6 Rename To rename the selected inactive scenario, click the “Rename” button on the “Scenario management” panel to open the “Rename scenario” window:

Enter a new name for the scenario and click “OK”, if you wish to rename the scenario or “Cancel” to quit renaming and close the dialog box.

1.7.7 Delete To delete a selected inactive scenario, click the “Delete” button on the “Scenario management” panel. The “Delete scenario” dialog window will appear:

Click “OK” to confirm scenario deletion or “Cancel” to quit and close the dialog box.

Joint Operation of Configurations via Internet


1.8 JOINT OPERATION OF CONFIGURATIONS VIA INTERNET

Several local PISCES configurations can be connected to each other via the Internet by using the TCP/IP protocol if there is an appropriate option in the license.

Not more than 4 remote configurations can operate jointly.

Remote instructors can work on one scenario, control model objects, receive and print out reports on the current scenario status in much the same way as in a local configuration.

1.8.1 Connection Setup Before starting work with a remote scenario, the connection should be set up.

On the host which other remote user groups will be connected to, in the primary instructor’s window select the FILE/PISCES NETWORK… menu command. In the window which will open up, check the “Enable Connection” checkbox and select the “Provide Host” option button. In the “Listening Port” field, set the port number. Use the “External Name” field to set the name under which the connected remote configurations will see this group.

Press the “OK” button to establish a connection with the set parameters, or the “Cancel” button to close the “PISCES Network Setup” window.

In the other remote configuration, in the primary instructor’s window you should also select the PISCES NETWORK… command from the FILE menu. In the PISCES Network Setup window, check the “Enable Connection” checkbox and select the “Connect to Host” option button. In the “Listening Port” field, enter the same value as for the host port which you are getting connected to.

Press the “OK” button to establish a connection with the set parameters, or the “Cancel” button to close the “PISCES Network Setup” window.

ATTENTION!



If the connection is established successfully, the status bar in the bottom part of the instructor window will display “PISCES Network: OK”, and a dialogue box will appear advising which host the connection has been established with:

You can view the list of all the local configurations combined in the common PISCES network by using the primary instructor’s FILE/PISCES NETWORK CONNECTIONS… menu command. After the selection of this menu command the screen displays a window containing a list of remote configurations:

After the connection has been established, you can start joint work on one scenario.

1.8.2 Work with Common Scenario If the license contains an option of the joint operation of configurations via the Internet, the “Public” option appears in the scenario properties. Open a scenario and select the SCENARIO/SCENARIO PROPERTIES… menu command.

After the opening of a scenario in whose properties the “Public” option is set, the scenario name will appear in the “External” group of the list of scenarios on the scenario control panel.

The scenario list of the “External” group is shown in any open exercise.

ATTENTION!



You can connect to external scenarios just like to the local active scenarios by using the “Join” button. Select a scenario from the list and press the “Join” button:

The instructor who has connected to an external scenario becomes its operator like in the connection to a local scenario (see under 1.4 Scenario Operation Stages), i.e. he/she can control model objects and cannot control the model time. The only difference for the external scenario operator is that the scenario owner can limit the group of model objects available for the control by the operator.

1.8.3 Switching Model Object Control Rights Workplaces included in one local configuration from a user group for which the scenario owner can limit the set of model objects available for control.

The model objects under the control of another user group are shown as green icons on the chart and are available in read-only mode only.

After the first connection to a common scenario, all the objects are under the control of the scenario owner. The scenario owner can pass the control of model objects to other user groups. To this end, he/she selects the ASSIGN CONTROLLER command from the object’s context menu. The “Assign Controller” window which will appear, displays a list of all the local configurations connected to the common scenario:

From the list, select the name of the configuration which you wish to pass the object control to and press “ОК”. To close the “Assign Controller” window without passing the model object control to another configuration, press the “Cancel” button.

Exit from PISCES II


To return the model object control to him/herself, the owner should again select the ASSIGN CONTROLLER command from its context menu, select the “*” line from the “Controller” list in the “Assign Controller” window and press “ОК”.

Model objects created in a common scenario are under the control of the user group which created them.

Control of Object Groups It may sometimes be necessary to switch control of all the scenario objects, all at once, or of the object groups controlled by one user group. To do this, select the MANAGE CONTROLLERS command from the RESPONSE menu.

The RESPONSE/MANAGE CONTROLLERS menu command is available to the scenario owner only.

When this menu command is selected, the screen displays the “Manage Controllers” dialogue box which provides a list of all the local configuration which connected to the scenario:

The “Controller” column provides a list of name of all the remote user groups which connected to the scenario. The user groups currently connected to the scenario are marked with “+” in the left hand column of the table. Values in the “Objects” column stand for the number of model objects controlled by the user group in question.

To switch the control of all the objects belonging to a user group, select this user group and press the “Assign…” button. In the “Assign Controller” window which will open up, select the user group which the control of objects is passed to and press the “OK” button.

The “Remove…” button can be used for removing from the list names of remote configurations which are currently not connected to the scenario. A press on this button opens up the “Assign Controller” window in which you should specify the user group which the control of model objects will be passed to.

The “Close” button closes down the “Manage Controllers” window.

1.9 EXIT FROM PISCES II

The “Close PISCES II” command stops execution of all scenarios closing all current sessions.

To exit PISCES II, select the FILE/CLOSE PISCES II command in the program menu.

ATTENTION!

ATTENTION!


2. CHAPTER 2 Scenario Control

Elements of User Interface

Chapter 2. Scenario Control 33

2.1 ELEMENTS OF USER INTERFACE

The scenario management interface of the “Instructor Workplace” PISCES application is based on the standard Windows-environment scheme of working on a single document. One of the scenarios plays the role of a document. All windows of the active interface belong to the current active scenario.

Composition of the PISCES II workplace main window is similar to one of the majority of Windows applications. It uses such elements of the user interface as menu, toolbars, status bar, child windows and dialog boxes. See the figure below for general appearance of the instructor’s workplace main window in PISCES II:

The following elements of the user interface are shown in the figure:

1. Window caption.

2. Menu.

3. Toolbars.

4. Main data window.

5. Contextual menu.

6. Module dialog box.

7. Chart window.

8. Data window.

9. Non-module dialog box.

10. Status bar.

Standard Elements


2.2 STANDARD ELEMENTS

1. Caption window show the names of the application, current exercise and scenario:

2. Menu is a hierarchy of access to the basic functions of the program:

3. Toolbars designed for fast switching of tools and program operational modes duplicate the menu functions:

4. Contextual menu provides access to the selected-object commands. It can be opened by a right click on the object:

5. Dialog box is designed for performing a restricted single task e.g. printing.

Such window contains a small number of control elements for closely interrelated parameters.

6. Non-modal dialog box doesn’t prevent access to other windows, so there is no need to close it. As a rule, these are information windows showing sets of interrelated parameters:

Chart Window


7. Modal dialog box allows the user to enter data within the window only, disabling access to all other application windows. Only one module dialog box can be active in the application. The “OK” button saves introduced changes and closes the window. The “Cancel” button cancels the operation and closes the window:

8. Status bar shows indicators of the application operation mode, the status

of PISCES network, rate of simulation and model time. The left part of the status bar line shows prompts of the menu items:

The basic informational load is carried by two types of child windows: the chart window and the data window.

9. Chart window provides graphical representation of the simulation area, while the data windows provide general-purpose access to all types of objects and representation of their properties in a textual form.

2.3 CHART WINDOW

The work with charts in PISCES II is provided by the chart window, which, depending on the scenario conditions, can be used for representation of the world map, boundaries of charts of various regions available for loading, or loaded charts of different scales:

Several chart windows with different settings can be opened for a scenario.

Data Window


2.4 DATA WINDOW

Data browser is used for viewing/editing PISCES II objects’ parameters. It contains three interrelated data panels: categories, objects and properties, providing access to all model objects and their properties:

The category panel (1) contains a tree with names of objects’ categories and subcategories:

All of them are preset and cannot be edited by the user with the exception of the categories “Incident Data/Assignments” and “Response resources” showing assignment structure units and resource structure units, which can be edited by the user in the process of work.

Only one category can be selected in the category panel. The category panel (2) displays a list of objects belonging to the selected category:

The object list is a table with object lines and attribute columns. The object panel hosts only basic attribute columns. The user can perform dynamic setting of number, type, mutual position and size of the list columns.

Data Window


Attributes of the object selected in the object panel are displayed in the property panel (3):

If several objects are selected in the data panel, the property panel displays their similar properties e.g. course or speed.

The property panel shows the whole set of object attributes, which are represented by statically arranged control elements: line editors, lists, option buttons, etc. In case of a large number of attributes they are arranged on several tabs.

The parameter values in the lists and on the property pages can be converted to different measurement units depending on the operator’s preferences. The context menu for such field shows the parameter value in different measurement units:

In the “Instructor Workplace” application, only one window can be opened, i.e. “Data Browser”. It provides structural access to all categories of the given scenario.

In addition to the Data Browser, data views windows containing objects of the same category can be opened. For example, the weather window shows just weather conditions:

Name of the selected category is shown in the window caption.

If you don’t require an invoked window for your work any more, you can close it using the button.

Sorting in the Data Panel


2.5 SORTING IN THE DATA PANEL

You can sort objects in the data window by one of the columns. E.g. to sort the response resources by type, select “Response resources” category in the category tree and click the “Type” column header on the object panel. This will sort out the response resources by type in the alphabetical order. A small arrow in the header marks the sorted column:

An up-arrow means the entries are sorted in direct order, while a down-arrow indicates the reverse order of sorting.

2.6 LINK BETWEEN THE CHART WINDOW AND THE DATA WINDOW

When the user selects objects in the data window, this selection is simultaneously shown in the chart window and vice versa. The selected object in the chart window is highlighted in orange:

You can select more than one object in the chart window simultaneously. The selected objects can belong to one data category only, e.g. the current one.

Link between the Chart Window and the Data Window


Select an object from the currents category on the chart. Press the left mouse button, hold it down and draw a rectangular around several objects of different categories:

Depress the left button. It will result in selection of all currents falling into the selection rectangular:



Please note that response resources have not been selected, therefore the “Tidal current 12” object selected before can be supplemented with objects from the currents category only. The objects selected in the chart window will be shown in the data window as selected too:

The data windows can display simultaneously objects of the same category only.



2.6.1 Edit Several Objects You can edit some parameters for a number of selected objects simultaneously, e.g. you can specify a location point or an equipment model common for all selected objects. Select several objects in the data window or on chart, e.g. a number of booms:

Select the PROPERTIES command in the context menu of the selected objects. It will open the “Multiple Objects Properties” window.

This window contains the same fields as the properties window of a single object. The data in these fields depend on whether or not the field values differ for the selected objects. If the data coincide, e.g. the object status or its location point, the field will be filled. If for selected object this field contains different values, the field in the “Multiple Objects Properties” window will be shown blank.

The field background colour depends on whether or not the field value can be edited. If the field is white, you can change the value in it, but if it is blue, the field is non-editable. Colour settings for editable/non-editable fields depend on PISCES II settings (this is described more fully in the section 8.3.2 Colors of “Read-only” Fields) and those of the OS.

Then the fields can be edited the same manner as for a single object.

For example, you can specify the “Boom” label in the “Label” field. Then all selected booms will be shown under the same text label.

Scenario Checklist


2.7 SCENARIO CHECKLIST

The “Scenario checklist” window displays a list of parameters to be specified and actions to be performed to prepare a scenario:

The tasks in the list are divided for convenience into several categories:

• Specification of impact area;

• Specification of environmental conditions;

• Pollution parameters;

• Response resources.

The tasks in the list can have four statuses depending on their readiness levels:

Status Value Indication

Not started Task is feasible, but not started yet

In progress Task in progress. It means that the task is fulfilled in full or partially. In this case it can be switch to the “Completed” status manually, if in the user’s opinion the results are satisfactory

Not available Task is infeasible. It means that the task cannot be fulfilled at this junction. It can be due to unfulfilment of some tasks logically related to the current one

Completed Task fulfilled in full. A part of tasks come over to this status automatically right after fulfilment (e.g. the task of impact area definition). To introduce any changes to parameters of such task it is recommended to unblock it by switching it to the “In progress” status

The statuses “Not started” and “Not available” are set for the task automatically by the PISCES II program, the user being not able to set them manually.

Assignment of the “In progress” or “Completed” statuses to tasks by the user is possible via the task contextual menu in the checklist.

Layouts


2.8 LAYOUTS

The data/chart windows can be arranged on the PISCES II screen in a number of different ways. The system provides several standard window arrangements designed for optimisation of Instructor’s work, when performing different PISCES II tasks. These arrangements are called Window Layouts. They can be toggled using the LAYOUTS item of the WINDOW menu or the buttons on the toolbar.

The layouts provided by PISCES II and the corresponding buttons on the toolbar are listed in the table below:

Icon name Purpose Button

General Basic PISCES II window layout. The screen displays the chart window, the data browser window, the cursor data window and the scenario checklist

Charts Only Layout for work with charts. The screen displays the chart window and the cursor data window

Weather and Currents

Information on weather and currents. The screen displays the chart window, the weather window, the wind window and the current window

Pollution Pollution information. The screen displays the chart window, the data browser window, the aerial contamination window, the spill source window, and the parcel window

Response Resources

Response resource information. The screen displays the chart window, the response resource window and the command panel

Events Event information. The screen displays the chart window, the event script and the event scenario

Custom Personal user layout. Keep user settings made on the screen

The user can change parameters of any layout, but a change in the preset layouts will last for one session only or until switching to another layout. The chart scale, to take one example, will last for a session of work in preset layouts. If different layouts in the chart window are assigned different scales, they will be retained throughout switching between layouts within a session.

Any changes in the custom layout will be retained within the given scenario after the PISCES II session too.

Scenario Operation


2.9 SCENARIO OPERATION

The functions of scenario control and operation are collected under the items of FILE and SCENARIO of the menu, also they are doubled on the toolbar:

The first group of buttons on the panel is related to scenario playback. The playback functions are available for the scenario owner only. These commands are disabled in the operators’ scenario menus, the scenario control toolbar containing just the indicators.

The control buttons are followed by a group of indicators, reading parameters of scenario operation (scenario time, mode/speed of modelling).

The mode indicator reads the current mode of scenario operation. There are four modes with corresponding indication as follows:

• Scenario preparation: “PREPARATION” lettering on a green background;

• Prompt spill behaviour forecast: “FORECAST” lettering on a blue background;

• Execution: “CONDUCT” lettering on a red background;

• Debriefing: “DEBRIEF” lettering on a grey background;

• Initiation mode: “INIT” lettering on a yellow background.

2.9.1 Start The “Run Forward” command available in any mode allows starting the scenario to run forwards.

To start/continue scenario playback, select the SCENARIO/RUN FORWARD command item in the program menu or click the “Play Forward” on the scenario control toolbar.

2.9.2 Stop The “Stop” command available in any mode allows stopping the scenario playback (making a pause).

To stop scenario playback, select the SCENARIO/STOP command in the program menu or click the “Stop” button on the scenario control toolbar.

2.9.3 Make Save Point The “Make Save Point” command allowing setting of a save panel is available in the forecast mode.

To set a save point, select the SCENARIO/MAKE SAVE POINT command in the program menu or click the “Make Save Point” button on the scenario control toolbar.

Scenario Operation


Use the appeared “Make savepoint” panel to enter the point name in its “Savepoint name” field, and enter its short description specifying the point in the “Comments” field:

Click the “Save” to save the point or “Cancel” to quit saving it and close the dialog box.

You can set a save point both during scenario playback and when it is stopped. When a save point is set, the run scenario, in which the model time runs, will be stopped, unless the scenario is operating in the SYNC real time mode (for more details of the SYNC mode, see under 2.9.8 SYNC Real Time Mode Real Time Mode).

2.9.4 Reset To The “Reset To” command is available in the mode of forecast or preparation. It allows coming back to the scenario beginning or to a save point set previously, to view the scenario once more or to choose another variant of event development.

To return to an available save point, select the SCENARIO/RESET TO command in the program menu. Select the point you need in the “Savepoint list” of the appeared “Reset To” panel. Click the “Reset” button to reset the scenario to the selected point or “Cancel” to quit and close the dialog box:

Scenario Operation


2.9.5 Jump To The “Jump To” command available in all modes allows running the scenario at a maximum speed possible determined by computer capacity (this is described more fully in the 1.5 Model Time section), and stopping it automatically upon reaching the specified “Jump to” time.

To invoke the command, select the SCENARIO/JUMP TO command in the program menu or click the “Jump To” on the toolbar.

The “Jump” dialog window will appear:

At the top you can see the “Current model time” non-editable field showing the current model time.

To jump, you can specify the interval to skip in the scenario in the “Jump interval” field or specify exact time in the “Jump To” field.

When time is entered in the “Jump interval” field, the “Jump to” value will be automatically translated in accordance with the following equation:

“Jump to” = “Current model time” + “Jump interval”

Having specified the time, to which the scenario should jump, click the “Jump” button to start scenario winding or “Cancel” to quit jumping and close the dialog box.

2.9.6 Backward Playback The “Run Backward” command is available in the debriefing mode, it allows viewing the record of the executed scenario backwards.

To start/continue scenario backward playback, select the SCENARIO/RUN BACKWARD command in the program menu or click the “Run Backward” button on the scenario control toolbar.

Scenario Operation


2.9.7 Speed The “Speed” parameter allows the modelling speed to be varied (this is described more fully in the 1.5 Model Time section) in all modes.

The modelling speed is shown by the modelling speed indicator:

A right click on the indicator or the SCENARIO/SPEED command in the program menu opens a list to choose and set the required speed from:

2.9.8 SYNC Real Time Mode When working with scenarios receiving real-time information from the external VTS and UAIS data sources, you can use the SYNC mode synchronising the scenario current time with the computer time. After a switch to the SYNC operating mode, the program will automatically speed up or slow down the scenario modelling to synchronise the scenario time with the computer clock.

To synchronise the scenario time with the computer clock, select the SYNC item from the context menu of the modelling speed meter on the toolbar.

You can also use the SCENARIO/SPEED/SYNC menu command. The SCENARIO/SPEED/SYNC menu command and the SYNC command from the context menu of the modelling speed meter on the toolbar are only available in the Preparation and Conduct modes.

If the scenario time differs from the current computer time by less than an hour, the program will switch to the SYNC mode, and the display will show a SYNC(m) format line where m is the actual modelling speed.

If the scenario time differs from the current computer time by more than an hour, the screen will display a warning.

Scenario Operation


In this case, in order to switch to the synchronous mode, you can change the scenario start time so that the scenario time does not differ from the current computer time by more than an hour (for more details see 2.9.10 Scenario Properties).

To turn off the mode of synchronising with the computer clock, select any modelling speed in the SCENARIO/SPEED menu or from the context menu of the speed meter on the toolbar (for more details see 2.9.7 Speed). The synchronising mode will turn off when any operation on the model time is performed (pause, jump over a time interval, scenario rollback to the save point).

2.9.9 Leave Scenario The “Leave Scenario” command allows stopping scenario operation. If you are its owner, it will remain available to other users to work on. In case the scenario has not been stopped, the run of the model time and event development are possible even though no user works on it any longer.

To exit the scenario, select the FILE/LEAVE SCENARIO command in the program menu.

2.9.10 Scenario Properties Using the scenario properties you can edit the scenario start time specified during its creation. Select the SCENARIO/SCENARIO PROPERTIES command of the program menu to open the “Scenario properties” window:

Edit the scenario start time as required in “Scenario start” field. Use “Time zone” field to set the time determining the modelling area time zone. From “3D Scene” list, you can select one of installed 3D scenes (for more details of 3D scene installation see PISCES II (V. 2.90). INSTALLATION GUIDE). If the license lets joint operations via internet, the “Public” option will be shown. Switch on this option to get external access to scenario (for more details see 1.8.2 Work with Common Scenario).

After changing the scenario properties press “OK” to save changes or “Cancel” to exit from the dialogue box without making changes.

Observer Management


2.10 OBSERVER MANAGEMENT

The observer gives the user all information on the scenario situation but neither possibility of creating and/or editing the model objects, nor control of the model time.

The scenario owner appoints within observer using the SCENARIO/OBSERVERS… menu command. Selection of this command will result in appearance of the “Observer management” window containing a list of all grouped active observers. The name of the host on which the observer was run and the observer’s name are displayed for each observer. See PISCES II (V. 2.90). INSTALLATION GUIDE, section 2.3 Assign Tasks for more details on assigning names to observers.

• the “Connected” group contains observers connected to the current scenario;

• the “Busy” group contains the observers connected to other active scenarios. Management of these observers is not available until they are disconnected by the owner of the connected scenario;

• the “Free” group contains the observers not connected to any scenario. The free observer’s screen being covered by a screen saver, the observer gets access to the scenario data only after his connection by the scenario owner.

Select one of the “Free” group observers and click “Connect”. The selected observer will open the scenario and activate the basic interface for working in the scenario. In the “Observers management” window, the observer will move to the “Connected” group. Then the observer management window can be closed using the “Close” button. Closing the “Observer management” window will not result in disconnection of the observers from the scenario.

To switch off the observer from the scenario, click him in the “Connected” group and click “Disconnect”.

3D Visualization


2.11 3D VISUALIZATION

PISCES II can show scenario objects in the 3D visualization. The visualization system allows representation of the environment, i.e. the water space, moving sea surface vessels and aircraft, response resources and oil spill.

The scene where the action takes place is selected at the scenario creation time. PISCES II 3D visualisation uses 3D scenes and object models produced by Transas; these should be bought separately and installed as per the license. For more details of 3D scene and model installation see PISCES II (V. 2.90). INSTALLATION GUIDE, sections 1.4 Installation of Visual Scenes and 1.5 Visual Models Installation). When the scenario is created the time zone is also specified in “Time zone” field, this affecting the time of the day shown on 3D visualisation. To change the time zone or 3D scene where the scenario objects are shown, use the scenario properties window opened by using SCENARIO/SCENARIO PROPERTIES menu command.

The 3D visualization task is run via the router in the same manner as the other PISCES II tasks. After running the task, while the scenario is not connected to the 3D visualization channel, the screen is covered by the “PISCES 3D” screen saver.

The 3D visualization system is provided with data on the following scenario objects:

• Oil spill;

• Deployed booms;

• Deployed skimmers;

• Platforms, for which the 3D model is specified in the properties pane of the “3D Model” field on the “Features” page;

• Dispersant spraying from the “Aircraft” type platforms.

2.11.1 Viewpoints A viewpoint specifies observer’s position and his view direction onto the 3D scene.

To create a viewpoint, select CREATE VIEWPOINT menu command in the INCIDENT DATA/ VIEWPOINTS item context menu:

The property panel for the created viewpoint will appear:

3D Visualization


The fields “Name” and “Label” are used to specify the object name and text label to be displayed in the chart panel.

The user specifies the viewpoint coordinates in the “Latitude/Longitude” field. The fields “Altitude”, “Direction”, “Pitch” specify the observer’s position at the observation point. The “Altitude” field specifies the observer’s altitude, the “Direction” field shows the observer’s view direction, while the “Pitch” field shows his angle of sight.

Having specified all viewpoint parameters, click “Set to chart”. The mouse cursor in the chart window will assume the following form:

Specify the position of the viewpoint on chart by a click. The specified spot will exhibit the created viewpoint’s icon in the form of a pair of binoculars:

You can edit the created viewpoint using the PROPERTIES context menu command. See the commands of the context menu in the table below:

Command Purpose

PROPERTIES Invoking the object property panel

MOVE ICON Allowing object movement

HIDE/SHOW LABEL Hiding /showing the object label

You can delete a created viewpoint by selecting it in the “Incident data/Viewpoints” category of the Data browser, and then selecting DELETE in its context menu:

2.11.2 Connection to 3D Visualization Channel A 3D visualization task can be started using the router in the same manner as any other PISCES tasks.

To represent a selected scene in the 3D visualization, select the LINK VISUALIZATION command of the viewpoint context menu. The 3D scene will include all scenario objects coinciding with the field of vision of the observer situated at the selected viewpoint. When the scenario is started, information on all changes in the scenario will be transferred to the 3D visualization.

You can control the observer’s position using the keyboard. To change the view direction, use the left/right arrow keys of the keyboard. The up/down arrow keys change the angle of sight. Moving in the scene is possible, if using the <Page Up> and <Page Down> keys, moving the observer forward/backward. The space key returns the observer to the initial position specified by the viewpoint.

Also you can control the observer’s position using your mouse. Press the <F2> key on the keyboard. Now you can change the observer’s sight direction and angle by a mouse movement, while using the up/down arrow keys on the keyboard to move the observer forward and backward. To come back to the initial position specified by the viewpoint and switch off the mouse mode of observer position change, press the <space> key on the keyboard.

Preparation of Reports


2.12 PREPARATION OF REPORTS

When conducting drills, the operator might need chart printouts, data on weather conditions, resource status, operation cost or other reports on the scenario progress.

PISCES II features a possibility of printing the contents of any chart window open in the scenario or saving the open chart window in a bmp-file or a Microsoft Word document.

In addition, the operator can receive and save various Excel file reports. The following reports can be saved in PISCES II:

• Coastline pollution report (see section 5.3.3 Coastline Parcel Statistics for more detail);

• Ecologically sensitive area report (see section 5.3.4 Environmental Impact Statistics for more detail);

• Financial report (see section 7.12 Cost of Operation).

Besides, in the MS Excel you can export contents of any of the data windows and also the selected lines in the data windows (for more details see 2.12.4 Export of Data Window in MS Excel).

2.12.1 Print The FILE/PRINT menu command allows printing the contents of any chart window open in the scenario, or data. Select this command in the menu. It will invoke the “Print” window:

The “Printer” field in the upper part of the window indicates the name of the system default printer.

The drop-down “Window” list can be used to select the window to be printed from. The list shows the window name and the current scale for chart windows.

The “Print Range” option buttons allow setting a sequence of printing chart window records: “All” – to print all records, “Selected” – to print the selected ones.

The “Print Header” group of options allows setting the printout header look. If you select all option of the “Print Header” group, the header will have the following appearance <Printed window header >-<Exercise name>-<Scenario name>-<Scenario time>- <Model time>. If an option in the “Print Header” group is not selected, the corresponding header part will not be printed.

Having set all options, click “OK” to start printing the selected window or “Cancel” to close the dialog box.



2.12.2 Export Chart Window to a File The “Export to File” command allows export of the chart window contents to a BMP format graphical file; this being the case, you can establish regular export of the chart window at a specified time interval. The interval is set in relation to model time.

Select the CHART/EXPORT TO FILE command in the program menu to open the “Export To BMP” panel:

Use the “File name” field to specify location and name of the file to export the chart contents to.

The “Cyclic Export” checkbox allows regular export of the chart window to the file. If you choose this mode, specify the interval to be used for saving the chart window contents in the “Period” field. The default interval is 60 seconds of model time.

Click the “OK” button to save the chart window contents to the file or “Cancel” to discard changes and close the dialog box.

2.12.3 Stop Export to File The “Stop Export to File” command allows stopping export of the chart window contents to the BMP file, if the regular export of the window contents has been established.

Select the CHART/STOP EXPORT TO FILE command of the menu. PISCES II will stop exporting window contents to the file.

2.12.4 Export of Data Window in MS Excel The scenario operator can save contents or part of contents from any of the open data windows to an MS Excel file.

To export the window contents completely, open it by using the WINDOW command or select the require category from the left hand panel of the data browser(for more details see. 2.4 Data Window). Then select the EXPORT TO FILE… command from the heading context menu.



In the window which will open up, select the necessary window name from the list and press the “OK” button to export data or the “Cancel” button to close the “Export to file” window without data export.

To export part of data, select the necessary lines by using the <Shift> + <left mouse click>. You can switch the line selection by using the <Ctrl> + <left mouse click>. Then select the EXPORT SELECTED DATA TO FILE… command from the heading context menu. In the window which will open up, select the necessary data window name from the list and press the “OK” button to export data, or the “Cancel” button to close the “Export to file” window without data export

2.12.5 Export of Chart Panel to Word The menu command CHART/EXPORT TO WORD allows exporting the active chart panel content to a Word file. Selection of this menu command results in opening a new Word document containing the chart type name, information on the scenario, and image of the active chart panel content:


3. CHAPTER 3 Working with Charts

Electronic Charts

Chapter 3. Working with Charts 57

3.1 ELECTRONIC CHARTS

PISCES II uses the TRANSAS basic electronic chart display and information system, which provides the following functions:

• representation of the impact area in the form of a navigational chart with stationary objects set on it;

• representation and entry of environmental conditions: field of currents, active zones;

• representation of the changing model situation: oil spill, response resource movement;

• selection and edit of model objects using graphical aids.

The TRANSAS electronic charts are manufactured on the basis of paper navigational charts issued by official hydrographical societies in various countries. Each chart is kept in a file under a name coinciding with the number of its paper original. Contours of an electronic chart correspond to the boundaries of its paper original.

The files for storing charts might be of different formats, which determine stored data type/volume.

PISCES II supports TX97 and DCW format charts.

TX97 binary vector format is used for storing marine navigational charts containing coastline contours, isobaths, sounding marks, buoys, lighthouses and other information used by the navigators (see the figure below):

Electronic Charts


DCW format is used for storing topographical land maps containing descriptions of terrain, water bodies, information on communications, inhabited localities, etc. (see the figure below):

PISCES II works with navigational charts of TX97 format, the same charts being used for coastline import. DCW format charts are taken advantage of, when the land situation is to be represented in greater detail e.g. terrain relief, roads, inhabited localities, aerodromes, etc.

Commands for working with charts are located under the TOOLS item of the program menu; also they are duplicated in the toolbar:

3.1.1 Chart Load PISCES II doesn’t modify the charts, it just uses them in the “Read-only” mode. The charts are stored on the hard disk in the PISCES II/Chart folder, being loaded down to PISCES II as may be necessary.

The possibility of working with charts in PISCES II is provided by the chart window, showing the world map and the boundaries of charts for various regions available for loading:

Electronic Charts


To display the chart, it is necessary to load it to PISCES II using the “Load Chart” command.

Select the command TOOLS/LOAD CHART in the program menu or click the “Load Chart” button on the toolbar.

The cursor will assume the following form.

Select a chart for the region concerned featuring a sufficient level of detail and click on its boundary. The chart will be loaded into PISCES II. The loaded chart border will be shown as a thick line:

If the borders of some charts are situated nearby and we try to load one of this charts the window containing the list of all this charts would appear. Choose an item from the list and press “OK” to load it, or “Cancel” to close this window.

Files with protected charts are installed under license. If the protected but not licensed chart files are placed in the PISCES II/Chart folder, an attempt to load them will result in display of the chart borders only, but the charts per se cannot be loaded.

3.1.2 Chart Unload The “Unload Chart” command allows the unloading of those charts from PISCES II, which are not required in the current scenario anymore. This being the case, the chart files remain on the disk in the PISCES II/Chart folder.

Select the TOOLS/UNLOAD CHART command in the program menu or click the “Unload Chart” button on the toolbar.

The cursor will assume the following form.

Select the chart to be loaded and click on its boundary. The chart will be unloaded from PISCES II. It will be marked in the chart window by a thin borderline instead of the thick one.

Informational Layers


3.2 INFORMATIONAL LAYERS A chart representation is composed of informational layers, containing congeneric objects: depth layer, buoy layer, etc.

The informational (or topic) layers are divided into:

• chart own layers;

• model object information;

• additional information.

The own layers are a part of the chart loaded into PISCES II from the disk; they cannot be changed.

Model object information and additional information don’t constitute a part of the chart, but a part of the model situation, and as such they are preserved within a scenario only.

3.2.1 Own Layers The own layers are divided into general layers and special layers.

Among the general layers are the chart grid, its borders, etc.

The special layers reflect information contained in DCW/TX97 format charts:

• for DCW charts it boils down to the terrain relief, water bodies, inhabited localities, communication lines, political information, etc.;

• for TX97 charts it is coastlines, currents, depths, lighthouses, etc.

3.2.2 Model Object Information Model object information describes object types, their positions and other characteristics. PISCES II supports additional chart objects of three categories:

• Pointlike;

• Linear;

• Areas.

Pointlike objects cannot be zoomed; they are used for representation of stationary objects, response resources, pollution sources, current vectors, and auxiliary objects.

Linear objects are used for representation of ship routes, coastline, and deployed booms.

PISCES II supports different types of areas objects:

• Impact area;

• Environmental sensitive areas (ESA);

• Dispersant application areas;

• Burn-off areas.

An areas object is displayed on the chart in the form of a crosshatched (shaded) polygon, an icon and a text label. The kind of crosshatching, colour and icon of the object depends on its type.

Any created object can be edited. The pointlike objects can be moved, their icons and labels can be replaced. For polygonal objects (linear objects and areas objects), you can edit individual vertices, sets of selected vertices, ribs and rib sets, as well as icons and letterings.

PISCES II model objects can be arranged as informational layers by types in the same way as for the base chart system objects.

Chart Handling Tools


3.2.3 Additional Information Additional information allows addition of information missing in the official chart or information specific for the current scenario, as well as user own objects having geographical reference.

PISCES II supports information of the following types to be entered to the chart window:

• Text – the operator can key in text and specify characteristics for the text block: font colour, position on the chart, on the chart etc.;

• Polygonal area – the operator can assign a polygon, its position on the chart, as well as kind of shading, an icon and a text label;

• Point – the operator can defined point position in geographical coordinates, to specify its colour and its icon;

• Raster image – can be imported from a BMP format file of 256 colours and placed in the chart window on top of the own layers. The operator may manually set raster image sizes and its position in geographical coordinates.

3.2.4 Managing Layer Visibility The operator is in a position to make informational layers visible or invisible in order to shape a geographical area representation he needs.

The chart system controls layer visibility automatically depending on the current scale – generalisation. You can adjust icons size independently by means of “Show big icons”

or “Show small icons” buttons on the “Chart View Control Panel” (for more details see 3.3.1 Chart View Control Panel below), or you can let automatic control of visibility and size of icons pressed the “Automatic icon size selection” button.

The additional chart layers of PISCES II behave similar to those of the base system.

3.3 CHART HANDLING TOOLS Control of images in the chart window is performed using the chart tools located under items CHART and TOOLS of the menu and on the toolbar:

If none of the tools is activated, the mouse cursor serves as an indicator for selection of model objects. The selected model objects can be edited. The object context menu is opened with the right-hand button. For selection you can use the mouse buttons and the modifier keys. If the model objects are selected in the table windows, they are highlighted in the chart windows and vice versa.

3.3.1 Chart View Control Panel For more convenient navigation and chart window setup, use the chart window control panel.

To open the chart window control panel, select the CHART VIEW CONTROL PANEL command from the TOOLS menu. The checked CHART VIEW CONTROL PANEL command means that the panel will be shown on the screen, if it is unchecked, the panel will not be displayed.

The control panel contains three tabs:

• “Cursor Data” – used for easier navigation on the chart;

• “Overlays” – to adjust the chart layer visibility;

• “Object Display” – to adjust the way of displaying icons on the chart: icon size, display of course vectors and selection of a data source for the label.



The chart layer visibility and icon display settings form a set of settings which can be saved for a fast change of the chart view and for use in other scenarios. In PISCES II, there are several standard default sets.

• All objects;

• Modelling objects –PISCES objects, the chart is turned off;

• Navigational – all the chart’s navigational layers, the field of currents is turned off;

• Oil Spill – field of current, spill, there is only shore on the chart;

• Response – without field of currents, on the chart there is shore and depth contours.

The set of settings is selected from the pull-down list in the bottom part of the “Chart View Control Panel” window on the “Overlays” and “Object display” tabs.

You can change the settings and save your own set. To do this, enter the set name in the field in the bottom part of the chart window control panel and press the “Save” button. To apply subsequently the saved set of settings to the active chart window, you will only have to select it from the list.

To delete the unnecessary set of settings, select it from the list and press the “Delete” button.

Cursor Data Window Settings The “Cursor Data” tab is used for easy navigation through the chart. The tab contains a diminished chart window, data on the cursor position on the chart, and the buttons “Rescale” and “Whole World” allowing adjustment of chart view in the cursor data window:



A list of cursor parameters shown in the “Cursor Data” tab is given in the table below:

Parameter Value

Lat Source latitude

Lon Source longitude

Ref Reference point coordinates

Dist Distance to reference

Brg Bearing to reference point

Rings Distance between range rings

The “Rescale” command shows the cursor position in a chart fragment corresponding to the one in the chart window. Click the “Rescale” button in the cursor data window . The cursor data window will show an area covered by the current chart window with a 30 % margin. A cross-like cursor in the window duplicates position of the main cursor of the system.

The “Whole World” command changes the scale so that the cursor data window could hold the entire world map. Click the “Whole World” button in the cursor data window . The cursor data window will display the world map, indicating cursor position on it.

The “Cursor Data” tab allows to change also scale of an active chart window and to set position of the center of a chart. For change of scale of a chart move the mouse to the “Cursor Data” tab, click the left mouse button and draw a rectangular of the future boundaries of the visible area. Release the left key of a mouse. The active chart window will be regenerated in the specified borders. It is possible to set position of the center of an active chart window by click of the left mouse button in the “Cursor Data” tab.

Layer Control The navigational charts contain a lot of information. Not all of this information is required for working. The “Overlays” tab allows the informational layer representation on the chart to be set.

Adjust layer visibility according to your preferences.

A checked checkbox next to field (field group) designation means that the field (or the entire group of fields) will be displayed on the chart, and vice versa. A slanting arrow next to a field group indicates that different visibility is selected for different layers in the group, only a part of them being displayed on the chart.



For the layers edited by the user (incident area objects, pollution, resources), you can set the “read-only” mode to protect them against unauthorized changes. For this purpose, click next to the required layer to have the “lock” icon appeared . The layer will be protected against any modification up to the moment of removing the lockout device.

In the “Overlays” tab you can use the Windows-standard function of collapsing/expanding the lists and their individual branches. A full list of PISCES II layers with brief comments is given in the table below:

Add Info Additional information

Field of Currents Field of Currents

Field of Winds Field of Winds

Point Object Symbol objects

Polygon Polygonal areas

TextBox Text boxes

Chartg Chart

Borders Borders of charts available for loading into PISCES II

DCW Overlays Special layers of DCW format charts

Loaded Borders Boundaries of loaded charts marked with a thick border

Grid Coordinate grid

Raster Images Raster images, loaded by the user on top of own chart layers

Rings Range rings

TX97 Overlays Specific layers of TX97 format charts

Incident Area Objects Incident Area Objects

Boom towing order Union of several response resources: a skimmer, boom and several platforms as a single unit

Coast Line Coast Line

Compulsory Burning Area Burning Area

Currents Reference vectors of the currents field

Dispersant Application Area Dispersant Application Area



Sorbing area Sorbent Application Area

Environmental Sensitive Area Environmental Sensitive Area

Impact Area Impact area

Location Point Gathering point

Map of current Rectangular area setting the permanent field of currents

Simulated Burning Area Free burning area

Targets Positioning system targets

External Weather Sources External sources of hydrometeorological information

Ice Pack and fast ice fields

Ice Map Ice maps of SIGRID3 format

Wind Vectors Reference vectors of the winds field

Pollution Pollution

Air pollution Aerial contamination

Oil Area Source Area Source

Oil Leak Source Leak Source

Oil Point Source Point source

Oil Spill Spill

Response Resources Response Resources

Boom Boom

DDS Dispersant delivery system

Dispersant Dispersant

Equipment Equipment

Platform Platform

Shore Cleanup Equipment Shore cleaner

Skimmer Oil skimmer



Object Display The “Object display” tab in the chart view control panel allows the way the icons of resources and other objects are displayed, to be adjusted.

For objects shown on the chart, the exact direction of their motion can be shown as a speed vector, the speed value is shows with hatches on the vector.

Option buttons in the top left corner of the panel allow the display of course vectors and speed marks to be turned on.

The meanings of these option buttons are described in more detail in the table below.



Option Description

Vector If this option is turned on, the resource motion direction is shown with the speed vector

Speed marks Turns on the display of speed marks on the speed vectors. The speed marks can be shown in different ways depending on the speed of the resource: • at a speed of up to 5 knots, the speed marks are placed one for each knot

and have a form of hatches:

• at a speed of 5 to 20 knots, speed marks have a form of circles placed in 5 knot

intervals:

• at a speed of more than 20 knots, the speed mark has a form of an arrow:

Icon Turns on/off the display of object icons on the chart. If this button is turned off, all the objects on the chart are shown as points

Buttons in the “Icon size” group allow selection of the size of icons shown on the chart: large, small and varying automatically to suit the scale. The meanings of buttons are described in more detail in the table below:

Description Button

At any chart scale, large size modelled object icons are shown

At any chart scale, small size modelled object icons are shown

The icon size depends on the scale. With the scale reduction, icons of modelled objects first decrease in size and are then replaced with a point to declutter the screen

Option buttons in the “Label source” group allow determining the data source which a label to be displayed in the chart window is taken from.

Data source Description

None Labels are no displayed in the chart window for any objects

Name For each object, the chart window shows a value set in the object properties window in the “Name” field

Label For each object, the chart window shows a value set in the object properties window in the “Label” field

Call sign For the resources, the chart window shows a value set in the properties window on the “Characteristics” tab in the “Call sign” field (for more details see under 6.1.3 General Response Resource Parameters). For the rest of objects, no labels are shown in the chart window

MMSI For the resources, the chart window shows a value set in the properties window on the “Characteristics” tab in the “MMSI” field (for more details see under 6.1.3 General Response Resource Parameters). For the rest of objects, no labels are shown in the chart window

Lloyd’s number For the resources, the chart window shows a value set in the properties window on the “Characteristics” tab in the “Lloyd’s number” field. For the rest of objects, no labels are shown in the chart window (for more details see under 6.1.3 General Response Resource Parameters)



3.3.2 Adding Information The “Add Info” command makes it possible to append additional information of different types to the chart window.

Select the CHART/ADD INFO command of the program menu and use the appeared menu to specify the required information type: Symbol, Polygon, Text or Raster Image:

The commands “Moving Symbol” and “Moving Polygon” allow the creation of a movable icon/area, for which all changes of coordinates made in the process of scenario execution will be remembered.

Symbol The ADD INFO/SYMBOL… command allows adding an icon in the chart window, and specifying its coordinates, pointlike object and text label.

Select the ADD INFO/SYMBOL… command to open the “Symbol Properties” panel:

Specify the icon name in the “Name” field and its text label in the “Label” field. Usually an abbreviated name is used as a text label.

Set the coordinates in “Lat.” and “Lon.” fields and press “OK” button, or press “Set to chart” button and indicate the desired on-chart object position with the mouse.

To change the icon for the object, select the icon in the chart panel and select the PROPERTIES command the context menu.

Click the following area in the appeared panel:

Select a suitable icon and press “OK” to set it or “Cancel” to cancel icon change and close the dialog box.

Click “OK” in “Symbol Properties” to save the icon change on chart, or “Cancel” to cancel editing and close the dialog box.



Movable Icon Assignment of a movable icon is performed in much the same fashion as specification of an icon in the scenario. The only exception is that for such an object all changes of coordinates during scenario execution will be remembered, and it will be displayed during scenario viewing in the debriefing mode. For an unmovable icon, for example, only the position specified last will be saved for subsequent debriefing.

Area The ADD INFO/POLYGON… command allows adding a polygonal area in the chart window. Selection of this command results in appearance of the “Polygon Properties” panel:

Parameters of the area, which can be specified using this panel, are described in the table below:

Parameter Value

Name Polygon name

Label Text label (usually an abbreviated name)

Filling Style Filling style

Filling Colour Filling colour

Icon Colour Icon colour

Outline Colour Area border colour

Having specified area parameters, click the “Set To Chart” button to specify object form/position on the chart or “Cancel” to cancel area creation and close the dialog box. Use your mouse to specify vertices of the polygon and right click to save the specified field, or press <Escape>, to exit the mode of polygon assignment.

To change the object icon, select an area in the chart panel and click the PROPERTIES command from the context menu.

Click the following area in the appeared panel:

Select a suitable icon and press “OK” to set it or “Cancel” to cancel icon change and close the dialog box.

Click “OK” in the “Polygon Properties” window to save polygon icon change on chart, or “Cancel” to cancel area editing.



Movable Area Specification of a movable area is performed in much the same fashion as specification of an area in the scenario. The only exception is that for such an object all changes of coordinates during scenario execution will be remembered, and it will be displayed during scenario viewing in the debriefing mode. For an unmovable area, for example, only the position specified last will be saved for subsequent debriefing.

Text The ADD INFO/TEXT… command allows adding a text block in the chart window. Selection of this command results in appearance of the “Text Box Properties” panel containing the tabs “Text” and “Style And Colours”:

Parameters of the text block, which can be specified using this panel, are described in the table below:

Parameter Value

Name Block name

Text Text input field. When text is entered, to move to the next line, press keys <Ctrl> + <Enter>

Alignment Text alignment in the block

Filling Style Presence and type of filling (shading)

Font Size Font size

Margin Size Text block margin size

Bold Bold font



Parameter Value

Italic Oblique font

Border Availability of block borders

Colours

Text Font colour

Box Block background colour

Filling Filling colour

Having specified the parameters, click the “Set To Chart” button to specify block position on the chart (the cursor indicates position of the block centre).

Click “OK” in the “Text Box Properties” window to place the created block on the chart or “Cancel” to quit block creation and close the dialog box.

Raster Image The ADD INFO/RASTER IMAGE… command allows adding a raster image in the chart window, i.e. a graphical file of BMP format with 256 colours. Selection of this command results in appearance of the “GeoRefImage Properties” panel:

Specify the file to load the image from: select the file in the “Image” drop-down list or click the “Import” button and specify the required file on the disk.

Use the “Name” field to specify the name for the image.

Then it is necessary to define image position on the chart, by specifying two control points “Point1” and “Point2”. By default, these points are located in the upper left corner and the lower tight corner, respectively. In the image coordinate system, the upper left corner has coordinates “0,0”, while the coordinates of the lower right corner are equal to image width and height in pixels.

Click the “Set to chart” button and specify geographical coordinates for “Point1” and “Point2.

The control points are not to be necessarily positioned in the image corners. They might be set so as to coincide with some significant objects in the image. First, supplement the chart with the graphical file with reference control points at the image corners. Right click on the orange border of the image and via the context menu select the command SET POINT 1. The cursor will assume the following form: . Specify the first significant point on the image (e.g. a lighthouse, a cape or an inhabited locality). Right click again on the orange border of the image and via the context menu select the command SET POINT 2. The cursor will assume the following form: . Specify the second significant point in the image.



Now it is necessary to specify the coordinates of the control points. Select the “Properties” command in the image context menu. Use the appeared property window to specify coordinates of the control points in the fields “Point 1”[Lat/Lon], “Point 2”[Lat/Lon]. Click the “OK” button to place the image on the chart or “Cancel” to cancel the image movement and close the dialog box.

For convenience of placing the image, the segments of the same colour can be made transparent. To this effect, select the SET TRANSPARENCY command in the image context menu and use your mouse to indicate the colour to be made transparent.

To undo color transparency, select again the SET TRANSPARENCY command and press <Alt> on the keyboard. Holding down <Alt>, use your mouse to specify the image area to make the corresponding color non-transparent.

It is not advisable to place images of more than 100 km dimensions on the chart, as in this case the picture will feature strong distortions.

3.3.3 Show Word Map The “Show World Map” command allows world map representation in the chart window to be turned on/off. Turning it off might be convenient for working on coastline import/editing.

Select the CHART/SHOW WORLD MAP command of the program menu. If the checkbox next to it is checked, the world map will be displayed in the chart window, and vice versa:

3.3.4 Revert The “Revert” command provides returning to the previous state of the chart window. Actually, the command cancels the last setting made in the chart window. PISCES II preserves a list of 32 recent settings of the chart window.

To return to the previous state of the chart window, select the TOOLS/REVERT command of the program menu or click the “Revert” button on the toolbar. The chart window will revert to the previous state.

The loading/unloading charts, changing visibility of layers, setting of a reference point is not cancelled by a command “Revert”.

3.3.5 Centre The “Centre” command will move the specified point to the centre of the chart window.

Select the command CENTRE in the TOOLS menu or click the “Centre” button on the toolbar. The cursor will assume the following form: . Specify the point on the chart to be moved to the chart centre.

To change position of the centre of a chart it is possible as with the help of a mouse scroll wheel. To move the centre of a chart upright you should move mouse scroll wheel, to move the centre across – you should move mouse scroll wheel at the pressed key <Shift> on the keyboard.



3.3.6 Zooming Area The “Zoom” command allows direct definition of the area to be represented in the chart window.

Select the TOOLS/ZOOM command of the program menu or click the “Zoom” button on the toolbar. The cursor will assume the following form: . Press the left mouse button, draw a rectangular of the future boundaries of the visible area on the chart. Click the left mouse button again. The chart window will be regenerated in the specified boundaries.

3.3.7 Scale up The “Scale Up” command allows the scale of the chart window to be increased.

Select the command TOOLS/SCALE UP in the program menu or click the “Scale Up” button on the toolbar. The chart will be represented at a greater scale.

You can increase a scale by moving mouse scroll down at the pressed key <Ctrl> on the keyboard.

3.3.8 Scale down The “Scale Down” command allows the scale of the chart window to be reduced.

Select the TOOLS/SCALE DOWN command of the program menu or click the “Scale Down” button on the toolbar. The chart will be represented at a smaller scale.

You can reduce a scale also by moving mouse scroll wheel up at the pressed key <Ctrl> at the keyboard.

3.3.9 Ruler The “Ruler” command shows range/bearing to the selected point.

Select the TOOLS/RULER command in the menu or click the “Ruler” button on the toolbar. The cursor will assume the following form: . Indicate the start point or the object to measure the range to. PISCES II will show the range/bearing to the point/object.

Range measurement involves operation of the function of automatic measurement unit selection. For ranges up to a kilometre, the value will be displayed in meters, for ranges over a kilometre it will be kilometres, etc.



3.3.10 Reference Point The “Reference Point” command allows the user the set a point, to which the range rings will be referenced.

Select the REFERENCE POINT command in the TOOLS menu or click the “Reference Point” on the toolbar. The cursor will assume the following form: . Indicate on the chart the range ring reference point.

Range rings can be used for a visual estimation of distance between objects in a chart window. The distance between rings of range varies depending on scale of a chart and is displayed in the cursor data window after an inscription “Rings”.

3.3.11 Information on TX97 Chart Objects The CHART INFO command allows obtaining data on the ТХ97 navigational chart objects: buoy identification, lighthouse characteristics, etc.

Select the CHART INFO command from the TOOLS menu or press the information on chart toolbar button. The cursor will assume the following form: .

Click the left mouse button on an object on the loaded ТХ97 chart (for more details of chart loading see 3.1.1 Chart Load). The screen will display the “Chart Info”, dialogue box containing navigational information on the selected object and on the chart on the whole.

If several mutually overlapping ТХ97 charts are loaded, data on the topmost (last loaded) chart will be displayed.

Chart View Management


3.4 CHART VIEW MANAGEMENT

When working, the user can specify various chart window parameters: a list of loaded charts, status of informational layers, scale, chart centre, etc.

The aggregate of these parameters is called chart view and can be saved with a unique name.

A chart view can be created, edited, saved, and loaded to the current chart window with the aid of a set of commands of the CHART menu item.

3.4.1 New View The “New” command allows the user to create a new chart window, which can be used to load another chart, to create a set of settings for it differing from the previous window, to change data representation.

Select the CHART/NEW command in the program menu. A new chart window will appear loaded with a copy of the chart of the most recent working chart window. If you need another chart in the new window, you can load it using the TOOLS/LOAD CHART command of the program menu.

3.4.2 Save View The “Save View” command allows saving the chart window status settings created in the current window to a file of a chosen name or deleting the views, which you don’t need in your work anymore.

Select the command CHART/SAVE VIEW in the program menu to open the “Save View” panel:

Enter the name of the view to be saved into the upper field. Click “Save” to save the current view or “Cancel” to cancel saving and close the dialog box.

3.4.3 Open View The “Open View” command allows the current chart window to be loaded with a set of chart window status settings created and saved before. Select the CHART/OPEN VIEW command of the program menu to open the “Open View” panel:

Chart View Management


Use the list on your left to select the chart view you need. Click the “Open” button to load the view or “Cancel” to quit view loading and close the dialog box.

If the “Open in new window” checkbox is checked, the view to be loaded will open in a new chart window rather than in the current one.

3.4.4 Delete View The “Delete” command in the “Open view” panel allows you to delete the views you don’t need in your work anymore.

Select the CHART/OPEN VIEW command of the program menu to open the “Open view” panel:

The field to the left contains a list of available views. Those not needed for subsequent work can be deleted with the aid of the “Delete” button.

The “Cancel” button allows exit from the “Open view” panel.


4. CHAPTER 4 Environment Conditions

Impact Area

Chapter 4. Environment Conditions 79

The factors influencing spill behaviour in the PISCES II model belong to two groups, i.e. geographical objects and variable parameters of environment conditions.

Among the geographical objects are the exercise area, coastline and environmental sensitive areas. Geographical objects are specified on the chart as polygonal areas.

Environment parameters, e.g. weather conditions, are specified in PISCES II for the whole scenario period in the form of table-driven functions. During scenario execution, the program interpolates the input data in the way providing continuous changes of parameters.

4.1 IMPACT AREA

Impact Area is a polygonal area, within which the program computes environment conditions and oil spill behaviour for the current scenario. Import of the coastline and currents as well as computation of field of currents are performed within the impact area. The impact area is a compulsory scenario element, while other scenario elements can be omitted, if necessary.

The impact area is specified at the stage of scenario initialisation, right after creation of the exercise scenario. At this stage, the chart window will display a yellow field with the “Initialisation phase. Please define Impact Area” lettering and the buttons “Define” and “Complete”:

Select a scale and level of chart detail for the given scenario (this is described more fully in Chapter 3) and click the “Define” button to specify the impact area.

The cursor in the chart window will assume the following form:

Impact Area


Use your mouse to specify vertices of the polygon, and right click to save the specified field, or press <Escape>, to exit the mode of polygon assignment. The impact area boundaries are represented in the form of a thin dotted orange line:

The polygon defining the impact area can be edited: dragged, vertice added/deleted. When the impact area boundaries will take their finished form, click the “Complete” button on the yellow field in the upper part of the chart window.

This action finishes assignment of impact area, the scenario switching over from the initialisation mode to the exercise preparation mode. The yellow warning strip will disappear. The mode indicator on the toolbar will change its “Init” value for the “PREPARATION” one, and the background colour will change for green. The status of the task “Impact Area” in the “Scenario checklist” window will change for “Completed”, and a green tick will appear the list.

The impact area is specified at the stage of scenario initialisation prior to its start. After start, the impact area boundaries cannot be edited. If you need to edit the impact area after starting the scenario, you have to bring it back to the starting point. For this purpose select the SCENARIO/RESET TO menu command and the “Start scenario” point in the appeared list of saved points.

After selecting the ENVIRONMENT/SET IMPACT AREA command of the menu or the INCIDENT DATA SETUP/INCIDENT AREA item of the “Scenario checklist” window context menu, the sequence of actions is similar to specification of impact area at the initialisation stage.

ATTENTION!

Coastline


It is sometimes necessary to edit the impact area in a scenario after the setting of the coastline (for more details of the coastline see the next section 4.2 Coastline). In this case, after the impact area boundaries have been changed in the chart window, or ENVIRONMENT/SET IMPACT AREA menu command has been selected, the following message will appear:

Press “Yes” for the entire coastline to be deleted after the setting of a new area, or “No” if you wish to save the set coastline, or “Cancel” to cancel the impact area editing.

4.2 COASTLINE

The next scenario preparation task is specification of the coastline. The entire coastline can be specified manually, if you wish so, by sequential creation of coastline parcels using the ENVIRONMENT/CREATE ISLAND menu command.

It is advisable to first import a piece of shore from a suitable navigational chart, and then to edit individual parcels manually, if necessary.

You can get access to the coastline edit commands through the ENVIRONMENT menu or the coastline context menu in the chart window. Partial access to these commands is also possible through the COASTLINE context menu item in the “Scenario checklist” task list.

4.2.1 Coastline Import The “Coastline import” command allows a coastline to be imported from navigational charts.

Select the ENVIRONMENT/IMPORT COASTLINE menu command. PISCES II will start to import coastline. The “Coastline Import” dialog box will open. On completion of the procedure, the window will close automatically, and the chart window will display a thin line of the coastline imported from the navigational charts within the impact area:

Coastline


Complicated cases of coastline import might take quite a long time. If it takes more than 3 seconds, the “Coastline Import” window with a warning will appear:

The “Triangulation of imported coastline data will take about” field shows the approximate time of import. Click “OK” to continue coastline import or “Cancel” to interrupt it.

Click on the coastline. A selected coastline is represented by a thin orange line.

The coastline context menu contains the following commands for editing coastline:

Command Purpose

Properties Opening the coastline properties menu

Assign Parcel Assigning a unique name for the selected coastline segment(s)

New Island Creation of a new island

Show Islands Displaying closed coastline parcels, i.e. islands

Show Parcels Displaying coastline parcels (This is described more fully in the section 4.2.6 Parcels)

Delete Points Removal of object point(s)

To get more detailed information on the coast, you might need a greater scale chart. The figure below demonstrates that a large-scale chart gives a more exact presentation of the shore, and the coastline imported before from a small-scale chart will not coincide with the image on this chart:

Coastline


4.2.2 Importing Coastline from Overlapping or Adjacent Charts At the time of import the chart window can be loaded with several navigational charts covering the impact area fully or partially. Usually, such charts are of different scales and they overlap. In such case the coastline segments will be imported from the charts on top.

You can change the sequence of loaded charts in PISCES II using the menu commands: TOOLS/UNLOAD CHART to unload and TOOLS/LOAD CHART to download. To move a loaded chart covered by other ones to higher position, use again the TOOLS/LOAD CHART command.

When the coastline is imported from the close-lying charts, its mat be imported with errors, and there may appear a “false” coast near to the chart edge. To avoid a “false” coast, use the window which appears after the start of importing coast from close-lying charts to enter the chart boundaries growth value so that the chart outlines should overlap:

Enter the growth value and press “Yes” to extend the chart boundaries, or press “No” to import coast from the charts with unchanged boundaries.

4.2.3 Edit Coastline A coastline can be edited, if necessary. The simpler form of the coastline and the lesser segments in it, the faster computation of the mathematical spill model.

If it is obvious that a part of the coastline, e.g. “lake” cannot influence the spill behaviour, or if the imported coastline contains unnecessary details, it is recommended that the extra fragments of the coastline be deleted.

For example, to delete the lakes generated by import, as shown in the figure below, do the following:

Select the coastline using your mouse. Press the left mouse button, hold it down and draw a rectangular around the group of vertices to be edited. Depress the left-hand button. Now the selected group can be added vertices with the aid of <Shift> + <Left-click> or selection of vertices can be toggled on and off by <Ctrl> + <Left-click>.

To remove vertices, select the DELETE POINTS command of the coastline context menu in the chart window. The selected vertices will be deleted, and the coastline will be regenerated subject to these changes.

The selected vertices can also be moved. For this purpose, drag the selected group of points to a new place by pressing the mouse left-hand button. Depress it, when the points will be in the required position.

Coastline


If in accordance with exercise conditions, you cannot disregard some objects, you have to include them in the coastline.

For example, the offshore breakwater serving as a barrier to spill spreading can be modelled by moving necessary points of the coastline by dragging them with the mouse left-hand button pressed:

4.2.4 New Island To add a land segment not connected with the existing ones, select the NEW ISLAND item of the coastline context menu in the chart window.

The mouse cursor in the chart window will assume the following form:

Use your mouse to specify vertices of the polygon defining the new island and press the right-hand button to save the created island or <Escape> to exit the polygon specification mode.

4.2.5 Coastline Type Type of coastline affects the rate of oil deposition and the total amount of oil to be stranded on the shore. Having specified the coastline contour, specify its type.

Use the UNASSIGNED item of the object context menu in the “Data Browser” window (“Coastline” category) to select the EDIT command or just double click on the item:

Coastline


The coastline “Properties” dialog box will appear:

Specify coastline type in the “Type” drop-down list in accordance with exercise conditions. Types of ground supported by PISCES II are given in the list below:

• coral;

• gravel/cobble;

• mixed sand gravel;

• mud;

• peat/tundra scarp;

• rock;

• sand.

Click “OK” to save the entered data or “Cancel” to finish input and exit the dialog box.

4.2.6 Parcels Coastline consists of vertices connected by segments. The segments can be combined under a specified name to a coastline parcel. For example, you can select a coastline parcel related to a beach or an environmental sensitive area and give it a unique name.

Specification of parcels is required for timely tracing of spilled oil statistics on pollution-sensitive fragments of shore (beaches, protected zones, inhabited localities, etc.).

Right after coastline import, all its segments are related by default to a single parcel, which is called “Unassigned”.

The COASTLINE item of the “Data Browser” window lists the parcels composing the coastline. Their parameters are listed in the table below:

Coastline


Field Description

Name Parcel name (editable field)

Length Coastline length (non-editable field)

Type Ground type (described more fully in the section 4.2.5 Coastline Type)

Stranded oil Spilled oil statistics (non-editable field)

Recovered oil Amount recovered oil on shore by shore cleanup equipment (non-editable field)

Recovered oil and soil Amount recovered mixture soil/oil on shore by shore cleanup equipment (non-editable field)

To combine several coastline segments to a parcel, select the coastline using your mouse. Press the left mouse button, hold it down and draw a rectangular around the part of the coastline to be a parcel. Depress the left-hand button. The selected group can be added vertices with the aid of <Shift> + <Left-click> or selection of vertices can be toggled on and off by <Ctrl> + <Left-click>:

Having selected the required vertices and coastline segment for the group, select the ASSIGN PARCEL item of the coastline context menu. The “Parcels” dialog window will appear:

Click the “New Parcel” button and specify a name for the new parcel in the appeared “Create Parcel” dialog box:

Coastline


Click the “Create” to close the dialog. The newly created parcel will appear automatically selected in the “Parcels” list:

Click the “OK” button, to combine the selected coastline segments under the specified name or “Cancel” to cancel the combination and close the dialog. The line with the name of the new parcel will appear in the “Data Browser” window under the “Coastline” category:

You can combine the selected segments under an existing name, if necessary. It is usually done, if there are new data on the number/position of the segments comprising the given parcel or if the coastline has been redefined. For this purpose select the ASSIGN PARCEL command, then select the required name in the “Parcels” list and click “OK”.

Specify the ground type for the created parcel. The sequence of actions is similar to one described under 4.2.5 Coastline Type.

Specify, in the form of parcels, all coastline fragments, for which the spilled oil statistics should be known as required by the exercise conditions.

All changes of the shape of coastline are introduced at the stage of scenario preparation prior to its start only. After scenario start the coastline cannot be edited.

If you need to edit the coastline after starting the scenario, you have to return it to the starting point. For this purpose select the SCENARIO/RESET TO menu command and the “Start scenario” point in the appeared list of saved points. Then specify the coastline as you did at the scenario preparation stage.

ATTENTION!

Field of Currents


4.3 FIELD OF CURRENTS

PISCES II provides computation of current velocity and direction at each point of the impact area. These values, which continuously change within the entire impact area and within the whole scenario time slot, are called the “field of currents”.

Field of currents are built with the aid of basic vectors. A field of currents basic vector shows velocity and direction at a specified point. The vector doesn’t change its geographical position. The time dependent change of speed and direction is set in the table-driven form. For those points of the impact area, where the basic vectors are not specified, the current value is computed subject to the neighbouring vectors and coastline influence. Base current vectors can be set manually (for more details see 4.3.4 Editing Current Base Vectors), or imported from the built-in database or text files (for more details see 4.3.5 Import of Basic Field of Currents Vectors and 4.3.6 Import and Export of Current Base Vectors to File).

Where the external data on currents is represented by a large number of vectors (more than 50) set on a regular grid, it is easier to use the map of current. For more detailed description of currents see 4.3.7 Map of Current. Maps of current are not created in PISCES II scenarios manually, but are imported from XML files. More detailed description of importing maps of currents from XML and of this file format is provided under 4.3.8 Importing Maps of Currents from XML File.

4.3.1 Field of Currents Visualisation Set display of field of currents on chart. For this purpose, open the “Overlays” tab in the chart view control panel and turn on the FIELD OF CURRENTS item in the “Add Info” group (for more information see 3.3.1 Chart View Control Panel).

The chart window will display vectors corresponding to the computed values. The basic vectors are shown navy-blue; while the vectors computed from the basic one are blue:

Variation of the field of currents with time can be checked visually by running the scenario forward at a high rate of simulation.

For this purpose, click the “Play Forward” on the toolbar or select the command item SCENARIO/RUN FORWARD in the menu and set simulation rate, e.g. 1:60 or higher.

Field of Currents


4.3.2 Surface and Tidal Currents In PISCES II, you can set sea currents of two types: surface and tidal. If both, surface and tidal currents are set in a scenario, fields of surface and tidal currents are calculated independently and are then summed up to obtain a joint field.

A sample of differences between tidal and surface currents is provided in the figure below. In the first drawing, added to the initial flow field set by three base vectors of tidal currents directed to the north, is one tidal current vector directed to the west. It can be seen that the field only changes within the triangle formed by initial vectors.

On the next drawing, a surface current vector us added to the initial flow field. It can be seen that the flow field has changed uniformly throughout the entire modelling area due to the superposition of the initial “north” and added “west” current.

Field of Currents


4.3.3 Add Current Vectors To add a new current vector, select the command ENVIRONMENT/CREATE CURRENT in the menu. Use the appeared menu to select the required item depending on the type of current the vector is to be created for: surface one or tidal one.


Indicate position of the created current vector on the chart using your mouse. The program will create the current vector at the specified point and open the properties window for this vector.

Click the “Edit table” to open the “Speed and direction” dialog window containing the velocity/direction value table depending on the time for this vector:

To augment the table with a value line, click the “Insert” button. The context menu for the velocity/direction values allows the required measurement units to be set. The “Delete” button allows deletion of needless lines from the table.

Enter necessary data on the vector and click the “OK” button to save the table for the created vector or “Cancel” to interrupt parameter input and exit the dialog box.

Freshly created vectors are called the “basic vectors”. PISCES II uses them for computation of the field of currents values at each point of the impact area.

Having specified the field of currents according to the exercise conditions, visually check the obtained field at a high simulation speed.

4.3.4 Editing Current Base Vectors The list of all current base vectors created in the scenario is to be found in the “Data browser” window of the “Environment/Currents” category.

The context menu contains three commands: EDIT, DELETE and COPY:

Field of Currents


These commands make it possible to change vector parameters, copy and delete them. Selecting the EDIT command will open the vector properties window “Current Properties”:

The vector parameters editable using this panel are described in the table below:

Parameter name Parameter value

Label Text label displayed on the chart

Direction Current direction

Speed Current velocity

Position Coordinates

Lat Vector latitude

Lon Vector longitude

The “Table” button on the panel is designed for viewing and/or editing the velocity/ direction value table for the selected current vector.

The “Import from” group buttons make it possible to import a current vector again. Clicking the “T&C Database” button leads to iterated import of a current from the database of tidal and surface climatic currents, containing systematic information collected from official hard copy charts, current atlases and various tables. For more details of importing base current vectors from the built-in database see 4.3.4 Import of Basic Field of Currents Vectors.

The “File” button from the Export to group buttons allows import of the table containing relation between the velocity/direction of the current and the model time from the <file name>.srf file in case of a surface current or from the <file name>.tdl file in case of a tidal current. For more details of importing base current vectors from a file see 4.3.5 Import and Export of Current Base Vectors to File.

4.3.5 Import of Basic Field of Currents Vectors The field of currents is the most significant factor influencing spill spreading, nevertheless field specification is very laborious task, when describing environmental conditions. To make it easier, PISCES II contains databases on tidal and surface climatic currents.

The tidal current database contains systematic information collected from official paper charts, current atlases and various tables. The surface climatic current database was obtained as a result of processing data of the “National Oceanographic Data Centre” (NODC and NOAA). PISCES II imports hourly vectors from the tidal current database and monthly vectors from the surface current database. Both vector types are used as the basic ones for building the variable field of currents in PISCES II.

Field of Currents


To import vector within the impact area, select the ENVIRONMENT/T&C DATABASE menu item. The “Import currents” dialog window will appear:

In this window, use “Import time” field to set the period which the data will be imported for. The change of current will be imported for the set time period only, after this the current will be considered as constant. You can enter the period value manually directly to the “Import time” field or choose of the specified by default in the fields “Maximum import time” or “Default import time”:

• the “Maximum import time” field shows the maximum duration of the period, for which currents can be imported. Usually it is 120 hours;

• the “Default import time” field shows the period value set in PISCES II by default. Usually it is 72 hours.

Select the value you need (maximum or default one) and click the “Set”, or enter time directly in the “Import time” field.

Now you have to specify types for the currents you are going to import: surface currents and/or tidal currents. To do so it is sufficient to check the required checkboxes:

Click “OK” to import the currents or “Cancel” not to do so and exit the dialog box. The program imports currents only within the impact area. The current database might lack data for the area. In such case, a message about absence of data will be displayed:

Field of Currents


On completion of import, the “Environment/Currents” category object list and the “Data Browser” window will display lines corresponding to the imported current vectors.

If currents are imported not at the zero time point, the data to be imported are only those, starting from the current model time. For the times, which are less than the current model time, the current velocities and direction are equal to 0.

4.3.6 Import and Export of Current Base Vectors to File The list of currents specified in the scenario, and their parameters can be exported to a text file. The created file can be used as a template, which can be then edited manually and loaded to a PISCES II scenario.

Access to the current export is via the ENVIRONMENT/PUT TO FILE command of the menu, which opens the “Export” window:

To export currents to a file, it is necessary to enter the common part of the names of the files, to which the data are to be exported. For this purpose, click the “Browse” button and specify the path to and the name of created files. By default, the files will be created in the current working folder, and the common part of the names of the files will coincided with the scenario name. The specified name and path to the files, where the data are to be exported, will be shown in the line “Path and base name” at the bottom of the window:

ATTENTION!

Field of Currents


Check the current types to be exported:

Click the “OK” button, to export to the file or “Cancel” not to do that and close the dialog box. On completion of data export, a window with an export result message will appear:

The export operation will result in creation of the following files:

File name Purpose

<common name>.foc When field of currents are exported, an individual file is created for each current base vector to be exported. The <common name>.foc file contains a list of all created files and coordinates of each current

<common name> <current label>.srf

File, containing the table of relation between the velocity and direction of the surface climatic current and the time. Such file is created for each surface climatic current to be exported

<common name> <current label>.tdl

File, containing the table of relation between the velocity and direction of the tidal current and the time. Such file is created for each tidal current to be exported

No label of any current can contain symbols \ /: * ? “ < >. Otherwise, the whole field of currents will not be exported.

The created files can be edited manually or added with data obtained from external sources, and loaded to a PISCES scenario.

To load data on a field of currents from a file, use the ENVIRONMENT/GET FROM FILE menu command to open the “Import” window:

Click the “Browse” button and specify the file to import data from. Selection of the file in the “Import” window will result in unblocking selection of the parameters, data on which are contained in the selected file as well as in the cognominal files located in the same folder.

ATTENTION!

Field of Currents


Check the “Surface currents” and/or “Tidal currents” checkboxes, if the latter are not disabled. Click the “OK” button to import currents, or “Cancel” to close the dialog box without any change event scrip to the existing field of currents.

On completion of import, a window with current import results will appear:

The list of objects in the “Environment/Currents” category in the “Data browser” window will display the lines corresponding to the imported current vectors.

If currents are imported not at the zero time point, the data to be imported are only those, starting from the current model time. For the times, which are less than the current model time, the current velocities and direction are equal to 0, if the imported current did not existed before, or if the current velocity/direction were left unchanged.

Please note that the impact area boundaries are not taken into consideration during current import from a file as contrary to import from the inbuilt database. All currents specified in the <file name>.foc file will be imported whatever their coordinates.

4.3.7 Map of Currents The map of currents is a table with a large number of current vectors set on a rectangular regular grid. All the maps of currents set in the scenario are shown in “Data browser” window in “Environment/Currents” category together with base current vectors:

ATTENTION!

Field of Currents


The context menu of the map of currents contains two commands: EDIT and DELETE. Select EDIT command from the context menu. A window with properties of the map of currents will open up:

Parameters of the map of current which are displayed in the properties window, are described in the table below:

Parameter name Description of parameter

Name Name of map of currents

Label Text label shown on the chart

Reference point: • Lat; • Lon

Coordinates of the centre of the map-of-currents rectangular area: • Latitude; • Longitude

Width Width of the map-of-currents rectangular area

Height Length of the map-of-currents rectangular area

Dimensions Number of points in which the current direction and velocity is ser, vertically and horizontally. In the rest of map-of-currents points, the field of currents is calculated form the set values

Superposition Option for taking into account base current vectors. If this option is off, base vectors of tidal and climatic currents are not taken into account in constructing a field of currents within the map of currents

To delete a map of currents, select DELETE command from its context menu.

4.3.8 Importing Maps of Currents from XML File To import a map of currents from the XML file, switch to “Scenario Checklist” window, and from the context menu of ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS/FIELD OF CURRENTS menu item, select NEW MAP OF CURRENTS…. command. In the window, which will open up, specify the path to the XML file containing a table of current vectors, and press “Open” button to export the map of currents, or “Cancel” button to close the file selection window without importing the map of currents.

After the end of import, presentation of the map-of-currents rectangular area will appear on the chart:

An entry on the imported map of currents will appear in the data navigator in “Environment/Currents” category.

Field of Currents


Format of File Describing Map of Currents PISCES II delivery set includes Map Of Currents 1.xml and Map Of Currents 2.xml files containing samples of map-of-currents description. These files are stored in PISCES II/ConstData/ExportImport/Samples directory. The Map Of Currents 1.xml file contains description of a currents map, which works along the whole length of the scenario. A current map described in the Map Of Currents 2.xml file works the exact time interval and includes several different plans with the exact time of their action. You can create your own descriptions of maps of currents on the basis of these files file by substituting the required data keeping the file structure intact.

The first line of map-of-currents description file describes the file format and does not vary: <?xml version=”1.0” encoding=”WINDOWS-1251”?>.

All the further description of map-of-current parameters is closed in tags <MapOfCurrents Version=”1.0”> </MapOfCurrents>.

The first line of the map-of-currents description contains the name of the map of currents closed in tags <Name></Name>, e.g:

<Name>Ladoga lake, spring, wind 11.02, N-W</Name>

Map-of-currents parameter values closed in tags <Description> </Description>, <WindValue type=”SpeedVector”></Wind Value>, <Season type=”AnnualInterval”></Season> are not used in constructing the map of currents, neither are they imported to PISCES II. Use them for the description of conditions whereunder the map of currents was calculated. The format of condition description block is provided below:

<Description>Description</Description>

<WindValue type=”SpeedVector”>

<Speed Unit=”m/s”>Wind speed in m/s</Speed>

<Direction Current=”from” Unit=”degrees”>Wind direction in degrees</Direction>

</WindValue>

<Season type=”AnnualInterval”>

<Begin type=”Date”>

<Month Unit=”decimal”>number of month</Month>

</Begin>

<End type=”Date”>

<Month Unit=”decimal”>number of month</Month>

</End>

</Season>

Field of Currents


After the description of conditions for calculating the map of currents, set in <GeoRectangle></GeoRectangle> tags is the position of the map of currents on the chart. The table below lists map-of-currents parameters in <GeoRectangle></GeoRectangle> block, which determine the geographic referencing of the map of currents:

Name Purpose

<ReferencePoint type="Position">

<Latitude type="Angle" Unit="degrees">Latitude</Latitude>

<Longitude type="Angle" Unit="degrees">Longitude</Longitude>

</ReferencePoint>

Specifies the latitude and longitude (in degrees) of the field-of – currents centre in degrees. The negative latitude value means that the map-of-currents centre is situated in the south hemisphere. With the setting of a negative longitude, the map of currents will be situated in the western hemisphere

<Rotation type="Angle" Unit="degrees">Angle</Rotation>

Angle between a side of the map of currents and the meridian

<Rectangle>

<Width type="Distance" Unit="m">Width</Width>

<Height type="Distance" Unit="m">Height</Height>

</Rectangle>

Dimensions of rectangular map-of -currents area

After the description of the geographic referencing of the map of currents there is a <SpeedVectorsPlanes></ SpeedVectorsPlanes> block, which determine the number of plans and their operation time. The format of this block is provided below:

<SpeedVectorPlanes type="Container" Columns=”number of points along the width of rectangular map-of-currents area, in which current speed and direction are set” Rows=” number of points along the length of rectangular map-of-currents area, in which current speed and direction are set” AngleUnit=”degrees” SpeedUnit=”m/s” TimeUnit="DD.MM.YYYY HH:MM">

<Item type="Plane">

<Time> DD.MM.YYYY HH:MM </Time>

<RawDataOfSpeedVectors></RawDataOfSpeedVectors>

</Item>

<Item type="Plane">

<Time> DD.MM.YYYY HH:MM </Time>

<RawDataOfSpeedVectors></RawDataOfSpeedVectors>

</Item>

…

</SpeedVectorPlanes >

Within <RawDataOfSpeedVectors></RawDataOfSpeedVectors> block, listed one after another are digit pairs divided with spaces, setting the direction and speed of current in grid nodes.

Field of Winds


The format of a block of data determining a field of currents within the map of currents is provided below:

<RawDataOfSpeedVectors>

current speed in m/s current direction in degrees

current speed in m/s current direction in degrees

…

</RawDataOfSpeedVectors>

4.3.9 Displaying Field of Currents in the Chart Window The ENVIRONMENT/SHOW CURRENTS checkbox in the program menu is designed for turning ON/OFF representation of the field of currents in the chart window.

If the checkbox is checked, the chart window will show the computed field of currents. Otherwise the chart window will show basic vectors and maps of currents only.

4.4 FIELD OF WINDS

PISCES II provides computation of wind velocity and direction at each point of the impact area. These values, which continuously change within the entire impact area and within the whole scenario time slot, are called the “field of winds”.

Field of winds are built with the aid of basic vectors. A field of winds basic vector shows velocity and direction at a specified point. The vector doesn’t change its geographical position. The time dependent change of speed and direction is set in the table-driven form. For those points of the impact area, where the basic vectors are not specified, the wind value is computed subject to the neighbouring vectors. Base wind vectors can be set manually (for more details see 4.4.2 Add Wind Vectors), or imported from the text files (for more details see 4.4.4 Import and Export of Wind Base Vectors to File).

4.4.1 Field of Winds Visualisation Set display of field of winds on chart. For this purpose, open the “Overlays” tab in the chart view control panel and turn on the FIELD OF WINDS item in the “Add Info” group (for more information see 3.3.1 Chart View Control Panel).

Field of Winds


The chart window will display vectors corresponding to the computed values. The basic vectors are shown with bold green lines; while the vectors computed from the basic one are shown in thin green lines:

The wind vector length depends on the wind speed; in addition, at the beginning of each vector there is a “feathering” meaning the wind force. A long feather corresponds to the 5 m/s speed, a short feather – 2 m/s.

4.4.2 Add Wind Vectors To add a new wind vector, select the command ENVIRONMENT/CREATE WINDVECTOR… in the menu.


Indicate position of the created wind vector on the chart using your mouse. The program will create the wind vector at the specified point and open the properties window for this vector. Click the “Edit table” to open the “Speed and direction” dialog window containing the velocity/direction value table depending on the time for this vector:

To augment the table with a value line, click the “Insert” button. The context menu for the velocity/direction values allows the required measurement units to be set. The context menu can also be used for selecting the wind direction setting method: where the wind is blowing from and to.

The “Delete” button allows deletion of needless lines from the table.

Field of Winds


Enter necessary data on the vector and click the “OK” button to save the table for the created vector or “Cancel” to interrupt parameter input and exit the dialog box.

Freshly created vectors are called the “basic vectors”. PISCES II uses them for computation of the field of winds values at each point of the impact area.

Having specified the field of winds according to the exercise conditions, visually check the obtained field at a high simulation speed.

For this purpose, click the “Play Forward” on the toolbar or select the command item SCENARIO/RUN FORWARD in the menu and set simulation rate, e.g. 1:60 or higher.

4.4.3 Editing Wind Vectors The list of all wind base vectors created in the scenario is to be found in the “Data browser” window of the “Environment/Winds” category.

The context menu contains three commands: EDIT, DELETE and COPY:

These commands make it possible to change vector parameters, copy and delete them. Selecting the EDIT command will open the vector properties window “Wind Properties”:

Field of Winds


The vector parameters editable using this panel are described in the table below:

Parameter name Parameter value


Direction Wind direction

Speed Wind velocity

Position Coordinates

Lat Vector latitude

Lon Vector longitude

The “Table” button on the panel is designed for viewing and/or editing the velocity/ direction value table for the selected wind vector.

The “Import from file…” button makes it possible to import the table containing the velocity/direction relationof the wind and the model time from the <file name>.wnd file. The “Export to file…” button allows import of the table containing velocity/direction relation of the wind and the model time in the <file name>.wnd file. For more details of importing base wind vectors from a file see 4.3.5 Import and Export of Current Base Vectors to File.

4.4.4 Import and Export of Wind Base Vectors to File The list of winds specified in the scenario, and their parameters can be exported to a text file. The created file can be used as a template, which can be then edited manually and loaded to a PISCES II scenario.

Access to the wind export is via the ENVIRONMENT/PUT TO FILE command of the menu, which opens the “Export” window:

To export winds to a file, it is necessary to enter the common part of the names of the files, to which the data are to be exported. For this purpose, click the “Browse” button and specify the path to and the name of created files. By default, the files will be created in the current working folder, and the common part of the names of the files will coincided with the scenario name. The specified name and path to the files, where the data are to be exported, will be shown in the line “Path and base name” at the bottom of the window:

Field of Winds


Check the “Wind” checkbox by left mouse and click the “OK” button, to export to the file or “Cancel” not to do that and close the dialog box. On completion of data export, a window with an export result message will appear:


File name Purpose

<common name>.fow When field of winds are exported, an individual file is created for each wins base vector to be exported. The <common name>.fow file contains a list of all created files and coordinates of each wind

<common name> <wind label>.wnd

File, containing the table of relation between the velocity and direction of the wind and the time. Such file is created for each wind to be exported

No label of any wind can contain symbols \ / : * ? “ < >. Otherwise, the whole field of winds will not be exported.

The created files can be edited manually or added with data obtained from external sources, and loaded to a PISCES scenario.

To load data on a field of winds from a file, use the ENVIRONMENT/GET FROM FILE menu command to open the “Import” window:

Click the “Browse” button and specify the file to import data from. Selection of the file in the “Import” window will result in unblocking selection of the parameters, data on which are contained in the selected file as well as in the cognominal files located in the same folder.

Check the “Wind” checkboxe, if the latter is not disabled. Click the “OK” button to import winds, or “Cancel” to close the dialog box without any change event scrip to the existing field of winds.

ATTENTION!

External Sources of Hydrometeorological Data


On completion of import, a window with wind import results will appear:

The list of objects in the “Environment/Winds” category in the “Data browser” window will display the lines corresponding to the imported wind vectors.

If wind are imported not at the zero time point, the data to be imported are only those, starting from the current model time. For the times, which are less than the current model time, the wind velocities and direction are equal to 0, if the imported wind did not existed before, or if the wind velocity/direction were left unchanged.

Please note that the impact area boundaries are not taken into consideration during wind import from a file. All winds specified in the <file name>.fow file will be imported whatever their coordinates.

4.4.5 Displaying Field of Winds in the Chart Window The ENVIRONMENT/SHOW WINDS checkbox in the program menu is designed for turning ON/OFF representation of the field of winds in the chart window.

If the checkbox is checked, the chart window will show the computed field of winds. Otherwise the chart window will show basic vectors and maps of winds only.

4.5 EXTERNAL SOURCES OF HYDROMETEOROLOGICAL DATA

The hydrometeorological information (HMI) supplied by the external sources like automatic weather stations, meteo buoys, etc., is processed by the special program: Meteo Data Server which transmits it via HMI protocol used in PISCES II. The Meteo Data Server is custom developed for each data source type. PISCES II is connected to the external data source server via HMI protocol; after this, it queries the server at regular intervals about the required parameter values and updates the current values of its parameters on the basis of the received data.

The PISCES II delivery set includes, as an example, a server for reading HMI data from the text files (for more details see under PISCES II (V. 2.90). UTILITIES, section 8. Meteo Data Server). For the data exchange between PISCES II and Meteo Data Server, the Meteo Data Communicator task should be activated. The Meteo Data Communicator can receive data from several Meteo Data Servers, and for each of them a communication channel should be created (for more details see under PISCES II (V. 2.90). UTILITIES, section 6.3 Meteo Data Communicator).

After the creation of communication channels in the Meteo Data Communicator, the PISCES scenario will display a list of active HMI sources in the data navigator in ”Environment/External weather sources” category. Select one of the sources in the list of objects and select “Edit” command from its context menu.

ATTENTION!

External Sources of Hydrometeorological Data


The window which will open up, presents the HMI source parameters:

The table below describes parameters of an external weather data source:

Field Purpose

Name Uneditable value. Name of the communication channel. Matches the name of the communication channel set in the Meteo Data Communicator

Label Uneditable value. A text label of an object which will be displayed on the chart

Position Uneditable value. Coordinates of the weather data source

Status Uneditable value. Status of connection with the HMI source. In the source of successful connection, the “Status” field displays “Connected” value, “No connection” otherwise. “No data” value means absence of data for the requested time

Update time Uneditable value. Time of the latest data updating in the communication channel. After the scenario start, the Meteo Data Communicator requests for the data updating every 30 minutes of modelled time

Use as current This option allows import, from the HMI source, of data on the speed and direction of the surface current located in the same coordinates as the HMI source

Use as wind This option allows import, from the HMI source, of data on the speed and direction of the wind located in the same coordinates as the HMI source

To look up the current values of weather parameters, switch to the “Data” tab:

For the parameters of weather conditions which the weather data source provides no data on, “Value” field displays “N/A” (“not available”).

To receive data from the weather data source on the speed and direction of the current on the water surface, return to the “General” page and set the “Use as a current” checkbox.

The checking of the “Use as a wind” checkbox on the “General” page allows data on the wind direction and velocity to be received.

Weather Conditions


Press the “OK” button to receive data on the surface current, or the “Cancel” button to close the window of the HMI source properties.

On the chart, sources of hydrometeorological data are shown in the following way:

4.6 WEATHER CONDITIONS

Weather conditions in PISCES II are given in the form of table-driven dependence for a certain period of time assuming to be similar within the whole impact area.

They are described with the following parameters:

• Water temperature;

• Air temperature;

• Wave height;

• Water density;

• Nebulosity.

To specify/edit some parameter, select the ENVIRONMENT/WEATHER CONDITIONS button in the program menu. The action will open the “Weather” window containing the table of weather condition data:

For example, to specify water temperature, double click on the required item. It will open the “Temperature” dialog box with the table of water temperature depending on time:

The created table shows wind parameters for the moment of scenario start. If the exercise conditions require constant water temperature, only the temperature value is to be edited in the table.

Weather Conditions


If water temperature changes with time, the table should be added a required nom of lines with temperature values for specified time moments. To do this, use the “Insert” button. By default, the table is added lines in increments of 30 minutes. Edit values of time, water temperature in accordance with exercise conditions.

The context menu for the temperature values allows the required measurement units to be set. The “Delete” button allows deletion of needless lines from the table.

Click the “OK” button to save the table or “Cancel” to enter water temperature.

The rest of weather conditions (air temperature, sea state, nebulosity) are set and edited in a similar manner. Nebulosity in PISCES II is set in integers from 0 to 10. The nebulosity value of 0 corresponds to the fair weather, 10 – to overcast.

Water density, in PISCES II, is set as permanent for the whole time of scenario. Select the item “Water density” in the “Weather” table and click the “Edit value” button to open the “Water density” dialog window specifying the current water density value:

Edit the value if necessary and click the “OK” button to save the specified value of density or “Cancel” to quit editing and close the dialog box.

4.6.1 Import and Export of Weather Conditions to Text File The change of weather condition parameters versus time can be exported to text files. The created files can be used as a template, which can be later edited manually and loaded to a PISCES II scenario.

Access to the weather condition export function is via the ENVIRONMENT/PUT TO FILE menu command, which opens the “Export” window:

In order to export weather conditions to a file, it is necessary to enter the common part of the names of the files, to which the data are to be exported. For this purpose, click the “Browse” button and specify the path to and the common name of created files. By default, the files will be created in the current working folder, and the common file name will coincided with the scenario name. The specified name and path to the files, where the data are to be exported, will be shown in the line “Export” at the bottom of the window:

Weather Conditions


Check the checkboxes for the weather condition parameters to be exported. Click the “OK” button, to export to the file or “Cancel” not to do that and close the dialog box. On completion of data export, a window with an export result message will appear.


File name Purpose

<file name>.air File contains dependence of air temperature versus model time <file name>.wtr File contains dependence of water temperature versus model time <file name>.sea File contains dependence of sea height versus model time

The created files can be edited manually, added with data obtained from external sources, and loaded to a PISCES scenario. It is also possible to export wind vectors (for more information see 4.4.4 Import and Export of Wind Base Vectors to File) and current vectors (for more information see 4.3.6 Import and Export of Current Base Vectors to File).

To load weather conditions from a file, use the ENVIRONMENT/GET FROM FILE menu command, which opens the “Import” window:

Click “Browse” and specify file to import data from. Selection of the file in the “Import” window will result in unblocking the checkboxes for those import parameters, data on which are contained in the selected file as well as in the cognominal files located in the same folder.

In the “Weather” checkbox group, check the unblocked parameters to be imported. Click “OK” to import the select weather conditions or “Cancel” to close the dialog box without introduction of any changes to the scenario weather conditions.

On completion of import, a window with import result message will appear:

If weather conditions are imported not at the zero time point, the data to be imported are only those, starting from the current model time. The table of dependence of the parameter to be imported versus time will not be changed for the time less than the current model time.

Weather Conditions


It is also possible to export wind vectors (for more information see 4.4.4 Import and Export of Wind Base Vectors to File) and current vectors (for more information see 4.3.6 Import and Export of Current Base Vectors to File).

In the same way, you can import weather conditions, using the “Import” button on the panel of properties of water temperature or air temperature, or the “File” button on the panel of properties of wind velocity/direction or that of the sea state.

4.6.2 Connection to External Data Source

Switch to the “Environment/Weather” category in the data navigator, and on the objects panel select one of weather condition parameters, e.g. water temperature. The properties panel will display the current temperature value and “Source” field which initially contains “Table” value, which is an indication of the fact that values of this weather parameter are set manually rather than being imported from an external source. Values of the wind speed and direction, water temperature and ambient temperature in a PISCES II scenario can be both, set by a table of values and imported from an external source via a Meteo Data Server communication channel by using the Meteo Data Communicator (for more details see under PISCES II (V. 2.90). UTILITIES, section 8. Meteo Data Server).

To import weather data from an external source, select the “Ext. Source” option button on the weather parameter properties panel:

The window which will open up, will display a list of communication channels with the meteo data server, which contain data on the selected weather condition parameter:

You can look up the list of existing communication channels with the Meteo Data Server in the “Environment/External weather sources” category of the data navigator (for more details see under 4.4 External Sources of Hydrometeorological Data).

Ice Conditions


Select the communication channel name and press the “OK” button to connect to the channel, or the “Cancel” button to close the “Select source” window. After the successful connection to the communication channel, “Source” field on the weather conditions parameter panel will display the name of the channel.

If a data source communication channel is deleted or turned off, “Source” field displays the word “removed” after the channel name, and the scenarios takes into account the last value received in the data import.

After the scenario has been run, a request for the HMI (Hydrometeorological information) updating is sent every half hour of the modelled time.

4.7 ICE CONDITIONS

PISCES II supports “pack ice area” and “fast ice area” objects for modelling an oil spill in ice conditions (for more details see section 5.3.2 Interaction with Environment). Oil/ice interaction can be disabled in the oil spill properties window by unchecking “Ice interaction”.

The instructor creates fast ice areas or pack ice areas manually (for more details see section 4.7.1 Set Ice Conditions). To build ice areas, you can use ice charts imported to the scenario (for more details see section 4.7.2 Ice Chart).

4.7.1 Set Ice Conditions In PISCES II, you can set fast ice or brash ice areas. Ice is set as a polygonal area whose form and parameters can be changed by the instructor at any moment of the scenario. The characteristic common for both ice types is thickness. For pack ice, concentration value varying from 0 to 1, is set. Concentration shows a ratio between the area covered with ice and the entire area.

Fast Ice To create a fast ice area, you can use CREATE ICE/FAST ICE… command of ENVIRONMENT menu. The selection of this command opens “Fast Ice Properties” panel:

ATTENTION!

Ice Conditions


Set the ice area name which will be shown in the data window, in “Name” field. “Thickness” field is used for setting the ice thickness. After setting the parameters, press “Set to chart” button to set the ice field form and on-chart position, or Cancel, button to cancel the setting of the area and close the dialogue box. Use the mouse to set vertexes of a polygon and press the right mouse button to save the set area, or <Escape> to exit from the ice field setting mode. On the chart, the newly created fast ice filed is shown as a light grey polygon:

Pack Ice To create pack ice, select PACK ICE command from CREATE ICE submenu of the main ENVIRONMENT menu. In the dialogue box which will appear, se ice concentration in Concentration field.

The further procedure for creating pack ice is similar to the creation of fast ice. On the chart, the newly created area is shown as follows:

You can see the list of all ice fields set in the scenario in Ice conditions window opened by WINDOW/ICE CONDITIONS… menu command.

Ice fields created in the scenario are edited in much the same way as the rest of polygonal areas in PISCES II.

Ice Conditions


To change parameters of an ice field, select it from the list in Ice conditions window, and from the context menu select EDIT command. In the ice properties window which will open up, make changes in the ice parameters and press “OK” to save changes you have made, or Cancel to close the dialogue box without saving changes.

Procedures for changing the ice area form and on-chart position are similar to those used for the rest of polygonal PISCES II objects (for more details see 4.2.3 Edit Coastline).

To delete ice, select on the chart and choose Delete command from the context menu.

4.7.2 Ice Chart PISCES II shows information on the ice condition imported from SIGRID3 format charts.

Only SIGRID3 format charts where all the polygons are set with geographic coordinates, can be loaded in PISCES II. Loading charts which use projections may result in the program failure and scenario data corruption.

Ice charts only serve for illustrating the environment and have no effect on the model operation. To take into account the effect of the ice on an oil spill, the instructor should create fast and pack ice areas manually (see section 4.7.1 Set Ice Conditions).

To load an ice chart in the scenario, select ICE MAP command from CREATE ICE submenu of the menu ENVIRONMENT item. The dialogue box which will open up displays a list of all the available charts:

Select a chart from the list and press “OK” to import ice, or Cancel to close the dialogue box.

Ice condition will be shown on the chart:

ATTENTION!

Environmental Sensitive Areas


The list of all the loaded ice charts is displayed in Ice conditions window opened by choosing menu WINDOW/ICE CONDITIONS command. To change the chart name, select it from the list and select EDIT command from the context menu. In the window which will open up, set a new chart name in Name field and press “OK”, or press “Cancel” to close the dialogue box without changing the chart name. You can delete the ice chart by selecting it from the list and choosing “Delete” command from its context menu.

4.8 ENVIRONMENTAL SENSITIVE AREAS

Environmental Sensitive Areas (ESA) are geographical areas, where scenario conditions require taking into account unfavourable influence of the oil spill. ESA might include, for instance, protected zones, recreational zones, wildlife habitats, etc.

The environmental sensitive areas discover presence of oil and automatically generate a warning and an entry to the event script. For polluted areas, PISCES makes it possible to identify the impact the oil has rendered on the species inhabiting the area.

To open an environmental sensitive area, select the ENVIRONMENT/CREATE ESA command in the menu. The “ESA Properties” dialog window will appear:

Enter the object name in the “Name” field and a label in the “Label” field.

The “State” field cannot be edited by the user, it indicates oil presence at the given ESA object at the current time.

Neither can you edit the “Oil Impact Time” field, it shows the time of oil entering the given ESA object.

Using the “Environmental Impact” you can specify a list of species inhabiting the given ESA:

The “Add” button allows addition of a new species to the list. The added line in the tab is highlighted in red until the moment, when statistics is calculated in reference to bions injured by the spill (see the section 5.4.4 Environmental Impact Statistics for more detailed information on the ecological sensitivity areas).

Edit the initial number of species bions in the “Initial amount” field of the table. Use the “LC50” and “Time LC50” fields to specify oil concentration sufficient for death of half of bions of the given species, and time period, in which they die due the given concentration.



The “Remove” button allows deletion of the selected species from the list.

Using the “Import” button, you can select one or more species with preset parameters from a text file. Click the “Import” button. A window will open allowing to specify the path to the *.bio file containing information on species in the lines following appearance: <Group><Subgroup><Name><Scientific name><LC50><Time LC50>.

The scope of PISCES II supply includes one standard file Environmental Impact.bio with information on the species listed in the table above. The Environmental Impact.bio file is located in the PISCESII/ConstData/ExportImport/Samples folder. You can edit this file using any text editor, or create your own files with the.bio extension.

Selection of a file will result in opening the “Select species” window displaying the following data:

Check the checkboxes in the left-hand table column for the species you would like to import and click “OK” to add selected species to the ESA species list or “Cancel” to close the dialog box without adding the selected species to the list.

Now you have to specify an ESA form and its position on chart. Click the “Set To Chart” button on the “Create ESA” panel.

The dialog box will close, and the mouse cursor will assume the following form:

Use your mouse to specify vertices of the polygon defining the environmental sensitive area to be created and press the right-hand button to save the specified area or <Escape> to exit the polygon specification mode.

You can create as many ESA objects as required by the exercise conditions.



To edit an ESA object, select it by a left click. Its context menu contains a number of commands for changing the object properties. These commands are described in the table below:

Command Purpose

Properties Opening the object properties menu

Hide/Show Icon Toggling display of the object icon

Hide/Show Label Toggling display of the object level

Move Icon Moving the object icon

Delete Deleting the object

Delete Points Deleting object point(s)

At the state of scenario preparation, the polygon defining the environmental sensitive area can be edited: dragged, vertice added/deleted.

To move an object, select it and drag it to a new place keeping the mouse left button pressed. Depress the left button, when the object is at the required place.

To edit some object vertices, press the left mouse button, hold it down and draw a rectangular around the group you need. Depress the left button. Now the selected group can be added vertices with the aid of <Shift> + <Left-click> or selection of vertices can be toggled ON and OFF by <Ctrl> + <Left-click>.

To move the selected vertices, press the mouse left-hand button and drag the selected group of points to a new place. Depress it, when the points will be in the required position.

To remove vertices, select the DELETE POINTS command in the ESA object context menu. The selected vertices will be deleted, and the object will be regenerated subject to these changes.

Location Points


4.9 LOCATION POINTS

Each response resource is assigned a Location Point. Each entry in the event script is also associated with a location point.

A scenario always features the main location point, designating the simulation area as a whole and an arbitrary number of ordinary location points, designating individual key points.

The location Points are shown on the chart as blue triangular flags.

4.9.1 Main Location Point PISCES II automatically places the main location in the impact area centre. Double click on the MAIN LOCATION POINT item in the “Scenario Checklist” window. The chart window will automatically focus on this object. By default, all newly created response resources will come to the main location point, unless specified otherwise.

The context menu of the main location point contains following commands:

Command Purpose

PROPERTIES Opening the object properties menu

HIDE/SHOW LABEL Hiding/showing the object level

MOVE ICON Moving an icon to a specified place

Select the PROPERTIES item in the context menu of the main location point to open the “Main Location Points Properties” window:

The “Location Point General” tab allows the name/label (fields “Name” and “Label”) of the main location point to be edited. It is desirable that the name of the main location point would define the entire area as a whole.

The program specifies main location point coordinates in the “Lat”/“Long” fields automatically. These fields cannot be edited by the user.

To change the main location point icon, click the area:

Choose a suitable icon and press “OK” to set it or “Cancel” not to change it and close the dialog box.

The “Arrived Units” tab contains information on the response resources assigned to the main location point.

Location Points


4.9.2 Additional Location Points To create an additional location point, select the CREATE LOCATION POINT command in the LOCATIONS context menu item of the “Data Browser” main data window:

Properties of the additional location point are specified in much the same fashion as those of the main location point, the sole exception being that the item context menu will also feature the DELETE command designed to delete the object.


5. CHAPTER 5 Pollution Parameters

Spill Sources

Chapter 5. Pollution Parameters 121

5.1 SPILL SOURCES

5.1.1 New Spill Source PISCES II simulates three types of spills:

• Leak source – featuring leakage rate depending on time and the source route;

• Point source – featuring oil mass and spill coordinates, assuming that the entire oil mass is released at once;

• Area source – featuring oil mass and the initial slick form. Here it is assumed that the entire oil mass is instantaneously distributed as a flat layer over the specified area.

To specify a new spill source, use the program menu to select the command POLLUTION/NEW SPILL SOURCE. Select the required spill type in the menu:

Leak Source To create a new source of the “Leak” type in the scenario, use the menu to select the command POLLUTION/NEW SPILL SOURCE/LEAK SOURCE. The “Oil Leak Source Properties” dialog box will appear:

The “Leak Source” tab enables you to specify parameters of the source of leakage, described in the table below:

Field Purpose

Name Source name


Start time Leakage start time, which is counted from the scenario execution start

Default speed Default speed of the spill source

The “Export” button allows the spill source data to be saved to an XML-file (for more information see. 5.1.6 Export and Import of Spill Sources).

Spill Sources


The “Edit Spill Rate” button allows you to specify/edit the rate of oil spilling. Click this button to open the “Spill Rate” table:

The table shows the rate of oil product flow.

The “Insert” button allows new data lines to be added to the table. The “Delete” button removes unnecessary lines from the table. The “Total amount” field shows the total quantity of oil to be spilled.

Edit the data in the table in accordance with the scenario conditions and click “OK” to save the changes or “Cancel” to close the table cancelling the changes.

To change the source icon, click the zone on the page “Leak Source” in the source properties window.

Select a suitable icon from the list and press “OK” to set it or “Cancel” to close the dialog box without saving.

The “Set To Chart” button makes it possible to specify the initial point and travel route of the spill source. Click the button and use your mouse on the chart to indicate the point of initial spill location and the key points of the spill source travel route. Right click after defining the route in full or <Escape> to return to editing the source properties.

It will open the “Route” table describing the spill source travel route (coordinates of the route key points, travel speed at the segments starting from the given points, expected time of spill source arrival at the given points):

Spill Sources


The user can edit the “Speed” and “Stop time” fields in accordance with scenario conditions. The “Alarm” checkboxes in the table are designed to ensure an alarm signal at the time of spill source arrival at the given points.

You can invoke the “Route” table using the “Edit Route” button in the “Oil Leak Source Properties” window or context menu “Edit Route”, if necessary.

In addition to parameters specified on the tab “Leak Source”, there are non-editable fields there. They display information describing the status of the spill source at the current time. These fields are listed in the table below:

Field Purpose

Status Source status (This is described more fully in the section 5.1.5 Source Behaviour)

Current spill rate Current rage of oil release

Total amount Total quantity of oil to be spilled

Amount spilled Amount of spilled oil

Position Current position of the spill source

Latitude Source latitude

Longitude Source longitude

The process of setting properties for an oil product is described under the paragraph 5.1.2 Set Oil Product Properties.

Point Spill To create a point spill source in the scenario, select the POLLUTION/NEW SPILL SOURCE/ POINT SOURCE menu command. This will open the “Oil Point Source Properties” dialog box:

The “Point Source” tab allows you to specify the point spill source parameters described in the table below:

Field Purpose

Name Source name



Total amount Total quantity of oil, which will be spilled

The “Export” button allows the spill source data to be saved to an XML-file (for more information see 5.1.6 Export and Import of Spill Sources)

Spill Sources


The “Set To Chart” button is designed to specify the spill source location. Press this button and indicate the spill source on-chart location with the mouse, or set the source coordinates in “Latitude” and “Longitude” fields and press “OK” button. The point spill source will be represented on chart, as follows:

To change the source icon, select the created source in the chart panel and select from the context menu the command PROPERTIES.

In the opened window of source properties click the area on the “Point source” page:


In addition to parameters specified on the “Point Source” tab, there are non-editable fields. They display information describing the status of the spill source at the current time and its coordinates. These fields are listed in the table below:

Field Purpose

Status Source status (This is described more fully in the section 5.1.5 Source Behaviour)

Position Spill source coordinates



Setting oil product properties for a point spill source is described in the paragraph 5.1.2 Set Oil Product Properties.

Area Source To create a new source of the area source select the POLLUTION/NEW SPILL SOURCE/AREA SOURCE menu command. This will open the “Oil Area Source Properties” dialog box:

The “Area Source” tab enables you to specify parameters of the area source described in the table below:

Field Purpose

Name Source name



Total amount Total quantity of spilled oil

Spill Sources


The “Export” button allows the spill source data to be saved to an XML-file (for more information see 5.1.6 Export and Import of Spill Sources). The “Set to Chart” button allows you to specify the spill source position. Click the button and use your mouse on the chart to indicate a polygonal area delimiting the spill source. Right click to finish area delineation. The spill source will be represented on the chart as follows:

To change the source icon, select the created source in the chart panel and select from the context menu the command PROPERTIES.

In the opened window of source properties click the area on the “Area” page:


In addition to parameters specified on the tab Area Source”, there are non-editable fields there. They display information describing the status of the spill source at the current time and its coordinates. These fields are listed in the table below:

Field Purpose

Status Source status (this is described more fully in the section 5.1.5 Source Behaviour)

Initial area Spill area

Centre of the spill Spill source centre coordinates



Setting oil product properties for this source is described in the paragraph 5.1.2 Set Oil Product Properties.

5.1.2 Set Oil Product Properties The “Product” tab in the properties dialog boxes for all kinds of sources allows the grades and parameters of oil products to be specified. To invoke the source property window, select it in the data window of the “Pollution/Spill sources” can, and select the “Edit” command from the context menu:

Spill Sources


The oil product grade can be selected from the PISCES II database, and then you can edit any product parameter, if necessary.

The changes introduced to product parameters are saved to the current scenario only, i.e. they won’t be entered to the PISCES II database. To save the changed product parameters in the database or to add a new oil product grade, use the “Oil specification editor” utility.

To select an oil product from the database, click the “Select” button. It will open the “Select Product Type” table listing all oil product names available in the database as well as their characteristics: type (raw/refined), density group, density and distillation curve:

Choose a product and press “OK” to select it or “Cancel” to close the table.

The oil product parameters, which can be entered/edited are listed in the table below.

Parameter Purpose

Name Product name

Type Product type: raw or refined

Density Product density

Surface tension Product surface tension

Viscosity Product viscosity

Maximum water content Value showing the maximum content of water in the emulsion

Pour point As the ambient temperature drops to the oil congelation point, spread and weathering processes stop

Flash point As the ambient temperature drops to the oil congelation point, burning process stops

Emulsification constant Emulsification constant specifies the proportion of oil which has to evaporate to start emulsification process

The table provided on the “Product” tab allows the oil product distillation curve to be edited:

The “Insert” and “Delete” buttons under the table allow lines to be added/deleted, respectively.

ATTENTION!

Spill Sources


Edit oil product parameters on the “Product” tab in accordance with the scenario conditions and click “OK” to save the changes or “Cancel” to close the spill properties window.

5.1.3 Simultaneous Simulation of Several Sources More than one spill source can be specified within a scenario. Parameters for each one are specified independently.

The list of all spill sources available in the scenario can be viewed in the “Pollution/Spill Sources” category of the “Data Browser” window.

5.1.4 Edit Spill Sources Spill sources are specified and edited at the stage of scenario preparation/execution. Spill source parameters can be changed up to the time of source starting.

For any source, you can change the parameters of object display on chart, the grade and quantity of spilled oil, the time of spill, the release duration, etc. Access to the commands for editing source parameters can be obtained through its context menu. The commands common for all kinds of sources are listed in the table below:

Command Purpose

Properties Opening the source properties menu. Using this menu, you can edit any source parameter specified at the time of its creation

Hide/Show Icon Toggling display of the source icon on and off

Hide/Show Label Toggling display of the source label on and off

Move Icon Moving the source icon

Delete Deleting the source

Delete Points Deleting a point(s) from the source. Valid for the kind of source extended in time/space only

For a leak source spill, there is an additional command in the context menu, “Edit Route”, allowing the table of the source travel route to be viewed/edited.

To change the form of the initial spill area or the spill route, select the source using your mouse, which will result in selection of the polygonal area of the source or polygonal line showing the spill route. Select several vertices by your mouse: Press the left mouse button, hold it down and draw a rectangular around the group of your interest. Depress the left-hand button. Now the group can be added vertices with the aid of <Shift> + <Left-click> or selection of vertices can be toggled on and off by <Ctrl> + <Left-click>. The selected vertices can be moved or deleted (the DELETE POINTS command in the object context menu).

Spill Sources


To change location of any source, select it: Press the left mouse button, hold it down and draw a rectangular around the object of interest. Depress the left-hand button. Move the selected object to the new place.

5.1.5 Source Behaviour The source might come into operation not from the very start of the scenario, but after elapse of some time, e.g. some hours later. The time of spill start is specified by the user during scenario preparation. The source status allows the user to ascertain whether or not the source has come into play.

The source status is reflected by its properties. The panel of source properties can be opened by the PROPERTIES command in the context menu of the object in the chart panel or by EDIT command in the object context menu in the data window of the “Pollution/Spill sources” category:

See the table below for a list of possible spill source statuses:

Command Purpose

NOT STARTED Spill has not started yet

IN PROGRESS Spill in progress

COMPLETED Spill has occurred, the source finished working

Spill Sources


5.1.6 Export and Import of Spill Sources Point spills set in the scenario, as well as the oil spill areas can be exported to XML files. The created files can subsequently be loaded in a PISCES II scenario or used in other programs.

Export to XML File Open the point oil spill properties window. To call the source properties window, select the source in the data window in the “Pollution/Oil spill ” category and from its context menu select the EDIT command.

In the properties window which will open up, on the Point source tab press the Export button and specify the name of the file in which data on the source position and spilled oil properties will be saved.

As the result of export, source parameters describing its position, amount and properties of spilled oil, are saved.

Spill Sources


Format of File Describing Spill Source The PISCES II delivery set includes Leak Source.xml, Point Source.xml and Area Source.xml files containing samples of the oil spill point and area decryptions. Files are stored in the PISCES II/ConstData/ExportImport/Samples directory. You can create own descriptions of the oil spill sources on the basis of these files by filling in necessary data, retaining the file structure.

The first line of the spill source description file describes the file format and does not change: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="WINDOWS-1251" ?>.

All the further description of the oil spill parameters is enclosed in tags <OilPointSource="1.0"></OilPointSource> (or <OilAreaSource="1.0"> </OilAreaSource> for the oil spill area).

The first line of the spill source description contains the source name enclosed in tags <Name></Name>, e.g.:

<Name>Point source – 1</Name>

In the next line, enclosed in the <Label></Label> tags is the text label of the oil spill in the chart window:

<Label>Point source 1</Label>

Then, enclosed in the <Mass Unit=”kg”></Mass Unit> tags the mass of oil (in kg) which will be spilled is specified:

<Mass Unit=”kg”>1000.500000</Mass Unit>

The next line specified the spill start time (scenario time):

<StartTime>08.05.2007 14:43</StartTime>

It is then necessary to describe the spill source position. For a point spill this description is provided in the <Position></Position> tags:

<Position>

<Latitude type=”Angle” Unit=”degrees”>latitude value in degrees <Latitude>

<Longitude type=”Angle” Unit=”degrees”>longitude value in degrees <Longitude>

</Position>

The negative latitude value means that the spill source is situated in the south hemisphere. If a negative longitude is set, the spill source will be located in the west hemisphere.

Coordinates of the vertexes of the polygon describing the spill area are listed in the <Bound></Bound> tags:

<Bound type=”GeoPointArray” LatitudeUnit=”degrees” LongitudeUnit=”degrees”>

latitude of the spill area vertex longitude of the spill area vertex

…

</Bound>

After the description of the spill position and time, oil properties are described in the <OilType> </OilType> block.

Setting Oil Model Parameters


Import from XML File To load a previously saved spill source description file in the PISCES II, select the NEW SPILL SOURCE/IMPORT SPILL SOURCE item from the POLLUTION menu and specify the data file in the window which will open up. By default, all the files created in the course of export are saved to a folder in which PISCES II is installed.

The imported spill source will be displayed in the “Pollution/Spill sources” group in the “Data Browser” window.

5.2 SETTING OIL MODEL PARAMETERS

The mathematical model of oil spill (hereinafter referred to as the “oil model”) used by PISCES II simulates the following processes occurring in the oil spill on the sea surface: spreading, evaporation, dispersion, emulsification, viscosity change, burning, and interaction of oil with environment and response resources.

When getting on the sea surface, oil spreads out generating an oil film, which drifts in response to wind and currents. It is customary to class the film into two basic, visually distinguished parts:

• Slick – a relatively small patch of thick oil layer containing the major part of oil volume;

• Sheen – a very thin film following the slick and covering much greater surface.

PISCES II simulates only the thick oil layer i.e. the slick, disregarding the oil sheens around the basic patch.

The simulation takes into account the following factors:

• Shore description;

• Representation of field of currents;

• Data on metrological conditions: water temperature, wind direction/force;

• Spill parameters: time, place and kind of spill; amount and properties of the oil product.

Specification of within first three items is described in Chapter 4, the last item being described in the current chapter.

5.2.1 Level of Detail The oil model makes it possible to calculate a number of processes taking place in the oil spill, and to turn ON/OFF simulation of these processes during scenario execution independently. The combination of the actuated model components and their settings is called the level of details. It affects the detailedness of oil spill simulation and its interaction with environment and response resources. It is recommended that during scenario preparation a lower level of detail be used, because it results in noticeable increase of computation speed. A higher level of detail positively affects spill visualisation. For convenience, PISCES II provides several ready-made levels of detail.



To get access to the oil model parameters, select the POLLUTION/OIL MODEL PROPERTIES menu item. The “Oil model control properties” dialog box will appear.

Oil model parameters are set on “General” tab.

Using the “Level of details” drop-down list, specify a level of detail. The PISCES II standard levels of detail are listed in the table below:

Level Description

Fine High level of detail. Used for solving tasks requiring maximum level of detail. Takes into consideration all kinds of interaction of the spill with environment and response resources

Average Medium level of detail. Is suitable for the majority of tasks. Takes into consideration all kinds of interaction of the spill with environment and the dominating processes taking place in the oil patch. Doesn’t take into consideration influences not significant for the spill (diffusion)

Coarse Approximate level of detail. It is suitable for the tasks not requiring a high level of accuracy. Takes into consideration all kinds of interaction of the spill with environment and the most important processes taking place in the oil patch (spreading-out, evaporation)

Rough Rough level of detail. It takes into consideration only the spill interaction with environment without taking into account the processes taking place in the oil patch

Custom Setting of options for level of detail by the user

By default, the level of detail in PISCES II is “Average”.

Conditionally, the parameters can be divided into two groups:

• Parameters of physical implication: corresponding to the real processes taking place in the spill; these are parameters determining interaction with environment and the processes taking place in the oil patch;

• Parameters determining level of detail: they have no physical implication, but determine level of simulation detail.



5.2.2 Interaction with Environment

Interaction with Shore The “Shore interact” parameter allows simulation in consideration of the spill interaction with shore.

If the parameter is OFF, no simulation of oil deposition on shore segments will take place. In this case the oil slick will not cover the shore anyway. If the parameter is ON, the model will take into consideration coastline features and shore type.

Wind/Current Influence For computation of oil movement under action of wind and currents, the slick travels in the current direction at the current velocity, and in the wind direction at a speed equal to 3% of the wind velocity. The resulting movement direction is geometrical addition of wind direction and current direction as shown in the figure below:

c – current velocity/direction;

w – 3% of wind velocity and wind direction;

s – direction and velocity of oil slick movement.

Consideration of wind and current action is turned ON/OFF independently using the options “Move by wind” and “Move by currents”.

Taking into Account Drift Deviation from Wind Direction The Earth’s rotation makes the oil slick deviate clockwise in the north hemisphere and counter clockwise in the south hemisphere. This deviation is named “Coriolis effect”. The taking into account of the oil slick drift deviation is turn on via the “Drift Deviation” option.

The drift deviation speed is calculated from the modified Madsen formula. The speed of the surface drift comes to 3 % of the wind velocity. The angle of the surface drift’s deviation from the wind direction depends on the wind velocity, latitude of the operation site, average sea depth set in the “Characteristic Depth” field in the spill model properties window, and comes to 6–13 degrees. With a decrease of the average depth, the deviation angle is reduced.

At a larger wind force (more than 25 m/s) the Coriolis effect does not affect considerably the oil motion direction.

Interaction with Ice

“Ice interaction” parameter allows modelling to take into account oil interaction with ice.

As an oil spill gets into the ice, the following specific features of its behaviours manifest themselves: oil freezing into the ice, changes in its motion, spread and evaporation.

If several ice fields overlap, the area which will be taken into account by the program in the interaction with an oil spill, is selected arbitrarily.

When oil gets into the pack ice area, it continues moving with the wind and currents. Its motion slowing down as compared to that in the clear water. Spread and evaporation rate is also reduced. Drop of motion and spread rate, as well as the evaporation depends on the ice concentration value set in ice properties in Concentration field (for more details see 4.6 Ice Conditions).



With oil within the fast ice area, evaporation stops. Oil continues moving under the ice at a rate lower than on the clear water. Oil spread rate also drops and depends on the thickness of ice. The thicker the ice, the smaller spread rate.

As oil interacts with motionless ice, the program takes into account the loss of oil mass due to the adsorbing by ice (freezing-in). The amount of frozen-in oil is shown in the oil spill general statistics in Amount Frozen-in line (for more details see section 5.4.1 General Statistics).

5.2.3 Processes in the Oil Slick

Spreading The spreading process results in increase of the slick area. The rate of area increase gradually diminishes with time.

Effect of spreading can be turned ON by checking the “Spreading” checkbox and by the “Spreading Coeff” coefficient, which serves as a multiplication factor for computation of the spreading rate. Value “1” corresponds to spreading in accordance with Fay’s equation.

Diffusion Diffusion is a random component of oil particle movement. The vector of this component speed had a random value, distributed according to the normal law, with zero mathematical expectation and root-mean-square deviation equal to the speed calculated in relation to current and wind.

Taking diffusion into consideration is provided by the “Diffusion” checkbox.

Evaporation Evaporation results in fast reduction of the spilled oil volume. The more light oil fraction, the faster evaporation, and less oil afloat. Spills of unstable oil products can evaporate in full after several hours, light oils can lose up to 40 % of mass on the first day. Heavy oils feature insignificant evaporation.

Consideration of oil slick evaporation is provided by the “Evaporation” checkbox.

Dispersion Natural dispersion is a process of transformation of some part of oil into minute drops as a result of wave motion, these drops remaining in a suspended state in the water column. Speed of natural dispersion depends on the sea state being inversely dependant on oil viscosity.

Dispersion action is specified by the “Dispersion” checkbox.

Emulsification Penetration of water into the spilled oil mass results in formation of “water-in-oil” mixture. Emulsification causes the initial polluting substance volume increase up to three-fold to four-fold. Emulsification starts after evaporation of a specified quantity of oil, which can be preset in the “Emulsification constant” field for each oil spill source individually. Maximum content of water in the emulsion is specified by the “Maximum water content” in the “Product” tab of the oil spill source property panel.

Computation of emulsification is turned ON with the “Emulsification” checkbox.



Oil Congelation With the ambient temperature dropping from 20 °С, oil viscosity gradually grows, whereas the spread rate is reduced. As the ambient temperature drops to the oil congelation point, spread and weathering processes stop. Oil congelation temperature is set by “Pour point” parameter on “Product” tab of oil spill source properties panel.

5.2.4 Simulation Parameters

Number of Particles Oil is represented in the model as an aggregate of particles, moving independently under action of wind and currents.

The “Number of particles” parameter specifies the quantity of particles describing the slick. The value depends on the selected level of detail varying between 100 and 5000. The greater the value, in more detail the model will be able to compute the slick form.

Step of Particle Number Excess Number of particles in the model is not constant.

In some cases, the particles can be deleted because they sank, deposited themselves ashore or got dispersed.

In other cases, e.g. if a new spill source has been added, their number grows. The number changes most intensively during leakage.

In order to keep the required level of detail, the program regularly deletes excessive particles or adds deficient ones. The “Particles surplus threshold” parameter specifies the maximum deviation of the particle number from the required one, on exceedance of which the program re-computes the particle number.

Display Quality The quality of on-screen oil spill display is controlled by “Level of detail” parameter. The “Level of detail” parameter value equal to 10 corresponds to the best display quality. If 1 is set in “Level of detail” field, oil is shown very roughly.

The OPTIONS/SPILL DISPLAY SETTINGS menu command makes it possible to set options of oil slick representation in the chart window: slick outline, turning ON/OFF of the trajectory, etc. This item is described in more detail in the section 8.4 Oil Spill Display Settings.

Spill Statistics


5.3 SPILL STATISTICS

5.3.1 General Statistics Generally, the following spill parameters are displayed: how much oil product has been spilled, remained afloat, evaporated, dispersed, stranded, burned out, sank and skimmed, also displayed is the amount of oil afloat, collected oil/water mixture, and the maximum thickness of the oil slick and its area, spill maximum thickness and area, oil viscosity.

To view the general spill statistics, select the POLLUTION/SPILL STATISTICS item in the “Data Browser” window.

The data are displayed in two formats: absolute value (weight in metric tons, etc.) and relative value i.e. percent of the total mass of spilled oil.

For an emulsion, the water content ratio in the mixture is specified in “Percentage” column.

5.3.2 Spill Statistics History In the analysis of the spill behaviour it may become necessary to have information on the oil spill at some moment of time in the scenario past. You can look up this information in the “Pollution/Spill Statistics/History” category in the “Data browser” window:

In the scenario modelling, information on the spill state is saved every five minutes of model time. For the convenience of handling the statistics history you can increase the history display interval by using the OPTIONS/SPILL STATISTICS HISTORY SETTINGS… menu command (for more details see 8.6 SPILL STATISTICS HISTORY DISPLAY

INTERVAL). The display interval does not affect the statistics recording frequency and can be adjusted by each operator individually regardless of the scenario operating mode.

Spill Statistics


5.3.3 Limited Area Statistics PISCES II features a possibility to display statistics for a given area of the oil slick.

For example, it is necessary to determine the amount of oil product in an individual patch segment, in order to be able to calculate the amount of dispersant required for processing this segment.

Such local statistics displays maximum thickness and area of the patch, amount of oil product afloat and stranded.

To view the local area statistics, use the menu to select the POLLUTION/LOCAL AREA STATISTICS command. The “Local Area Statistics” window will appear:

Click the “Set on chart” button to specify the area, statistics on which is to be displayed. Use your mouse to specify a polygonal area delimiting the require oil slick patch. Right click after area definition.

The “Local Area Statistics” window will display statistics for the given area.

Statistics parameters displayed in the window are listed in the table below:

Parameter Value

Area Patch area

Maximum Thickness Maximum thickness of the patch

Floating amount Amount of oil remaining afloat

Stranded amount Amount of stranded oil

The local statistics window can be closed using the standard [x] button in the right part of the caption bar or by selecting the POLLUTION/LOCAL AREA STATISTICS menu item. A tick next to this item means that the local statistics window will be displayed, otherwise the window will be closed, but the specified area selection will be preserved.

The specified area can be edited: you can move/delete vertices or move the entire area. This process is similar to editing any polygonal areas in PISCES II.

Spill Statistics


5.3.4 Coastline Parcel Statistics PISCES II makes it possible to display statistics on stranded oil for the whole shore and for individual coastline parcels, if the scenario specifies them.

Select the ENVIRONMENT/COASTLINE item in the “Data Browser” window. The “Stranded amount” column of the object panel will show a list of coastline parcels specified by the scenario, their parameters (shore length/type), and amount of oil stranded on the given parcel. The entire shore is specified as the “Unassigned” parcel.

Data on coastline parcels’ pollution at the given moment can be saved to an Excel file. To do so, select the POLLUTION/COASTLINE POLLUTION STATISTICS menu command to open the “Coastline Pollution Statistics” window:

Click “Create report” to create a report, “Cancel” to close the dialog box.

The created report shows for each coastline parcel: amount of oil ashore, amount of collected oil and oil/soil mixture, as well as the length of the coastline parcel, length of the polluted part of the parcel, and length of the coastline cleaned up using the shore coastline cleanup equipment by the time of report.

To get a coastline pollution report, the computer should be provided with Excel. Otherwise, the report will not be generated.

ATTENTION!

Spill Statistics


5.3.5 Environmental Impact Statistics PISCES II allows monitoring of oil spill impact on the environment.

Select the “Environment/ESA” category in the data browser. The object panel will display a list of ESA set in the scenario water temperature their parameters. The property panel, the “Environmental impact” tab, will show a list of species habituating the given ESA, and the time of last update in the “Update time” field:

The species, for which statistics were not computed before, are highlighted in the table in red.

To update the ESA statistics, select the POLLUTION/ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATISTICS menu command. Use the opened “Environmental impact statistics” dialog box o enter the time, for which the report is required, in the “End time” field:

The “Create report” checkbox allows viewing the report for all scenario ESAs in the form of an Excel table. Check the checkbox, if you want to generate an ESAReportAll.xls file containing a list of all ESAs created in the scenario, and their statuses for a given time.

Click “Update statistics” to update statistics or “Cancel” to close the dialog box.

When calculation is over, data in the “Environmental impact” tab will be updated for all ESAs: the percent of all died bions will be calculated for each species as well as current number of species bions for the given time. The “Update time” field of the ESA property panel will display the time the statistics were calculated.

The statistics are stale half an hour after its last updating. In this case the “Update” field of the ESA property panel is marked in yellow.

To get an environmental sensitive area report, the computer should be provided with Excel. Otherwise, the report will not be generated.

ATTENTION!

Display of Pollution Area


5.4 DISPLAY OF POLLUTION AREA

While working in a scenario, it may be necessary on some occasions to assess the dimensions of the entire pollution area which oil was getting on from the scenario start time up to the current time.

To view a pollution area, select the POLLUTION/UPDATE POLLUTION FOOTPRINT menu command. The chart will show, in the grey colour, the area where oil was present at any moment of time from the scenario start to the current model time moment:

You can turn off the display of the pollution area by unchecking “Show pollution footprint” in the “Spill display settings” window (for more details see under 8.4 Oil Spill Display Settings).

As the scenario rolls back to the saving time, the pollution zone outdated as of the current moment, is delineated in red.

You can update the pollution area at any moment of the scenario modelling.

Spill Backtracking Calculations


5.5 SPILL BACKTRACKING CALCULATIONS

In addition to forecasting the oil spill motion associated with the modelling of the user response, the PISCES II simulator can backtrack an oil spill for determining the possible spill source. Calculations take into account the changing environmental conditions with regard to the set accuracy of presenting the field of currents, wind speed and direction. The result of calculations is a probable oil position on the chart as of a certain moment in the past – Probable Spill Position (PSP) diagram.

For all the resources and symbols within the pollution area, it is also possible to calculate the rating of similarity to the spill source showing the probability of correspondence between the resource and possible pollution source.

5.5.1 Probable Spill Position Diagrams To build a probable spill position diagram, select the POLLUTION/BACKTRACKING menu command. After the selection of this menu command, the screen will display the “Backtracking” window containing diagram calculations and display parameters:

The main parameters affecting the PSP diagram calculations are listed in the table below:

Field Purpose

Start time Time in the past which the PSP diagrams are calculated from

End time Time which calculations are made up to. This field automatically shows the current scenario time

Number of particles In the model, oil is presented as a set of particles moving independently affected by the current and wind. The “Number of particles” parameter sets the number of particles which describes a spill. The larger the value, the more detailed PSP diagram form can be calculated by the model

Cell size Results of calculations are shown on the chart as a net distribution of oil position probability. The smaller the cell size, the more detailed PSP diagram form can be calculated by the model



Field Purpose

Min. particles per cell The minimum number of particles in a cell. The larger the value, the more detailed PSP diagram form can be calculated by the model

Iterations To obtain a probability picture of a spill, several independent calculations are made. The accuracy of the obtained solution is determined by the number of independent calculations-iterations

Source data errors Current direction Error in setting the direction of currents throughout the entire backtracking

calculations. If the direction of currents is unknown at some moment of time, use this field to set the value equal to 180 degrees

Current speed Error in setting the speed of currents throughout the entire backtracking calculations. The error value equal to 100 % means that the current velocity is unknown

Wind direction Error in setting the direction of wind throughout the entire backtracking calculations. If the wind direction is unknown at some moment of time, use this field to set the value equal to 180 degrees

Wind speed Error in setting the wind speed throughout the entire backtracking calculations. The error value equal to 100 % means that the wind speed is unknown

Set the necessary parameters and press the “Start calculations” button. The course of calculations will be shown on the calculations progress indicator under the “Start calculations” button.

If large errors or a large calculations accuracy are set, spill backtracking calculations may take a long time, so you can close the “Backtracking” window by using the “Close” button in the bottom part of the window, and continue work with the scenario. You can stop the PSP diagram calculations by using the “Stop calculations” button in the “Backtracking” window.

If you need to work with the scenario simultaneously with the spill backtracking calculations, it is not advisable to assign the instructor workstation and exercise server to one and the same host (for more details see under PISCES II (V. 2.90). INSTALLATION GUIDE) since the spill backtracking calculations may require a lot of resources.

When the calculations are completed, the chart will display a PSP diagram for the current moment of the model time:

ATTENTION!



The red colour shows diagram zones with a high spill locations probability, the orange colour is used for showing smaller probability. You can set up the display of PSP diagrams with the aid of the “Display options” group fields in the “Backtracking” window called by the POLLUTION/BACKTRACKING … menu command:

The table below lists PSP display parameters:

Field Purpose

Display options Show diagrams To turn on/off the display of probable spill position diagrams in the chart

window. To see the diagrams, check “Show diagrams” with a left mouse click

Low PSP diagrams with a probability lower than the set one, are not shown on the chart

Medium PSP diagrams with a probability within the low to medium probability thresholds, are shown on the chart in the orange colour

High PSP diagrams with a probability within medium to high thresholds are shown on the chart in the red colour. Zones in which the probability of a spill currently being there is larger than that specified in the “High” field are not shown on the chart

The “Clear results” button deletes all the PSP diagrams throughout the entire scenario.



5.5.2 Determining Probable Pollution Source For each resource or a symbol in the scenario, you can calculate the rating of similarity to the spill source, from 0 to 100, on the basis of the object position analysis and probable spill position diagrams.

Before determining the probable spill sources, you should calculate PSP diagrams as described above under 5.5.1 Probable Spill Position Diagrams.

To calculate the resource ratings, open the “Backtracking” window by using the POLLUTION/BACKTRACKING… menu command and press the “Start calculations” button in the bottom part of the window:

The program will calculate the rating, the course of calculations will be shown on the calculations progress indicator under the “Start calculations” button. You can suspend the rating calculations by using the “Stop calculations” button.

When the calculations are completed, the screen will display a window containing a list of all the resources and scenario symbols with calculated probabilities of similarity to the spill source.

After viewing the ship ratings, you can close the “Possible Oil Spill Sources” window by using the “Close” button in the bottom part of the window. You can open this window again with the aid of the “Show ratings” button in the bottom part of the “Backtracking” window.

Aerial Pollution Forecast


5.6 AERIAL POLLUTION FORECAST

PISCES II shows the air pollution forecasts calculated by an external program in the form of a statiс pollution area diagram on the chart.

In PISCES II, you can specify coordinates of the aerial contamination sources. PISCES II sends data on wind force/direction and air temperature to ALOHA. The ALOHA program freely distributed by U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration allows calculation of areas of possible pollution in case of accidental or other exceptional discharge of hazardous chemical substances.

ALOHA cannot exchange data via net, therefore data exchange with PISCES II is carried out via the “ALOHA Communicator” module. Only one copy of “ALOHA Communicator” can be run on a computer.

On the basis of data obtained from PISCES II, ALOHA performs a forecast of aerial contamination, returns the diagrams of potential pollution zone to PISCES II and displays it in the chart window.

5.6.1 New Air Pollution Source To create a new aerial contamination source, use the program menu to select the POLLUTION/NEW AIR SOURCE command. The “Air Pollution properties” window will open:

Specify source name and text label to be displayed on the chart in the fields “Name” and “Label”, respectively.

To process each source of aerial contamination, you need an individual ALOHA copy. PISCES II configuration can include several ALOHA copies working in parallel. Each such copy has a corresponding individual “ALOHA Communicator” module, which constitutes a data channel between PISCES II and ALOHA.

The “Channel” list allows you to select a channel with one of the connected ALOHA copies, which will calculate data for the current source of aerial contamination. The name of the host ALOHA operates on is included in the channel name:

Click the “Set to Chart” button, to specify source position on chart. Using your mouse, indicate position for the source to be created in the chart window. The created source will be displayed on the chart as follows:

The “Lat”/“Lon” fields of the source properties window will show object coordinates.

Aerial Pollution Forecast


5.6.2 Edit Air Pollution Source You can get access to the edit commands and the object properties window through the context menu of the created aerial contamination source.

Select the source in the chart window using your mouse. To move it, select the “Move Icon” command in the context menu. Move the object to its new place:

To delete the object, select the DELETE command in its context menu.

The PROPERTIES context menu item allows you to edit object properties i.e. its name, text label and channel.

The list of all spill sources available in the aerial contamination scenario is available through the WINDOW/AIR POLLUTION menu command or in the “Pollution/Air” category of the “Data Browser” window:

5.6.3 Import Data from ALOHA Data exchange with PISCES II is performed via the “ALOHA Communicator” module. In order to display air pollution on a PISCES chart, first establish connection with ALOHA using the “ALOHA Communicator” module.

Having specified connection, it is necessary to select channel with one of connected ALOHA copies, which will compute data for the current air pollution source, on the property panel of the air pollution source. For this purpose, select an air pollution source on the object panel in the data browser in category “Pollution/Air” and select the “Edit” command from the context menu or just double-click on the corresponding line. It will invoke the property panel of the selected source.

Use the “Channel” context menu to select a channel with one of connected ALOHA copies, which will compute data for the current air pollution source, and click “OK” to finish channel selection, or “Cancel” to close the property panel. The air pollution icon in the chart panel will change for the following:

PISCES Built-in Smoke Contamination Model


The following pollution parameters will be displayed on the property panel of the air pollution source:

The chart will display a diagram of the possibly polluted zone.

5.7 PISCES BUILT-IN SMOKE CONTAMINATION MODEL

PISCES program models smoke contamination of the atmosphere which occurs as the result of oil spill burning. The source of smoke is a free burning area or compulsory burning area. The amount of contaminating substances is determined by the intensity and duration of burning, as well as by the properties of the burning product.

The model represents smoke as a multitude of small clouds referred to as “smoke particles” which, spreading gradually, move upwards and travel with the wind. The program shown in the chart window and continuously updates the contamination spread boundaries and an area of maximum permissible concentration of 10 micron smoke particles as the main contamination factor.

The chart window shows the maximum permissible concentration area for the smoke above the Min Smoke Altitude and below the Max Smoke Altitude. These parameters are set in “Air pollution display settings” window opened by using OPTIONS/AIR POLLUTION DISPLAY SETTINGS… menu command (for more details of settings for the display of smoke in the chart window, see 8.5 Air Pollution Display Settings).

The maximum permissible concentration area is calculated from the distribution of PM-10 particles only, as the threshold values of contaminants available in the smoke is smaller than the respective maximum concentrations for the PM-10.

PISCES Built-in Smoke Contamination Model


By default, the maximum permissible concentration of the PM-10 is 150 mg/m3. This value can be changed in “Air pollution display settings” dialogue box.

Factors affecting formation and spreading of the smoke contamination in the PISCES are described in more detail below.

Burnt Oil Properties Density, breakup, thickness and emulsification degree: affect the burning rate and amount of burnt oil.

Emission ratio (%): determines the amount of generated smoke relative to the amount of burnt oil. For the refined oil the emission ratio is somewhere within 1–10 %, whereas for the raw oil it is within 10–15 % range.

The default value can be changed on “Smoke” tab in “Oil spill model properties” dialogue box called via POLLUTION/OIL MODEL PROPERTIES… menu command:

Weather Conditions Wind: determines spread of smoke in the wind direction and affects the atmosphere stability. The higher the wind speed, the less stable is the atmosphere.

Nebulosity: affects the atmospheric stability. The more clouds, the stabler atmosphere.

Atmospheric stability affects the rate of spreading of separate smoke particles and contamination area on the whole.

Burning Area Parameters Free burning area: determines automatically the form and location of the pollution source and duration of the smoke formation.

All the compulsory burning area parameters are set by the user manually. This is why the user can fully control the oil burning rate, and if the emission ratio is taken into account – the smoke formation rate and amount.


6. CHAPTER 6 Response Resources

Creation of Response Resources

Chapter 6. Response Resources 151

6.1 CREATION OF RESPONSE RESOURCES

6.1.1 Response Resource Categories Containment and recovery of an oil spill during the exercise will be simulated through activation and control of response resources. The resources involved in the IOSR operations are divided into 3 types:

• Platforms;

• Equipment;

• Personnel.

Each type, in its turn, contains one or more subtypes. There are several templates (models) in each subtype. A template is a prepared-in-advance set of parameters for a certain type of response resource. You can use the template without changes or after editing.

Platforms do not affect operation of the slick mathematical model being only designed to illustrate IOSR actions. These object transport or tow other response resources. Any object loaded on a platform will follow the same route with its carrier.

Equipment directly influences the behaviour of the spill model. There are six subtype of equipment available in PISCES II:

• Booms;

• Oil skimmers;

• Dispersants;

• Dispersant application facilities;

• Shore cleanup equipment;

• Other facilities.

The equipment simulates operations of deployment and shutdown (putting to the travelling position). The booms, skimmers and dispersants take part not only in simulation of deployment and shutdown operations, but also in simulation of their interaction with the oil slick. Efficiency of booms and skimmers is calculated automatically depending on environment conditions and oil slick properties.



Objects of the Personal type are used to designate groups of people. Such objects can move within the scene independently or loaded on platforms.

6.1.2 Create a New Response Resource To create a new response resource in the current scenario, select the RESPONSE/NEW RESPONSE RESOURCE command in the menu. The “Create response resource” window will appear:

The left-hand part of the window displays the tree of response resource types and subtypes available in PISCES II. Select the types and subtypes required by the scenario conditions. The right-hand part of the window displays the list of templates for this category. Select the template you need and click the “Create” button to create a new combat facility, or “Close” to exit the dialog box.

A dialog box will appear allowing specification of parameters for the newly created object. The window has a number of tabs, a part of which is mandatory for all response resources, while the other part varies depending on the type. All tabs are replicated on the object properties panel of the “Data Browser” data window.

All template parameters are provided with preset values, which makes it possible to use them at once, without any additional editing.

6.1.3 General Response Resource Parameters Parameters common for all response resources are located in the upper part of the “Properties” window and in its tabs “Locating”, “Organisation”, “Costs”, “Features” and “Equipment”:

The “Name” and “Label” fields are designed for specification of the object’s name and text label.

The zone makes it possible to change the response resource icon displayed on the chart.

Click it and select a suitable icon. For an object, it is possible to select an icon only from the group associated with the given response resource subtype. Click “OK” to set it or “Cancel” to close the icon change dialog box.

The non-editable fields next to the “Label” field contain information on the response resource delivery method and the template used for this object.



Location The “Locating” tab is used for specification of coordinates and other object location information.

The table below lists the parameters specified in this tab:

Parameter Value

State Non-editable field. Shows location status of the object for the current moment of time

Location The list can be used to select a location point, to which the current response resource is to be assigned. By default, all newly created objects are assigned to the main location point

Latitude/Longitude Coordinates of the object on chart

Course Object course

Speed Object movement speed

Organisation The “Organisation” tab covers the fields describing the organisational status of the resource.

The table below lists the parameters specified in this tab.

Parameter Value

Status Non-editable field. Reflects the object’s status as a unit controlled by the Oil Spill Response Command Centre

Assignment Non-editable field. Shows the current assignment in the oil spill response operation

Organisation Non-editable field. Shows the object’s path to the response resource structure

ETR Non-editable field. For the resources of the “Out of service” status only. Shows the expected time of return to the “Available” status

Order time Non-editable field. Time of placing order for the resource



Costs The “Costs” tab is used to specify cost of the given response resource per a time unit depending on the kind of resource employment and to track its costs in the course of scenario execution.

All possible kinds of employment for any resource are included in the list, where you can select one or more items and specify their cost per a time unit. You can mark a number of items in the list using the <Ctrl> key, or remove the marking using the <Shift> key. The table below contains descriptions of the kinds of employment included in the list.

Parameter Value

Ordered Resource ordered, but it has not yet arrived for CC disposal

Available Resource ready for operation

Assigned Resource assigned a task

Mechanical Out of Service Resource not ready for operation due to mechanical failures

Personal Out of Service Resource not ready due to non availability of personnel

The “Total cost” field shows the total cost of using the given resource for the current moment of time.

Features The “Features” tab contains auxiliary data.

The “Max Speed” and “Min Speed” parameters are used for setting the resource speed by default.

The “Owner” field is shown in the resource list of the “Data Browser” data window, and can be used for sorting response resources in it.

The other characteristics are grouped in a table; they change depending on the template. This information is for reference only, being not used for calculations.

Values specified in the “Call sign”, “MMSI”, “Lloyd’s number” lines can be displayed on the chart instead of the resource label (for more details see 3.2 Chart Window Control Panel). By using values specified in the “IMO Number”, “Lloyd’s number”, “MMSI”, “Call sign” field you can automatically link platforms with targets (for more details see 7.4.4 Automatic Linking of Platforms to Targets).



You can add new lines to the table or edit characteristic values in the “Value” column. To add a new line, click the left mouse button on the bottom row of the table and enter a new value.

If several lines with the identical value in the “Name” column are set in the table the characteristic values will be divided with spaces.

Equipment The “Equipment” tab exists for equipment only and contains parameters that control its behaviour.

The table below lists the parameters specified in this tab.

Parameter Value

Status Non-editable field. Shows the current operational status of the object

Deployment time Time of resource deployment

Retrieval time Time of transferring the resource from the operational status to the travelling one

Turnaround time Time of resource turnaround

Comments Notes

The checked “Calculate automatically” checkbox provides automatic calculation of Deployment time and Retrieval time values on the basis of the current equipment model characteristics.

6.1.4 Individual Parameters of the Response Resource Types In addition to general parameters specified for all response resources, there are special parameters, which depend on the object type.

For objects of the “equipment” type that interact with the oil slick (but the “Other” category), there is a special tab i.e. “Model data”, which allows specification of the characteristics for the current equipment model.

ATTENTION!



The table below describes these characteristics depending on the equipment type.

Booms Model Boom model, to be chosen from the list

Height Height has a bearing on the boom form calculation depending on wind and on the amount of oil, passed through the boom. If height of boom is less than thickness of above-water oil film than the boom can pass oil even its efficiency is 100%

Depth Depth has a bearing on the boom form calculation depending on currents and on the amount of oil, passed through the boom. If depth of boom is less than thickness of underwater oil film than the boom can pass oil even its efficiency is 100%

Slack Slack shows the ratio of the boom length to the distance between the fixing points

Length Boom length

Capacity Capacity per unit of length showing maximum oil volume, which a boom meter can absorb

Deployment speed Boom deployment speed

Retrieval speed Rate of transfer to the travelling speed

Efficiency A value calculated by the model and showing what part of oil interacting with the boom that latter will be able to contain. The value depends on the boom type, current velocity and wave height. The button is used to correct efficiency. You can use two methods of efficiency correction in the “Efficiency” dialog box: • Either by directly specifying the required value, or • By specifying a “User factor” coefficient. In the latter case, the resulting value will be computed by multiplying the rated efficiency by the “User factor” coefficient

Sea factor The line specifying dependence of the boom efficiency on the wave height. This dependence is not subject to editing in the PISCES scenario, it can only be changed by using the resource template editor

Velocity factor The line specifying dependence of the boom efficiency on the current velocity. This dependence is not subject to editing in the PISCES scenario, it can only be changed by using the resource template editor

Stored oil Non-editable field. Amount of oil absorbed by boom

Dispersant (“Model” tab) Type Dispersant grade, to be selected from the list

Rec. O/D ratio Recommended oil/dispersant ratio

Dispersion coeff Dispersion coefficient

Density Dispersion density

Amount Dispersion quantity

Dispersion spread facilities Type To be selected from the list

Dispersant To be selected from the list of those available in the scenario

Spread width Spread width of the equipment

Play rate Rate of spreading

Amount Non-editable field. Quantity of spent dispersant

Dispersant Properties Characteristics of the loaded dispersant. Non-editable fields

Name Dispersant name

Recom. O/D ratio Recommended oil/dispersant ratio

Amount available Quantity of remaining dispersant



Skimmers Storage capacity Skimmer storage capacity

Recovery rate Oil collection rate

Recovery radius Skimmer collects oil in the circle of the given radius

Stored mixture Non-editable field. Quantity of collected oily mixture

Oil/water ratio Non-editable field. The oil/water ratio in the skimmed mixture in calculated in the model depending on efficiency values

Additional water Additional water ratio, which is stored by skimmer with emulsion

Skimmer type To be selected from the list

Efficiency A value calculated by the model and showing how much the rated capacity and the oil/water ratio in the skimmed mixture will decrease depending on oil viscosity and wave height. The button is used to correct efficiency. You can use two methods of efficiency correction in the “Efficiency” dialog box: either by directly specifying the required value, or by specifying a “User factor” coefficient. In the latter case, the resulting value will be computed by multiplying the rated efficiency by the “User factor” coefficient

Sea factor The line specifying the dependence of the skimmer efficiency on the wave height. This dependence is not subject to editing in the PISCES scenario, it can only be changed by using the resource template editor

Viscosity factor The line specifying the dependence of the skimmer efficiency on the oil viscosity. This dependence is not subject to editing in the PISCES scenario, it can only be changed by using the resource template editor

Shore cleanup equipment Shore cleanup equipment type To be selected from the list

Basic efficiency Shows the maximum share of stranded oil that the equipment can collect

Recovery rate Oil recovery rate

Soil/Oil ratio Soil/Oil ratio in the collected mixture

Shore cleanup equipment Efficiency Parameter, showing what part of stranded oil can be collected

by the cleanup equipment. You can edit efficiency by click . In the “Efficiency” dialog box, you can change efficiency using one of two methods: • Directly specifying the require value; • Specifying “User coefficient”. In the latter case, the resulting value will be determine by multiplying the basic efficiency by the user coefficient

Working parcel Non-editable field. The name of the parcel, on which the cleanup equipment operates

Recovered mixture Amount of collected oil/soil mixture

For objects of the “platform” type, the properties window features the “Attached units” tab, which allows the user to view the list of response resources loaded on the platform. A double click on any object in the table opens the object properties window.

Response Resources in the Data Window


6.2 RESPONSE RESOURCES IN THE DATA WINDOW

6.2.1 List of Response Resources If the “Response resources” category is selected in the main data window, the list of objects will display all response resources specified in the scenario. The response resource list can also be invoked by the RESPONSE/RESOURCES command.

6.2.2 Resource Structure For convenience of working with a large number of objects, the user can arrange a static breakdown of the list of specified response resources into subcategories. This static breakdown has no impact on model operation.

Arrangement of the resource structure is performed with the aid of the RESPONSE/ RESOURCE STRUCTURE menu command. The action results in opening the “Edit Resource Structure” structure edit window.

The left-hand panel contains a tree list with names of object subcategories. When the structure is being created, the list contains only the “Unsorted” node in the root. Using the buttons “New”, “Rename” and “Delete” you can edit the structure, the “OK” button allows the changes in the structure to be saved, “Cancel” makes it possible to exit the window discarding the changes.



The “New” button creates a node subordinate to the selected one. Select the root node “Unsorted” and click “New”. The structure will show a new, “New Branch” level subordinate to the node “Unsorted”.

You can rename the created node using the “Rename” button or delete it with the “Delete” button.

To create a node at the same level with the specified one (hereinafter referred to as “a neighbour”), use your mouse to select a node one level higher and click the “New” button.

For example, you need to create the “Vessels” node to be at the same level with the created nodes “Booms” and “Skimmers”.

Select the node one level higher, which in this case is the “Unsorted” root node. Click the “New” button.

A new node, “New branch”, will appear in the structure. Click the “Rename” button and rename the new node as “Vessels”.



Having created the resource structure, click “OK” to save it or “Cancel” to close the structure editor window.

Now you can group the response resources specified in the scenario by resource structure categories. Double click on the object from the “Response resources” category of the “Data Browser” data window. The action will open the properties window for this object. Select the “Organisation” tab.

Click button . It will open the “Select Organisation” window containing the resource structure created in the given scenario.

Choose the category the selected object should be related to and press “OK” to relate to this category or “Cancel” to close the window discarding all the changes.



The location of this object in the organisational structure will be registered in the “Organisation” field of the object properties.

In the “Data Browser” data window, the object assigned to the resource structure will be shown in the correspond category, disappearing from the “Response resources” section.

All response resources specified in the scenario can be properly arranged in the resource structure in an analogous way. If some objects are not introduced into the structure, they will remain in the “Response resources” section of the “Data Browser” data window.

In the “Data Browser” data window, the resource structure is shown in the form of a list of subcategories of the “Response resources/Organizations” section, with objects included in the subcategories.

The resource structure remains in the scenario after it is reset, as contrary to the Assignment Structure list.

Import and Export


6.3 IMPORT AND EXPORT

The list of response resources specified in the scenario together with their parameters can be exported into a text file. The created file can be used as a template, which can be subsequently loaded to a PISCES II scenario or to other programs, e.g. to an accounting software to keep response resource cost records.

6.3.1 Export The RESPONSE/EXPORT TO FILE... command of the menu is used for access to the export functions. Selection of the command is followed by appearance of the “Response Resources Export” window.

To export the response resource parameters to a file, it is necessary to enter the name of the file to which the data are to be exported. Specify the name in the “Filename” field.

By default, the field will be created in the same folder with PISCES II. If you wish to save it in another folder, click the “Browse” button and specify the path to the created file.

Check export settings: composition of parameters and their sequence, availability of header and measurement unit parameters (see section 6.3.2 Export Setting Scheme below). Click the “Export” button. The response resource parameter will be saved in a file of the specified name. On export completion, the “Response Resources Import and Export” window will open confirming execution.

The created file will have *.txt extension; it can be opened in any program operating text files.

Export results in saving just the list of the response resources with the specified parameters; the response resource assignment structure and the data on object statuses at the time of export not being saved.

Import and Export


6.3.2 Export Setting Scheme The table in the lower part of the “Response Resources Export” window contains the full list of exportable response resource parameters.

The “Name” column shows parameter name, “Type” contains measurement units, if appropriate for the given parameter. A tick next to parameter means the parameter will be exported, and otherwise.

The composition of response resource parameters and their sequence in the file created for export constitute “Export setting scheme”, which can be saved into an individual file (hereinafter referred to as just “scheme”). PISCES II features a number of standard schemes specified by default. They contain different sets of parameters, which will be preserved during export. A scheme can be selected from the “Preset” drop-down list.

The “Full” scheme contains all response resource parameters.

The “Default” scheme contains only the basic information on the response resources: name, category, delivery method and total cost.

The “Costs” scheme is used for accounting, containing the basic information on the response resources and all parameters related to cost.

You can change the offered standard scheme. Check the parameters to be included in the created file and uncheck the parameter not to be exported. Adjust parameter measurement units, if necessary. You can do it using the measurement unit context menu. Left click on the parameter measurement unit to be edited and select another value.

You can adjust the sequence of parameters in the created export file using the “Up” and “Down” buttons in the right-hand middle part of the window.

The “Up” button moves the parameter one position up in the table. The “Down” button, accordingly, moves the parameter one position down.

The checked “Header” checkbox means that the created file will contain parameter names. If it is unchecked, the file will contain just parameter values.

Import and Export


The set of settings made for export or import can be saved in a new file as an own scheme. To do so, click the “Save As” button next to the “Preset” list. It will result in appearance of the “Save Preset As”:

Enter a name for the scheme to be saved and click “OK” to save it or click “Cancel” to discard the changes. The saved scheme will appear in the list of “Preset” schemes available for loading. You cannot save a scheme under the name coinciding with a preset scheme name (“Default”, “Full”, “Costs”).

When the user doesn’t need some scheme he had created, he can remove it. It can be done be selecting the scheme in the “Preset” list and clicking the “Delete” button.

The schemes preset in PISCES II cannot be deleted and the “Delete” button being disabled for them.

6.3.3 Import To load PISCES II with the previously saved list of response resources, select the RESPONSE/IMPORT FROM FILE… command of the menu and specify the data file. By default, all files created in the course of export will be saved in the same folder with PISCES II.

On export completion, the “Response Resources Import” window will open confirming execution.

The imported list of response resources will be shown in the “Response resources” section of the main data window, outside the resource structure or the organizational structure, if the same were created in the scenario.


7. CHAPTER 7 Response Simulation

Assignment Structure

Chapter 7. Response Simulation 167

To conduct exercises, PISCES II simulates not only the oil slick and environment objects, but various objects taking part in spill cleanup activities too. Information directly related to the incidental oil spill response (IOSR) operations is combined under the “Incident data” category. These are the location points, objectives, areas, the operation cost summary and the dynamic response resource assignment structure.

The location points will be described in detail in Chapter 4 of the Manual, while the other objects of the impact area are dealt with in this Chapter of the Manual.

7.1 ASSIGNMENT STRUCTURE

According to the concept accepted for PISCES II, the resource structure described in Chapter of this manual is not subject of control on the part of the trainees playing the role of the Command Centre (CC), it is rather designed for convenience of working with a great number of resources.

The assignment structure is designed for simulation of CC control actions. In the assignment structure, the PISCES II response resources are divided between temporary units as required by the impact area situation and the chosen response strategy. The assignment structure is subject to change within scenario execution. In case of a rollback to the save point, the structure is restored to its variant corresponding to the specified time.

Select the RESPONSE/ASSIGNMENT STRUCTURE point of the menu. It will open the “Edit Assignment Structure” dialog box containing the elementary assignment structure created by the program by default.

Using the buttons “New”, “Rename” and “Delete” you can create, rename or remove nodes in accordance with the assignment structure for the current scenario. One can use the structure represented in the following picture as a sample.

A node can be renamed with the aid of the “Rename” button, or removed by the “Delete” button.

The “New” button creates a node subordinate to the selected one. Select the “Unassigned” root node and click the “New” button. The structure will acquire a new level “New Branch”, subordinate to the “Unassigned” node.

To create a node at the same level with the specified one – “a neighbour”, use your mouse to select a node one level higher, to which the node to be created will be subordinated to, and click “New”.

Response Statuses


The “OK” button allows the changes in the structure to be saved, “Cancel” makes it possible to leave the window of structure edit discarding the changes.

In the “Data Browser” main data window, the assignment structure is shown in the “Response resources/Assignments” section.

The created assignment structure is used for simulation of the out-of-service statuses, reflecting changes made in them (see the section 7.2.1 Organisational Statuses for details).

7.2 RESPONSE STATUSES

Behaviour of the resources, i.e. the response resources and other objects enabled in the scenario, is simulated using a fixed set of statuses. The statuses signify the modes of resource operation, which are important from the control point of view, e.g.: “Available”, “Failure”, “En-route” etc. Jumps between the statuses are performed instantaneously by a user command or automatically on completion of a specified condition, e.g. a lapse of a certain period.

The multitude of statuses is divided into three groups: organisational, positional and operational ones. Statuses in a group are mutually exclusive, e.g. a resource can be either “Available”, or “Assigned”, or “Out of Service”. A resource cannot be “Available” and “Assigned” simultaneously.

Statuses from different groups are not mutually exclusive, e.g. a resource can be “Available” (organisational status) and “En-route” (positional status) at the same time. Nevertheless, some cases feature relations between statuses from different groups. E.g. a resource having the “Out of Service” status (organisational one) cannot be set to the “Deployed” status (operational one).

7.2.1 Organisational Statuses From the organisational point of view, all resources are assumed to be either “free”, i.e. not subject to control on the part of CC, or “used”. Both of them can be present in the impact area (“On scene”).

The current organisational status is shown in the “Status” field on page “Organisation” of the resource property panel.

Response Statuses


In addition, the resource icon colour will change in the chart window depending on the current status.

The organisational status group includes five elements described in the table below.

Status Icon colour Description

Free Grey The resource is not involved in the IOSR operations, not reporting to CC. The cost of resource use is not taken into account

Ordered Semitransparent The resource is ordered, it is assigned the time of arrival and the location point. It is assumed that all documents required for ordering the resource has been prepared by CC

Assigned Blue The resource is assigned a task

Available Black The resource is ready for the task

Out Of Service Red The resource is not ready for the task; in this case you can specify time, when the resource will automatically return to the “Available” status

The user can change the status of the resource using the following commands available in the object context menu:

Initial status Command Resulting status Description

Employ Available To bring instantaneously to the “available” status

Free

Order Ordered To specify the location and time of arrival. The resource will automatically turn over to the “Available” status on arrival

Arrive Available To instantaneously bring the ordered resource to the “Available” status, not waiting for the specified time to come

Ordered

Cancel Order Free To cancel the order. The resource transit is cancelled automatically

Available Assign Assigned To assign a task to the resource. Specification of the division the resource is assigned to is mandatory

Out of Service Out of Service To transfer the resource to the out-of-ser-vice status. Specification of the expected time of resource return is mandatory

Assigned

Cancel Assignment

Available To return the resource to the “Available” status by cancelling the task

Out Of Service Available Available To return the resource to the “Available” status by restoration of the “Available” status

Available Assigned Out Of Service

Release Free Demobilize the resource and transfer it to the “Free” status

By default, all resources created in the scenario have the “Free” status. You can order a resource with this status to come on scene using the ORDER command or immediately involve it in the operation by the EMPLOY command. The resource ordered by the ORDER command will be at disposal of the CC after an elapse of certain time, which it needs to move to the impact area. The resource assigned a task with the aid of the EMPLOY command is assumed to be fulfilling the task.

If the resource has been ordered and is en route, the order can be cancelled by the CANCEL ORDER command. The ARRIVE command allows disruption of the process of bringing the ordered resource to the impact area, and brings it to the location point immediately.

The ASSIGN command allows distribution of the resources at CC’s disposal among assignment structure units (see Chapter 7, section Assigning Tasks to Resources for details).

Response Statuses


Any resource fulfilling a task can be transferred to the condition of unavailability using the OUT OF SERVICE command. The unavailability condition sets in as a result of resource failure or repair, personnel change or unreadiness, etc.

The AVAILABLE command can return the resource to the “in-commission” condition from the unavailability one.

The RELEASE command can demobilize the resource and draw it out of reporting to CC.

Assigning Tasks to Resources By default, all resources created in the scenario get into the “Assignments” root element of the assignment structure, which corresponds to the “Unassigned” category in the “Assignment” window.

The resources specified in the scenario should be grouped by categories (units) of the assignment structure. Use your mouse to select an object from the “Assignments” category of the “Data Browser” data window. Using the <Shift> + <Left-click> and <Ctrl> + <Left-click> keys, you can select several objects from the list in order to assign them to the same unit.

Assign the selected object(s) a task using the EMPLOY command of the context menu. Then select the ASSIGN command from the object(s) context menu(s). It will result in opening the “Select Assignment” dialog box with the current variant of the assignment structure:

Select the name of the unit for assignment of the resources, e.g. “On-water recovery”. Click the “OK” to save the changes and close the “Assignment” dialog box. All assigned resources will move from the “Unassigned” root element to the one of assignment, i.e. to “On-water recovery”. All other resources are assigned to other units in the similar way.

To cancel assignment of a resource to a unit, i.e. to remove it from the organisational structure, select the object in the chart window or in the main data window, and then select the CANCEL ASSIGN command from its context menu. The resource will be moved from the unit it was previously assigned to the “Unassigned” category. If needed, the resource can be assigned again to another unit.

Response Statuses


In order to reassign the resource to another unit, select one object or more in the chart window or in the main data window, and then select the PROPERTIES command in the context menu. The object properties window will appear:

In the “Organisation” tab, click button . It will result in appearance of the “Select Assignment” dialog box with the current variant of the organisational structure. Select the name of the unit for resource reassignment and click the “OK” button to save the changes in the organisational structure or “Cancel” to close the window without saving the changes.

7.2.2 Locating Statuses The locating status group contains two status subgroups i.e. “On Scene” and “Out of Scene”, which are described in the table below, and the special “On Carrier” status.

The “Out of Scene” status arises, when the resource has not arrived at the impact area or has not yet been brought into action. In this case, its geographic position is unknown, and its icon is not displayed in the chart window, the resource being shown only in the “Data Browser” data window.

The “On Scene” status arises, when the resource is present in the impact area participating in the operation. In this case, the resource coordinates are known, the resource icon being represented in the chart window.

Out of Scene Blank Initial status of the resource

In transit The resource is sent to the impact area. The route is not specified. The only data known is the time of arrival and the location point

Delayed Transfer of the resource to the impact area is suspended for a specified time period

On Scene En-route Movement along the route

Delayed Movement of the resource along the route is suspended for a specified time period

At location The resource is in the impact area not moving

Tracked The resource position is monitored by GPS systems

“On Carrier” is a special status not included in any subgroups, such status belonging to a resource loaded onto a platform. In such case, the positional status of the resource is assumed to be the same as that of the platform the resource is loaded on.

Response Statuses


In the chart view the loaded equipment is displayed by small icons under the carrier’s icon:

You can turn off the loaded resources representation by means the “Options/Show Resources on Carrier” menu command.

The user can change the positional status of the resource using the following commands available in the object context menu:

Command Resulting status Description

Put on Scene On Scene: At location Putting the resource on scene immediately. The resource appears at the location point

Depart Out of Scene: In Transit Switch the resource over to the In Transit condition, meaning that it will go to the impact area. The route is not specified. Only the time of arrival and the location point are known

Take out from Scene Out of Scene: Blank Removing the resource from scene at once

Load on Carrier On Carrier The resource is “loaded” on platform, its positional status becomes the same as the positional status of the platform

Unload from Carrier On Scene: At position Out of Scene: Blank

Unloading the resource from the platform. If the carrier were on scene, the resource would appear on scene having the same coordinates as those of the carrier. It the carrier was outside the scene, the resource will accept the “Out of Scene” status

Set position At position Appearing of the resource on scene at the specified position

Set route En-route Object moving according to a specified route

Route completed At position Interrupting the movement along the route, the resource stopping at a current-coordinates point

Delay route En-route Delay of movement along the route for a specified length of time

Attach GPS Tracked Connection of the resource to the GPS data source

Detach GPS At position Disconnection of the resource from the GPS data source

The current positional status is shown in the “State” field on the “Locating” page of the resource properties panel.

Response Statuses


7.2.3 Operational Statuses The resource operational status group has five elements described in the table below. Objects of the “Platform” type don’t have operational statuses.

Status Description

Stowed Travelling condition

Deploying Transfer of the resource from the travelling condition to the operational status

Deployed Operational status

Retrieving Transfer of the resource from the operational status to the travelling condition

Failure The resource is out of order due to a mechanical failure

The “Deployed” status for interactive equipment (interacting with oil) is divided into three statuses described in the table below.

Status Description

Operating Operational status of the resource

Turnaround The resource turnaround cycle. On expiration of the specified turnaround period, the resource will automatically accept the operational status. The “Start Turnaround” command of the context menu turns on simulation of the resource turnaround. The “Stop Turnaround” command stops the simulation

Idle The resource suspends task fulfilment. The transfer to the “Idle” status is performed by the “Stop operation” command of the object context menu. Fulfilment of the task is resumed by the “Operate” command of the context menu

The user can change the operational status of the resource using the following commands, available in the object context menu:

Command Resulting status Description

Deploy Deploying Transfer of the resource from the travelling condition to the operational status. It takes some preset time

Deploy Now Deployed Instantaneous transfer of the resource from the travelling condition to the operational status

Delay Same as initial Suspension of the resource transfer from one status to another (from the travelling one to the operational one or vice versa)

Cancel Delay Deploying Cancel of suspension for resource transfer to a status

Retrieve Retrieving Transfer of the resource from the operational status to the travelling one. It takes some preset time

Retrieve Now Stowed Instantaneous transfer of the resource from the operational status to the travelling one

Failure Failure Resource transfer to the unavailable condition. Performed instantaneously

Restore Stowed Resource transfer for the unavailable condition to the travelling status. Performed instantaneously

The current operational status is shown in the “Status” field on page “Equipment” of the resource property panel.

Response Statuses


7.2.4 Command Panel For working with resource statuses and the commands for transfer between them, PISCES II provides the “Command bar” command panel. To invoke the latter, select the RESPONSE/RESOURCE CONTROL command of the menu:

The left-hand part of the panel contains general information on the object, i.e. its name, icon, and the graphical and textual indicators of its current status.

Switching between the images of different groups of object statuses is performed with the aid of the active areas “ORG”, “LOC” and “OPR” in the command panel window. The “ORG” area turns on the image of the resource organisational status, “LOC” – positional status, and “OPR” – operational status, respectively.

The panel contains the same commands for transferring resources from one status to another, which are available in the object context menu. If a transfer from one status to another is impossible, the corresponding button will be disabled.

By default, the command panel is included in the “Response Resources” layout, which can be invoked from the WINDOW/LAYOUTS menu item or using the corresponding button on the toolbar.

Setting Resource Route


7.3 SETTING RESOURCE ROUTE

For “At position” status resources in the scene you can set motion routes.

The DRAW ROUTE command of the resource’s context menu allows the manual setting of the resource motion route. Select this command from the resource’s context menu and use the mouse to indicate the key points of the resource motion route. Use the <Backspace> button if it is necessary to cancel the last set route point. Press the right mouse button after the route has been fully set, or the <Escape> button to cancel the route setting:

The screen will display the “Route” table which describes the resource motion route (coordinates of the route key points. speed on the segment starting in these points, resource waiting time in these points):

The “Speed” and “Stop time” fields can be edited by the user to suit the scenario conditions. The “Alarm” field in the table allows setting the necessity for displaying a warning at the moment when the resource reaches the specified point.

The table can be called as required by pressing the “Show Route” button in the resource window or by using the EDIT ROUTE context menu command.

Setting Resource Route


7.3.1 Importing Resource Routes from Text Files In addition to setting the route reference points manually, the route can be imported from text files which can be created manually or exported from navigational programs. e.g., from the AIS Monitor.

To import the ship motion route, in the Resources category select the resource in the “At position” status (for more details of the resource position status see above under 7.2.2 Location Statuses) and press the “Import Route” button on the “Locating” tab on the resource properties panel.

In the window which will open up, specify the path to the text file containing information on the resource route. If the selected file contains at least one waypoint with the time later than the current scenario time, the route will be imported, the resource will move to the first waypoint.

A file containing the route description cannot only be exported from the AIS Monitor, but can also be created individually. In the file, the time and resource coordinates are specified in each line, separated with tabulation signs. The format for the description of a route waypoint is provided below:

<date in date.month.year hour:minute:second format > <latitude> <longitude>

The PISCES delivery set includes a sample of the route description file Route.txt which can be used as the basis for creating own routes stored in the PISCES II/ ConstData/ExportImport/Samples directory.

Targets


7.4 TARGETS PISCES II is able to receive data on position and movement element of real object from the VTMS and UAIS data sources, and represent them in the form of “targets”. The targets in the chart window are displayed in the form of dotted squares, while the elements of their movement are represented on the property page and in the “Data Browser” window similar to resources. In addition to external targets, PISCES II makes it possible to create the own artificial targets. The targets can be assigned resources, which would change coordinates in accordance with the automatically refreshed data on the targets.

7.4.1 External Targets The role of external targets is played by real objects, which coordinates have been received from the VTMS/UAIS data sources. Data exchange between PISCES II and VTMS/UAIS data sources requires activation of the VTS/AIS communicator, which is a commercial option.

After the connection with the VTS and UAIS data sources, information on external targets will be displayed in the “Data Browser” window in the “Incident data/Targets” category.

Select a target from the list. The properties panel will display information on the selected target. The “Locating” tab shows data on the object position. The table below lists parameters set on this tab:

Parameter Value

Latitude/Longitude Objects’ chart coordinates: latitude/longitude

Course Object motion direction

Speed Object motion speed

Name Object name

Label Text label in the chart window

The “Features” tab displays data identifying the object.

Targets


The table below lists parameters set on this tab:

Parameter Value

MMSI MMSI number

IMO Number IMO identification number

Call sign Callsign

Ship type Ship type

Destination Ship’s route end point

ETA Estimated time of the ship’s arrival in the point of destination

Values set on the “Features” tab can be used for the automatic connection of resources to targets (for more details see 7.4.4 Automatic Linking of Platforms to Targets).

On the chart, targets are shown as a square with dashed sides.

After the connection with an external VTS or UAIS data source has been established and the scenario has been run, target data is updated with short delays rather than constantly. The display of target marks in the chart window varies depending on the latest target updating delay value and on the set permitted delay values:

• If the time interval from the latest target data updating to the current moment is smaller than the value set in the “Short delay” field, the target mark in the chart window is drawn in bold black dashed line;

• If the time interval from the latest target data updating to the current moment is larger than the value set in the “Long delay” field, the target mark in the chart window is drawn in bold red dashed line;

• If the target updating delay is within the interval between the set short and long delay, such target in the chart window is drawn as a thin twin red dashed line.

Synchronising delays are set with the aid of the OPTION/TARGET SYNCHRONIZATION SETTINGS… menu command (for more details see 8.7 Synchronizing Delay Settings).

7.4.2 Simulated Targets The user can create simulated targets in PISCES II, and specify their courses and speeds. Similar to the external targets, the artificial targets can also be assigned response resources.

Select the CREATE SIMULATED TARGET command in the context menu of the INCIDENT DATA/TARGETS item of the “Data Browser” data window:

Targets


This will invoke the “Simulated Target Properties” window.

The “Name” and “Label” fields are designed for specification of the object’s name and text label.

The “Latitude/Longitude” fields are used by the user for specification of the object initial position coordinates, the “Course” and “Speed” fields being self-explanatory.

In the fields on the “Features” tab you can specify the target identifying data (for more details see 7.4.1 External Targets).

The “Set to Chart” button on the “Locating” tab makes it possible to specify the initial position of the object in the chart window and its travel route. Click this button and then use your mouse in the chart window to specify the initial position of the object and its travel route. Having specified the route, press the right mouse button. It will open the “Route” table describing the travel route of the target (coordinates of the route key points, travel speed at the points, and the expected time of target arrival at the given point).

The user can edit the “Speed” and “Stop time” fields in accordance with the scenario conditions. The “Alarm” checkboxes in the table are designed to ensure an alarm signal at the time the target reaches the given point.

Edit the route table in accordance with the exercise conditions. Click “OK” to save the changes in the table or “Cancel” to close it without saving the changes.

Targets


The created artificial target will be represented in the chart window as shown below:

The dotted border shows the object initial position.

The target context menu can include different commands depending on whether the target has finished its movement along the route or not.

The context menu appearing to the left is provided for a target still moving along the route, while the right-hand menu is for a target that has completed its movement along the route. When the target has finished its movement along the route, it can be assigned another route. The menu commands are described in the table below.

Command Purpose


Edit Route Turning ON the mode of target route edit

Route completed Interrupting the movement along the route

Set position Setting target initial position

Set route Setting new route for target movement

Hide/Show Label Hiding/showing the object level

Move Icon Moving the object icon


Delete Points Deleting route point(s)

7.4.3 Attaching Resources to Targets If a real/artificial target is known as belonging to one or another resource, this resource can be “attached” to this target. In such case, the resource is switched over to the “Tracked” condition, and its coordinates will be refreshed in accordance with the data received from the source of data on the target movement elements.

To attach a resource to the target, select the ATTACH GPS command in the context menu of the selected object. The “Select object” window will open.

Targets


In the drop-down list, select a target to “attach” this resource to. By default, the program selects the first object of its kind found in the list. When the “Keep distance” checkbox is checked, the object will move at a specified distance from the target. If the checkbox is not checked, then the coordinates of the resource attached to the target will coincide with the target’s own coordinates. Click “OK”, to attach the resource to the target, or “Cancel” to close the dialog box.

The “Position” tab on the properties panel of the resource attached to the target will feature new fields: “GPS”, “Distance” and “Bearing”. The “GPS” field specifies the name of the target the resource is attached to, while the “Distance” and “Bearing” fields show the distance from the resource to the target and the bearing, respectively.

In the chart window, the mark of the resource linked to a target in underlined with a dashed line, and the “Targets” chart layer is turned off. It may be manually turned on as required on the “Overlays” on the chart view control panel (for more details see 3.3.1 Chart View Control Panel).

As a platform is linked to the target (for more details on the resource categories see 6.1.1 Response Resource Categories) the Matches by line appears in the “Select Object” window under the target list. After the target selection from the list, the program compares contents of the “IMO number”, “Lloyds number”, “MMSI”, “Call sign”, “Name” field on the “Features” tab for the platform and for the selected target, and in the case of a match,, displays the names of fields which the values matched for.

Simulation of the Order, which is a group of objects moving as a whole along a common route at a specified distance from each other, requires attachment of several resources to the target with the checked “Keep distance” checkbox. Such group can include, for example, several booms trawling the oil slick or several skimmers.

Targets


It is necessary to create a group of resources, which would be combined in an Order. Select resources in the “Data Browser” data window and create a new resource, if necessary. Place the resources to be combined in an Order in the chart window in a required formation and at a required distance from each other.

Select the target, along which route the created group is to move. Create a new target, if necessary. Now the object group should be attached to the target. Select the required resources in the resource structure or in the assignment structure using the “Data Browser” data window. You can select several objects from the list with the aid of the <Shift> + <Left-click> and <Ctrl> + <Left-click> keys.

Select the ATTACH GPS command from the context menu of the selected group. Use the drop-down list of the “Select object” window to select a target to attach the created Order to. When the “Keep distance” checkbox is checked, the objects in the Order move at a specified distance from the target. Click “OK”, to attach the Order to the target or “Cancel” to exit the dialog box.

Now, after starting the scenario, the created Order will move along the specified route.

Targets


The coordinates and course of the objects in the order will change in accordance with the data on the target, to which the order is attached.

To terminate attachment of the resource/order to the target, select the “Detach GPS” command in its context menu.

7.4.4 Automatic Linking of Platforms to Targets In the reception of data on the actual objects’ position and motion elements from the VTS and AIS data sources, data identifying these objects can also be passed. By using this data, PISCES II can link actual objects, displayed targets and platforms which the same identifier values as for the targets are specified.

The “Features” tab in the properties window is used for specifying data identifying the object by the marked target.

Targets


Similar data can be specified in the table on the “Features” tab in the resource properties window.

Select the LINK TO PLATFORMS AUTOMATICALLY command in the “Data browser” window from the context menu of the “Incident data/Targets” category.

The program will automatically compare the values specified in the “IMO number”, “Lloyds number”, “MMSI”, “Call sign” fields on the “Features” tab, as well as in the “Name” field in the platform and target properties window, and should the values match each other, will link platforms to the targets.

If because of a mistake there are several targets in the scenario with identical IMO number, Lloyds number, MMSI, Call sign, Name parameter values, the platform will be linked to the first target which the match will be found for.

A similar operation is performed when the LINK TO PLATFORMS AUTOMATICALLY command is selected from the “Response Resources” category context menu.

To cancel the linking of the resource to the target, select the TURN OFF GPS command from its context menu, just like in the case of the manual connection.

Areas


7.5 AREAS

A part of response resources for spill control is used on a certain area. This covers burning, application of dispersants and sorbents. PISCES II simulates application of such resources as a polygonal area featuring certain characteristics and acting on the oil slick in a specified manner.

All areas specified in the scenario are shown in the “Data Browser” data window under the category of “Incident Data/Area Objects”.

7.5.1 Burning PISCES II simulates two variants of oil burning: “free burning” and “compulsory burning”. To simulate the free burning, the user specifies the area of initial burning and the ignition time. All oil within the specified area will be ignited at the specified time. Then the model will automatically calculate the intensity of burning and the spreading of the burning process on the basis of water temperature, oil product properties, oil slick thickness, and percent of water content in it.

To simulate the compulsory burning, the user specifies the burning area on chart, duration and intensity of burning. The program will remove oil from the given area at a rate specified by the user.

Free burning and compulsory burning areas in PISCES II are sources of atmospheric pollution with smoke. For more details of smoke pollution, see 5.3.5 PISCES Built-in Smoke Contamination Model.

Free Burning Area To set an area of the free oil burning, select the RESPONSE/NEW IN-SITU BURNING/BURNING AREA command in the main menu. The command will open the “Burning area Properties” window.

The “Name” and “Label” fields are designed for specification of the area name and its text label.

You can initiate oil burning not from the moment of the scenario start, but after an elapse of some time – e.g. after several hours. Use the “Ignition time” field to specify the burning start time. By default, when a new area is created, this field shows the current scenario model time. The “State” non-editable field shows the area status. It makes it possible to find out, whether burning has started in the given area or not yet.

Areas


See the table below for a list of possible statuses of the burning area.

Status Value

Not started The process has not started yet

In progress The process has been started

In model The model in the process of calculation

Finished The process is over

Having specified the area parameters, click the “Set to Chart” button to specify the form and location of the burning area on chart. Click the button and use your mouse on the chart to indicate a polygonal area delineating the burning zone.

Right click to finish area delineation.

Compulsory Burning Area To indicate an area of compulsory oil burning, select the RESPONSE/NEW IN-SITU BURNING/COMPULSORY BURNING AREA command in the main menu. The command will open the “Compulsory Burning area Properties” window:


Use the “Ignition time” field to specify the burning start time. By default, when a new area is created, this field shows the current scenario model time.

The “State” non-editable field shows the area status. It makes it possible to find out, whether burning has started in the given area or not yet. Possible statuses of the burning area are listed in the Free Burning Area section, Chapter 7.

Areas


The “Burn Duration” field is designed for specifying duration of oil burning in the given area. By default, the value in this field is 1 hour. The “Burn Rate” field shows the rate of oil burning in the given area. The measurement units are taken from the context menu for this field.

The “Predicted amount” and “Burned amount” non-editable fields show statistics on the expected and actual volumes of burned oil.

Having specified area parameters, click the “Set to Chart” button to specify the form and location of the burning area on chart. The process of burn area delineation is described in details in the Free Burning Area section, Chapter 7.

7.5.2 Using Dispersants To speed up the process of natural oil dispersion, oil is subjected to dispersant action. PISCES simulates two variants of dispersant use: “Immediate” and “Gradual”.

The “Immediate” use of dispersants simulates the situations, when the operation duration can be ignored. The user shall specify a rectangular area on chart, choose dispersant quantity and set time of application. When the scenario reaches the specified time, the selected dispersant will be uniformly distributed over the given area.

The “Gradual” use of dispersants is simulated by specifying a route for the “Dispersant Delivery System” object carrying dispersant. The delivery system moves along the route applying the dispersant over a small zone at each model step. Size of this zone and quantity of spent dispersant depend on the speed of delivery system movement, its working width and productivity rate.

Immediate Use of Dispersant To specify an area of immediate use of dispersant, select the POLLUTION/NEW DISPERSANT AREA command in the main menu. The command will open the “Instant dispersant application area Properties” window:


The “Start time” field is used for specification of the dispersant application start time. By default, when creating a new area, this field is used to show the current scenario model time.

The “State” non-editable field shows the area status. It makes it possible to find out, whether the use of dispersant has been started in this area or not. Possible statuses for this area are listed in the Free Burning Area section, Chapter 7.

Areas


The “Area” non-editable field shows the stretch of the given area. The measurement units are taken from the context menu for this field.

The “Dispersant” list is designed for selection of dispersant from the list of ones specified in the scenario.

The non-editable fields “Model”, “Recommended O/D ratio”, “Amount available dispersant”, “Expected dispersant amount” show the following characteristics of the selected dispersant: make, recommended oil/dispersant ratio, quantity of available dispersant and quantity of expected quantity of dispersed oil.

The “Amount dispersant to apply” field is used to specify the quantity of dispersant to be used.

Having specified area parameters, click the “Set To Chart” button, to determine the form and location of dispersant application on chart. The dispersant application area is specified by a rectangular. Click the “Set To Chart” button and use your mouse on the chart to specify two area points and a direction for rectangular formation.

Having specified the area, do a left click. The area of dispersant application will show on the chart. The area can be moved and/or rotated, if necessary. If you place the cursor on the corner of the selected area so that the cursor will accept the following form: , you will be able to turn the object for an arbitrary angle around its centre.

The context menu contains commands, which can be used to edit some object properties. They are described in the table below.

Command Purpose



Move Label Moving the object label


Gradual Use of Dispersant To simulate gradual use of dispersant in the scenario, it is necessary to create the dispersant and the system for its delivery. See the section 6.1 Creation of Response Resources for more details. Now it is necessary to appoint dispersant to DDS. Select a resource in the DDS “Data Browser” data window or create a new one, if necessary. Use the context menu of the object to select the EDIT command.

Areas


The command opens the object properties window. Open the “Model Data” tab in this window.

The tab allows for specification of a dispersant, which will be spread from the given DDS, and spreading parameters. The parameters and options, which can be specified using this tab, are described in the section 6.1 Creation of Response Resources for details.

To start the work, the DDS should be placed on scene using the PUT ON SCENE context menu command and specifying its initial location and route. For this purpose, use the object context menu commands SET POSITION and SET ROUTE, respectively. The initial location and route can be specified in the chart window using the mouse. When the route is set, the “Route” table will open, which can be used for editing coordinates of the route key points, the speed of movement at these points, and the time of expected arrival of the object at the given point.

After specification of all required parameters, the DDS can be used in the operation for dispersant dissemination. Use the context menu of the object to select the DEPLOY or DEPLOY NOW command, in order to bring the resource to the operational status (see the section 7.2.3 Operational Statuses for detailed description of the commands). When the scenario is started for execution, DDS will disseminate dispersant along the specified route.

The part of the route covered by DDS will be displayed in the chart window in grey colour, while the uncovered one will be highlighted in orange:

Areas


7.5.3 Sorbent Application Sorbent is the name for materials used for collection of spilled oil by adsorption or absorption i.e. by the process of sucking oil into the agent pores or by oil adhesion to the sorbent surface. Sorbents are manufactured from natural materials (peat, straw, minerals, coal) and synthetic materials (polypropilene, polyureylene, polyethylene). The most commonly used are synthetic sorbents. Usually sorbents are used for removal of small quantity of spilled oil, and in locations inaccessible for oil skimmers.

To specify an area for sorbent application, select the CREATE SORBING AREA command in the context menu of the INCIDENT DATA/AREA OBJECTS item of the “Data Browser” data window.

It will open the “Sorbing area Properties” window.


The “Start time” field is used for specification of the sorbent application start time. By default, when creating a new area, this field is used to show the current scenario model time.

The “State” non-editable field shows the area status. It makes it possible to find out, whether use of dispersant has been started in this area or not yet. Possible statuses of the area are listed in the Free Burning Area section, Chapter 7.

The “Area” non-editable field shows the stretch of the given area.

PISCES II can be given different conditions of oil absorption by sorbent. The set “Full Sorbing” option presets full absorption of any quantity of oil spilled over the given area.

If the scenario conditions provides for absorption of a certain quantity of oil only, uncheck the “Full Sorbing” checkbox and use the “Amount to sorb” field to specify the maximum quantity of oil, which is to be absorbed by the sorbent in the given area.

Using Booms


Having specified area parameters, click the “Set To Chart”, to determine form and location of sorbent application on chart. The process of determination of sorbent scope of use is similar to one described in the Free Burning Area section, Chapter 7.

The context menu contains commands, which can be used to edit some object properties. They are described in the table below.

Command Purpose



Move Label Moving the object label


Delete Points Deleting object point(s)

7.6 USING BOOMS

PISCES II presents booms as flexible penetrable barriers able to move. Boom penetrability and efficiency is calculated in the context of boom type, wave height and the relative water velocity. The user can adjust boom efficiency manually. The boom form is calculated on the basis of its length, position of anchor points, currents and wind.

The amount of oil passed through the boom depends not only of the latter’s efficiency, but also of the ratio of oil film, thickness next to the boom and the boom height/depth. If the oil film is above or below the boom, the latter can pass oil even if its efficiency is 100%. If the oil film thickness doesn’t exceed the boom thickness, then the amount of oil passed through the boom depends just on its efficiency. To determine the thickness of the oil film close to the boom boundary, you can use the local statistics tool invoked by the POLLUTION/LOCAL AREA STATISTICS menu command.

Each boom model features a number of preset characteristics. You can change them in the scenario framework. Changes introduced to the boom parameters are saved to the current scenario only, i.e. they won’t be entered to the PISCES II database. To save the changed parameters for the boom in the database, use the “Resource model editor” utility.

The program simulates the following methods of using booms for oil collection, diversion of oil movement, oil containment and protection of sensitive areas:

Task Description

Oil containment and diversion

The deployed booms prevent spreading of oil slicks. The boom form is determined by location of anchor points and the “slack” parameter. Boom model characteristics determine its holding capacity

Oil collection Trawling by the basic boom configurations: U, V, J. Movement of skimmers included in the trawling Order can be specified using the targets, see the section 7.3.3 Attaching Resources to Targets

Use of sorbing booms A sorbing booms is one able to absorb oil. The squeezing of such boom is performed at the moment of its retrieval, but in the PISCES II statistics, the amount of the collected oil rises gradually as it is absorbed by the boom. Application of sorbing booms combines oil collection and retaining, oil concentrating and deviating

A boom, for which its capacity is specified, can absorb oil. The maximum amount of oil, which the boom can absorb, is determined by its length, height, depth and capacity. All these parameters are specified in the boom property panel of the “Model data” tab.

Using Booms


After starting the scenario, the part of the route To start the work, the boom should be placed on scene using the PUT ON SCENE context menu command and specifying its initial location and route. For this purpose, use the object context menu commands SET POSITION and SET ROUTE, respectively. The initial location and route can be specified in the chart window using the mouse. When the route is set, the “Route” table will open, which can be used for editing coordinates of the route key points, the speed of movement at these points, and the time of expected arrival of the object at the given point.

Covered by the boom will be marked in the chart window in grey, while the uncovered one will be highlighted in orange.

Containment of oil by the boom requires switching the boom over from the travelling status to the operational one. To do so, use the context menu of the object to select the command DEPLOY or DEPLOY NOW (see the section 7.2.3 Operational Statuses for details). Use your mouse to indicate the boom anchoring point on chart. The points are to be specified by left clicks. The <Backspace> key revokes the point set last. Information on the length of the specified boom segment and the remaining boom segment is shown to the right of the cursor (in brackets for the remaining segment). In the chart window, the boom is represented as a broken (polygonal) line.

You can use the right mouse button to finish the boom installation, if its length is not used in full, or to abort editing, if for some reason the boom is not to be deployed in full. The <Escape> button cancels boom installation. After starting the scenario for execution, the boom will be deployed taking the deflected position in accordance with the field of currents and boom characteristics.

Contrary to other resources, the boom can also be assigned a task, when in the “Out of Scene” status. For this purpose, select the DEPLOY or DEPLOY NOW commands from the context menu of the created boom and specify its fixing points. After starting the scenario, the boom will be deployed.

If capacity is specified for the boom, then if deployed it can absorb oil. The amount of collected oil is shown by the “Stored oil” field in the boom property panel of the “Model data” tab.

Use of Boom Formations


The amount of oil absorbed by the boom is added to the total amount of collected oil in the field “Amount recovered” in the spill statistics of the data browser in the “Pollution/Spill statistics” category (see section 5.4.1 General Statistics).

7.7 USE OF BOOM FORMATIONS

Boom formations allow control of a set consisting of several response resources: a skimmer, boom and several platforms as a single unit. The joint resources can be assigned with a common route which they will be proceeding along, retaining their relative positions.

7.7.1 Creating Formations To create an formation, switch to the data navigator window and from the INCIDENT DATA\ORDERS category context menu select the “Create Boom Formation” command. The formation properties window will appear:

Set the main formation parameters on the “General” properties page. Order parameters which can be set on the “General” properties page are listed below:

Parameter Meaning

Name Formation name

Label Text label which will be shown on the chart

Status Read only value. Shows the current formation status

Start time Formation deployment time

Latitude, Longitude Object’s chart coordinates: latitude and longitude

Course Read only value. Shows the direction of the object’s motion

Speed Read only value. Shows the object‘s motion speed

Press the “Set to chart” button and use the mouse to indicate on the chart the two point and direction which the formation delimiting rectangle will be drawn in.



After the formation position has been set, click the left mouse button. The picture of the formation will appear on the chart.

The formation can be turned and its width changes as required. If you position the mouse cursor on a corner of the selected formation so that the cursor assumes form, you will be able to turn the object to an arbitrary angle around the centre:

To change the formation width, position the mouse cursor on its side so that its assumes the form and drag the side with the mouse. The formation length is determined automatically proceeding from the formation type and the boom included in the for more details see under 7.7.2 Formation Geometric Form).

If it is necessary to change position of an already set order, you can use the context menu’s “Set Position” command or set the order coordinates in the “Latitude” and “Longitude” boxes in the order properties window opened via the context menu’s “Properties” command. The list of the formation context menu commands is provided in the table below.

Command Purpose

Properties The command displays the object properties menu

Draw Route To set a route for the object. For more details see under 7.7.4 FORMATION ROUTE

Edit Route To edit the object route. For more details see under 7.7.4 FORMATION ROUTE

Route Completed To end the route. For more details see under 7.7.4 FORMATION Route

Set Position To specify the formation position in the chart window

Hide/Show Label The command allows the object label to be hidden/shown

Delete The command deletes the object

Before starting to work with the formation, it is necessary to select its type (for more details see under 7.7.2 Formation Geometric Form) and determine the resources included in the order (for more details see under 7.7.3 Formation Components).



7.7.2 Formation Geometric Form To determine the formation components and geometric form, open the formation properties window by selecting the “Properties” command from its context menu in the chart window.

Switch to the “Geometry” properties page.

Geometric types of formations which you can set are provided in the table below:

Formation type

Type characteristic

J-formation

In a J-formation, one end of the boom is towed considerably ahead of the other. When the J-formation is set, it is necessary to select the boom end which will be towed ahead of the other by using the “Left” and “Right” option buttons in the “J-formation orientation” group. For the J-formation, the length of a loop is set in the “J-size” field

U-formation

U-formation

V-formation

V-formation. For the V type formation, a slack is set in the “V-slack” field within 1 to 10 per cent

Voss-formation

Imitation of a specialised OSRV ship with external booms and skimmer: a small boom segment towed by one platform is deployed

For any formation types, it is also necessary to set the formation width in the “Formation width” field and the expected length of the boom which will be used in the formation, in the “Boom length” field.



7.7.3 Formation Components The boom formation combines several response resources: tugs, boom and skimmer. The set of resources included in the formation is determined by its type set on the “Geometry” properties page (for more details see under 7.7.2 Formation Geometric Form).

To set resources included in the formation, switch to the “Units” properties page:

To set a boom included in the formation, press the “Select” button next to the word “Boom”. The “Select” unit window which will open up, will provide the list of all the resources of the selected type:

From the list select a reel which the boom will be deployed from and specify the boom length in the “Boom length” field. Note that after you have entered the boom’s actual length, the “Select unit” window will change the boom’s expected length value set in the “Boom length” field on the “Geometry” properties page. Press the “ОК” button to complete the boom selection, or the “Cancel” button to close the “Select unit” window.

The rest of the resources involved in the formation are selected in much the same way by using the “Select” buttons. After determining all the resources included in the formation, press the “ОК” button. All the selected resources start on a transit to their positions in the formation.



To exclude a resource from the formation, open the “Select unit” window by pressing the “Select” button on the “Units” page and press the “Empty” button.

7.7.4 Formation Route The formation enables the motion of resources along the set route, their relative positions retained.

To set an formation motion route, select the “Draw route” command from the formation’s context menu and set the motion route in much the same way as for the rest of PISCES objects: use the mouse to indicate the key route points on the chart and press the right mouse button when the route is fully set, or the <Escape> button to cancel the route setting. The screen will display the “Draw route” table which describes the formation motion route:

The “Speed” and “Stop time” fields can be edited by the user to suit the conditions of the scenario. The “Alarm” field in the table allows setting the necessity for the display of a warning at the moment when the formation reaches the specified point. Press “OK” to complete the route setting or “Cancel” to close the “Draw route” window without setting the route.



You can view the set route by using the context menu “Edit route” command or the “Edit table” button in the formation properties window on the “Route” page:

To set the route, you can also use the “Draw route” button on the “Route” formation properties page.

In addition to setting the formation route directly via the “Draw route” command, you can connect the formation to the GPS data sources. Select an formation from the data window, and from its context menu select the “Edit” command. In the formation properties window which will open up, switch to the “Route” tab:

Select the “Tracking” option button. Specify the necessary set of targets by using the “Select” button. Press “ОК”.

If the formation is connected to two GPS data sources, the size of the J- formation loop and its width are determined automatically depending on the position of targets which the formation is attached to.

7.7.5 Use of Boom Formations After setting all the formation parameters (its geometric form, components and route) run the scenario model time (for more details see under 2.10.1 Start).

When created, the formation is in the deployment state: the resources it includes are in transit to their positions in the formation.

The formation will not start proceeding along the set route until it has been fully deployed at the moment of time specified in the “Start time” field on the “General” page.

ATTENTION!

ATTENTION!

Using Oil Skimmers


With the coming of the time specified in the “Start time” field, the status of the formation specified in the “Status” field on the “General” properties page will change to “Operating”. Resources include din the formation will arrive from transit in their positions in the formation, booms will be deployed. The formation will start proceeding along the set route.

7.8 USING OIL SKIMMERS

The oil skimmers remove the floating oil from the point they are located. The oil collection rate depends on the skimmer type, its rated capacity and oil viscosity.

PISCES II simulates 5 models of skimmers corresponding to the following basic types:

• Threshold;

• Oleophilic;

• Vacuum;

• Mechanical;

• Belt.

Model selection determines the rated capacity of the skimmer and the dependence of oil skimming efficiency on the oil viscosity and the wave height. See the table below for characteristics of standard skimmers preset in PISCES II.

Dependence of oil skimming efficiency on the wave height

Dependence of oil skimming efficiency on the oil viscosity

Skimmer model

Wave height (feet)

Efficiency (%)

Viscosity (cP)

Efficiency (%)

0 100 0 85

3 100 3000 70

4 50 10000 5

5 25

Threshold

6 0

0 100 0 10

3 100 500 40

4 50 1500 90

5 25 2500 60

Oleophilic

6 0 5000 10

0 100 0 50

3 100 2500 60

4 50 5000 50

5 25 10000 40

Vacuum

6 0

0 100 0 0

3 100 1000 20

4 50 5000 40

5 25 10000 90

Mechanical

6 0

0 100 0 0

1.97 100 1000 20

4.27 50 5000 40 Belt

6.56 0 10000 90

Using the Shore Cleanup Equipment


To start the work, the skimmer should be placed on scene using the PUT ON SCENE context menu command and specifying its initial location and route. For this purpose, use the object context menu commands SET POSITION and SET ROUTE, respectively. The initial location and route can be specified in the chart window using the mouse. When the route is set, the standard “Route” table will open, which can be used for editing coordinates of the route key points, the speed of movement at these points, and the time of expected arrival of the object at a given point.

For oil skimming the skimmer requires to be switched over from the travelling status to the operational one. To do so, use the object context menu to select the DEPLOY or DEPLOY NOW command (see the section 7.2.3 Operational Statuses for details).

The amount of oil collected by the skimmer is shown by the “Stored mixture” field in the “Model data” tab of the skimmer property panel. The amount of oil collected by the skimmer is added to the total amount of collected oil in the “Amount recovered” field of the spill statistics in the data browser, the “Pollution/Spill statistics” category (see section 5.4.1 General Statistics).

When the amount of collected water/oil mixture reaches the skimmer maximum capacity, the turnaround cycle will start, on which completion the oil collection will continue. The turnaround system can be controlled manually using the START TURNAROUND and STOP TURNAROUND menu commands.

7.9 USING THE SHORE CLEANUP EQUIPMENT

PISCES II makes possible simulation of stranded oil collection with the aid of the shore cleanup equipment.

To start the works, the shore cleaner should be placed on the scene using the ON SCENE context menu command. Having placed the cleaner on the scene, select the DEPLOY or DEPLOY NOW command. It will open the “Select parcel” dialog box:

Using the list, select the coastline parcel the cleaner is to work on and click “OK” to start up the cleaner, or “Cancel” to close the dialog box.

After cleaner’s deployment, it will go to the next segment of the coastline parcel and start collecting oil. The cleanup process is simulated in sequence for each coastline parcel segment, the cleaner passing through the segment only once.

The amount of oil collected by the cleaner is shown in the “Recovered mixture” field of the cleaner property panel of the “Model data” tab. The collected oil is added to the spill statistics in the category “Recovered oil on shore” and “Recovered soil and oil on shore” (see section 5.4.1 General Statistics).

The results of cleaner work i.e. the amount of collected oil and oil/soil mixture and the amount of oil left ashore can be exported to an Excel file (see 5.4.3 Coastline Parcel Statistics for more detail).

Use of Platforms


7.10 USE OF PLATFORMS

Use of platforms as objects taking part in the operation is similar to the use of booms or skimmers (see previous paragraphs). To start the work, the platform should be placed on scene using the PUT ON SCENE command of the context menu and given its initial position with the SET POSITION command, and its route with the SET ROUTE command.

The difference is in the possibility of loading the platform with other objects, which would travel along the same route with the “carrier”. To load an object on the platform, use the context menu to select the command LOAD ON CARRIER. This action will open the SELECT OBJECT window.

The drop-down list contains all carriers included in the scenario. Select the platform you need from the list and press “OK” to load the resource or “Cancel” to cancel the loading.

The properties panel will have a list of objects loaded on this platform, in the “Attached units” tab.

The chart window will display reduced icons of the loaded objects under the platform icon.

You can load the platform with any object created in the scenario whether or not the object is in the impact area.

To unload the object from the platform, use the context menu to select the UNLOAD FROM CARRIER command. The resource will be unloaded from the platform, and the fact will be reflected by the respective change of its positional status.

Automatic Control of Resources


7.11 AUTOMATIC CONTROL OF RESOURCES

In conducting PISCES II exercises, the instructor first prepares a scenario with an optimum order of oil spill response operations in the scenario preparation mode, and then users implement one of possible versions during the drill. Greater part of objects in the exercises is not controlled by the users, but only serves for creating a game situation. It is difficult for the instructor controlling this part of objects to repeat accurately the order of operations developed during the scenario preparation.

Automatic control of scenario objects allows the instructor to avoid errors. All the actions the scenario objects are subjected to during the modelling in the preparation mode, are recorded; when the scenario is replayed, the program repeats automatically the recorded sequence of commands. It should be noted that the instructor can disable automatic control of scenario objects at any time, and resume the fulfilment of the scenario controlling the response facilities and other scenario objects him/herself.

7.11.1 Preparation of Drill with the Use of Automatic Object Control At the first stage, the instructor prepares a scenario to suit the purpose of the drill in Forecast mode. During the scenario preparation, it is necessary to set the gaming area, contour and type of the coastline, field of currents and weather conditions, oil spill sources, set and behaviour of response facilities which serve for creating a gaming situation. During the scenario modelling in Forecast mode, the programs records a list of commands gave by the instructor for each object. Switching of the combat facility’s organisational, position or operational status (for more details see 7.2 Response Statuses), change of position, assignment of a route, creation and deleting of dispersant and sorbent application area, ignition and burning area, etc., is considered to be a command.

The order of changes is saved for all the scenario objects except for the air pollution, ESA, currents and plans of currents, coastline, geo-referenced image and additional information: text, stationary symbol and stationary polygon.

As the scenario is replayed in Forecast or Conduct mode, the program will automatically repeat the saved succession of commands.

E.g. it is necessary to train various boom deployment versions. The instructor runs the scenario in preparation mode, sets the environmental conditions, an oil spill. He/she creates booms, platforms and the rest of equipment. The instructor puts the resources into the scene, loads boom reel and the rest of equipment on the platforms, sets ships routes. As the carrier arrives at the site, the instructor unloads and deploys the equipment. With the replay of the scenario, the program will itself perform all the aforementioned operations, additional information will appear on the chart at the moment of time set by the instructor; the users will only have to deploy the boom delivered to the spill site.

Change of Objects under Automatic Control Preparation of a scenario is complex process which requires frequent returns to the previously made saving points and new replays of the scenario. As this is done, the instructor may need to make minor changes in the properties of objects under the automatic control, e.g. change oil skimmer efficiency, correct positions of ship route reference points or the form of an ice field.

It should be understood that changes made by the instructor may be incompatible with further commands from the list of actions. E.g. changing name of a destination point will have no effect on the following execution of commands from the list, whereas sending of a resource to transit may come into conflict with, e.g. the next command which assigns a route to this resource.



This is why, after a change of properties of status of objects under the automatic control, the program offers a choice: to suspend the playback of recorded commands after the change of properties, or to continue fulfilling the recorded commands:

To resume the playback of command recording, press “Yes”, or press “No” to disable automatic control of the object in the further scene replay.

The program does not check compatibility of the changes you have made with further commands from the existing list of actions. It is, therefore, recommended that automatic control should be disabled for the object you are editing, except for elementary cases when the consequences of changes are clearly imaginable Disabling automatic control for one object or a group of objects does not result in the disabling of automatic control of all the scenario objects (for more details see section 7.10.2).

The change you have made is added to the list of object changes and is reproduced when the scenario is replayed.

7.11.2 Conducting Drill with the Use of Automatic Control of Objects At the drill conduct stage, all the actions set by the instructor at the scenario preparation stage are reproduced by the program automatically, whereas the user only controls the objects he/she has created and objects not under the automatic control. Automatic control for any object or all the scenario objects can be disabled at any time (for more details see section 7.10.1).

All the scenario objects which the succession of actions was set for by the instructor, are marked off with in “ALP” column (Automatic List Processing) in the list of objects. To the right of , the time of the last command recorded in the list of actions, is specified for each object:

With the coming of time specified in ALP column, the object executes the last command from the list of actions and goes under the user control.



Deleting Scenario Objects under the Automatic Control If the user deletes an object under the automatic control, the screen displays a window requesting confirmation of the object deleting:

For the oil burning area, ice and ice chart area, “Keep Action List” option is available; it allows object action list to be saved. Set “Keep Action List” option for the remote object to fulfil all the commands from the list of actions and be automatically deleted next time when the scenario is replayed.

E.g. in a scenario, a fast ice area was created, its shape and position changing throughout the entire scenario, this area was then deleted. If “Keep Action List” option is set at the time when the area is deleted, in the next scenario replay all the changes of the ice area including its deleting, will be repeated automatically. Otherwise, after the scenario return to the saving point, the ice area will be restored, but in the further scenario replays the area will be under the user control.

Press “Yes” if you really want to delete the object, or “No” to close the dialogue box without deleting the object.

Cancelling Automatic Control of Objects The user can disable automatic control of objects at any moment of the drill.

To cancel automatic control for all the scenario objects, select INTERRUPT ALL ACTION LISTS PROCESSING command from SCENARIO menu.

To take an individual object or a group of objects from under the automatic control, select it and choose INTERRUPT ACTION LIST command from the context menu. In the window which will open up, press “Yes” to confirm the accepting of the object control, or press “No” to leave the object under the automatic control.

INTERRUPT ALP and INTERRUPT ALL ACTION LISTS PROCESSING commands delete the list of object command starting from the scenario’s current model time only. All the operations performed on the object before this, are saved and played back when the scenario returns to the beginning.

ATTENTION!

Cost of Operation


7.12 COST OF OPERATION

PISCES II makes it possible to calculate the cost of applying both the individual resources and the whole operation for the current time. You can view the cost of using each resource in the properties window of the object in question by going to the “Total cost” field of the “Costs” tab:

Calculation of the resource application cost is based on duration of its application, being performed by the program automatically. The track of time is carried out for 5 statuses of the resource: “Ordered”, “Available”, “Assigned”, “Out of Service” and “Out of Service”. The user has to specify the cost of resource use for different statuses. The cost is specified in the resource properties of the “Costs” tab. See the section 6.1 Creation of Response Resources for more details of resource cost specification.

The data on the whole operation cost can be exported to an Excel file, which can be subsequently used in other programs, e.g. accounting software. Select the Response/Financial report command to open the “Financial statistics” window:

Use the appeared window to specify the table period, for which you would like to obtain data on expenses, using the fields “Begin” and “End”. You can choose a type of the financial report in the “Report” drop-down list. See report descriptions in the table below:

Report type Description

By Assignments The cost of applying resources is calculated for each organization

By Organizations Resource use cost calculation is performed for the following resource conditions: “Ordered”, “Available”, “Assigned” and “Out of service”

By Resources The cost of applying resources is calculated for each resource, resources are ordered by organizations

All Reports Includes the operation report and the report on organizations

To get a financial report, the computer should be provided with Excel. Otherwise, the report will not be generated.

ATTENTION!

Event Log


Click “Create report” to create an Excel file with information on the expenses in the given scenario or “Cancel” to close the dialog box without creating the report on the resource use cost.

7.13 EVENT LOG

The event log contains entries, which are created by PISCES II automatically, on changes of resource statuses (e.g. creation, order or arrival of a resource to the impact area) and other significant events that took place during scenario execution (data import/export, etc.), as well as user-created records.

The entries appear as text messages in the “Events/Event Log” category of the “Data Browser” window, their basic element being the model time label, which determines the moment the event took place.

An entry contains a number of fields listed in the table below.

Column Value

Time Time of event

Objective Event category

Location Place of event

Resource Object of event

Title Header or short description of event

Event Log


The context menu of any entry selected in the entry window contains entry edit commands, which are described in brief in the table below.

Command Purpose

Add event To add an event

Edit event To edit an event

Delete event To delete an event

Mark as read To mark an event as a “read” one

Some entries created in PISCES II require to be compulsorily read by the operator. Such entries are called warnings. They are highlighted in red in the event log until having been read by the operator.

The “Show Alarms” button in the top part of the window allows the displaying of all warnings not read by the user. The MARK AS READ command of the context menu enables marking a highlighted entry or a number of entries as read by the operator.

The list entries can be displayed on the white or blue background. The white background means that the entry has some fields accessible to the user for editing. The blue background entries are in the “Read-only” mode” being not subject to editing. Colour settings for editable/non-editable fields depend on PISCES II settings (this is described more fully in the section 8.3.2 Colors of “Read-only” Fields) and those of the OS.

Navigation To navigate the event log, use the buttons located in its lower right part and described in the table below.

• Up to one entry;

• Down to one entry.

Event Log


A double click on any entry will turn ON the entry edit mode, which can be used for viewing the event log in a separate window. In this case the navigation buttons are located right to the main entry contents.

Sorting The program provides sorting and filtering functions designed for convenience of working with the event log, which can contain quite a lot of entries.

The event entries in the data window can be sorted for any of the columns.

For example, to sort the events by time, click on the column header “Time”. The entries will be sorted by time in the execution order. The sorted column is marked by a small arrow in the header.

The up arrow means the entries are sorted in direct order, while the down arrow indicates the reverse order of sorting.

Filtering The event entries in the data window can be filtered for one or more columns. Click on the button in the header of the column to be filtered. For example, let’s take the “Title” column. A list of possible value for the column will appear.

Select one of them. The log will display only those entries, which contain the specified value in the “Title” column.

The header of the filtered column will be highlighted in blue.

Simultaneous filtering for several columns is turned ON in the same manner, and in this case, when a next column is specified for filtering, the list of possible values is composed of the data that have been filtered by this moment.

To cancel data filtering in the log, select the “All” point in the column(s) that were subjected to filtering.

Event Log


Entry Creation The “Add event” command is designed for creation of a new entry in the event log. Selection of the command is followed by appearance of the “Add Event Log Entry” window.

A list of preset event templates is located in the table under the “Templates” list. For user’s convenience all events are divided into a number of categories, which are included in the “Templates” list. You can choose one category to select the template you need from it. There are 5 preset event categories:

Booming Events related to boom use

Burning Events related to oil burning

Dispersant Events related to dispersant use

Management Events related to operation control

USCG set Types of message used by the US Coast Guard

Select the template you need from the list of templates and double click it. The template data will be copied to the fields “Title” and “Objective” in the lower part of the dialog box. These fields can be edited, if necessary. For example, the user can enter his own category designation in the “Objective” field. The created category will be saved within the scenario. The text box under the “Title” field can be used for entering a comment to the event description.

Specify the event time in the “Time” field and use the “Location” list to select one of the location points included in the scenario and related to the given event. Use the “Resource” list to select one of the resources provided by the scenario and related to the given event. These fields can be left blank, if necessary.

Click the “Create” button, to save the created event in the event log. In this manner, you can create any necessary number of events. The “Close” button allows you to exit the entry creation window.

Event Script


Entry Edit To edit an entry in the event log, use its context menu to select the “Edit event” command or just double click the entry. The “Edit Event Log Entry” window will appear.

The entry fields, which can be edited by the user, are marked by white background. The fields, which are inaccessible to editing, are marked by blue background. Colour settings for editable/non-editable fields depend on PISCES II settings (this is described more fully in the section 8.3.2 Colors of “Read-only” Fields) and those of the OS.

Entry Removal To remove an entry from the event log, use its context menu to select the DELETE EVENT command.

7.14 EVENT SCRIPT

PISCES II allows the manual creation of entries on events, which are supposed to happen in future, and which the user should be notified of. A list of such entries is called the Event Script. The scenario entries appear as text messages in the “Events/Event script” category of the data navigator. Working with the event scenario is similar to working with the event log (see the section 7.12 Event Log).

Usually, the scenario is entered with reminders and warnings for the users and the entries expanding the informational situation of the exercises (additional information). The reminders include, for example, information on whether or not the dispersant application window is open. The additional information covers observers’ messages, informal requests from private individuals and organisations, etc.

In addition to the entries, which are entered by the user manually, the program can generate entries automatically. For example, if the user makes an entry on some event in the event log, this entry is doubled in the event scenario. After scenario reset, the event log is cleared, while the scenario remains. Accordingly, you can view the list of scenario events, which were needed for working with the previous scenario version and, maybe could be used in the current scenario. The entries not needed in the current scenario version can be removed by the DELETE EVENT command.


8. CHAPTER 8 PISCES II Settings

Measurement Units

Chapter 8. PISCES II Settings 213

8.1 MEASUREMENT UNITS

The OPTIONS/MEASUREMENT UNITS item of the main menu allows setting parameters of the measurement units used in works. The command invokes the “Measurement units options” dialog box.

The list of measurement units with set values constitutes the measurement unit scheme, which can be saved in an individual file (hereinafter referred to as just “scheme”). PISCES II features two preset schemes: Metric and English. You can select any one from the “Preset” drop-down list:

A list of all PISCES II parameters and respective measurement units is provided in the table under the “Preset” field. Select a standard scheme or specify measurement unit parameters using the context menu. Left click on the parameter measurement unit to be edited and select the required one from the context menu.

The group of measurement unit settings made can be saved in a new file as an own scheme. To do so, click the “Save As” button next to the “Preset” list. It will result in appearance of the “Save preset” window.

Enter a name for the scheme to be saved and click “OK” to save it or click “Cancel” to discard the changes. The saved scheme will appear in the list of “Preset” schemes available for loading. You cannot save a scheme under a name coinciding with a preset scheme name (“Metric” or “English”).

When the user doesn’t need a scheme he had created any more, he can remove it selecting the scheme in the “Preset” list and clicking the “Delete” button.

Warnings


The schemes preset in PISCES II cannot be deleted. The “Delete” button is not disabled for them, but any attempt to remove a standard scheme will result in a message advising the user about impossibility of operation.

In addition to setting the measurement units using the OPTIONS/MEASUREMENT UNITS menu item, you can specify them manually via the context menus for the parameters to be changed. Such setting has a higher priority over the option menu settings, being supported in the scenario during the entire work.

The “Reset individual settings” option allows you to delete all settings made manually and to assign the measurement units specified in the OPTIONS/MEASUREMENT UNITS item to all parameters.

8.2 WARNINGS

8.2.1 Alarm Thresholds The OPTIONS/ALARM THRESHOLDS item of the main menu allows setting threshold values for the parameters, to generate PISCES II warnings. Select this command in the main menu. This will result in opening the “Alarm Thresholds” window:

The “Small Craft Advisory” area is used for warning, when wind velocity exceeds the limit permissible for small craft.

The “Gale Warning” area is used to specify values of wind and wave height, excess of which will automatically generate a whole-gale warning.

8.2.2 Alarm Setting The item OPTIONS/ALARM SETTINGS of the main menu allows setting a display method for warnings generated in PISCES II. Select this command in the main menu. This will open the “Alarm Settings” window.

Screen Settings


The window contains a list of all warnings generated by the warning program (e.g. boom moved to the operational position), and the manner of warning appearance – red border or yellow background. You can toggle between appearance manners using the “Toggle” button.

8.3 SCREEN SETTINGS

8.3.1 LSD Settings The OPTIONS/LSD SETUP item of the main menu (LSD – Large Screen Display) allows setting LSD for the purpose of arranging multi-access scenario viewing. To use this option, the computer should be equipped with a multi-channel adaptor. The video channels can be set on the “Settings” page of the OS “Display Properties” dialog box.

To get output on LSD, PISCES II applications use channels of the “secondary display” type. Check that the projector or the large monitor playing the role of LSD is connected to the video channel, for which the “Use this device as the primary monitor” checkbox is not checked.

This manual describes a procedure for setting a secondary display, which is true for majority of Matrox/nVidia GeForce video adaptors, but might not agree with video adaptors of other makes.

If for some reasons the described procedure is not appropriate for your equipment, please refer your question about connecting the secondary display to the Windows documentation and/or to the equipment manufacturer.

ATTENTION!

Screen Settings


Select the OPTIONS/LSD SETUP item in the main menu. It will open the “LSD Setup” window.

The “Devices” field contains a list of system devices of the “secondary display” type, which can be used as an information display.

The non-editable “Display Resolution” field displays the current resolution for the selected device. You can turn ON the selected device for use by checking the “Active” checkbox.

The lower part of the window contains a list of all possible layouts of chart windows and data on the information display. The layouts are depicted by icons showing the way of displaying information on LSD and mutual position of the panels. You cannot make selection in this list, unless you have checked the “Active” checkbox. See the Table below for layouts possible in PISCES II.

Name Description Icon

Chart Only chart window on LSD

Text Only text window on the information display

Chart and Text Chart window to the left, text window displaying the selected category of the “Data Browser” window to the right

Chart above Text Chart window above, below – text window displaying the selected category of the “Data Browser” window

Text and Chart Text window displaying the selected category of the “Data Browser” window to the left, chart window to the right

Text above Chart Text window displaying the selected category of the “Data Browser” window above, chart window below

Chart and Chart Two chart windows displayed

Text and Text Two text windows displayed

Select the device you are going to use as an information display from the “Devices” list. Check the “Active” checkbox. You can observe the wording “PISCES II Large Screen Display” on the information display. The main window of the “Instructor Workplace” application will show the “LSD View” child window. Nevertheless, the “LSD Setup” window will stay up allowing it to be used for selection of a chart/data window layout you need.

Screen Settings


The “LSD View” child window contains the informational part, the size of which exactly corresponds to LSD resolution, and the tree of “Data Browser” window categories for selection of data category to be shown in the text window. The informational part will be displayed on LSD consisting of panels positioned in accordance with the selected layout.

At the top of the “LSD Setup” window hosts the “Blank”, “Update Now”, “Auto update” and “LSD Setup” buttons for setting data display on the information display, the buttons being positioned under the layout list.

The “Blank” button is used to cover up the contents of the LSD informational panel with the “PISCES II Large Screen Display” caption.

The “Update” buttons immediately sends the contents of the informational panel to LSD.

The “Autoupdate” button automatically sends the contents of the informational panel to LSD at regular specified model time intervals. Press this button to open the “LSD Autoupdate Setup” window.

Check the “Autoupdate enabled” checkbox to enable automatic refresh of the LSD contents. Use the “Interval” textbox to specify the refresh interval. The textbox context menu allows selection of time measurement units: minutes or seconds. Click “OK” to start automatic refresh of the LSD contents or “Cancel” to close the dialog box.

Use the “LSD Setup” button to call again the tableau setup window and select another layout or turn ofа the tableau.

The information panel can be setup in accordance with scenario conditions. The panel sizes can be determined by dragging the separators. Each of the panels has its header. Under the panel you can see the page footer, which contains the exercise name, scenario name and scenario model time.

Screen Settings


You can edit background colour, font and/or text of any header. To do so, double click the header. It will open the “TextBox Properties” dialog box:

The “Font”, “Colour” and “Text” tabs have textboxes allowing specification of the header parameters described in the tables below.

The “Text” tab allows setting the header text:

The header can include both some optional text and the automatically refreshed information on the current scenario with the aid of reserved words, i.e. macros. See a list of macros in the table below.

Macro designation Description

{ChartName} Chart window header

{ChartScale} Chart scale in the window

{Exercise} Exercise name

{ModelTime} Model time

{ObjectCategory} Object category in the category tree of the “Data Browser” window

{Scenario} Scenario name

Select the macros you need from the “Macro” list and click the “Insert Macro” button to insert the macro to the header. The header can contain a number of macros. Select the ones you need from the list, add separating symbols, brackets, etc. and check the header appearance by clicking the “Apply” button in the “TextBox Properties” window. The changes made in the header will be seen in the “LSD View” window.

Screen Settings


The “Colour” tab allows setting the header colour.

The “BackColour” field specifies the header background colour, which can be selected from the set of colours in the “Colour Set” list. A double click on “<Custom…>” in the colour list will open the Windows system palette, allowing selection and specification of any colour.

The “ForeColour” field specifies the header font colour similar to specification of the header font background colour.

The “Font” tab allows setting the header font.

Select a font from the “Font” list, and select zone size from the “Size” field. The options combined in the “Effects” group are used to specify the font appearance:

• Bold – bold appearance;

• Italic – oblique appearance;

• Underline – underlined text;

• Strikeout – strikethrough text.

Specify the header appearance/contents and click the “Apply” button to immediately reproduce the changes in the “LSD View” window. In this case, the “TextBox Properties” window will stay up. The “OK” button allows the changes to be introduced to the header and the “TextBox Properties” dialog box to be closed, the “Cancel” button being designed to close the dialog box discarding any changes.

To adjust the picture in the chart window, select the required panel using your mouse. A red border signifying the input focus the will appear around the panel. All commands used for working with charts are available for adjusting the chart window in the LSD (for details see Chapter 3, Working with Charts).

Screen Settings


Any data panel can be selected for adjustment in the same way. The category of data represented in the panel can be selected from the category tree located alongside the informational part of the “LSD View” window (to the right or left depending on the selected layout).

After proper adjustment of the informational panel, click the “Update” or “Autoupdate” button. LSD will show the contents of the “LSD View” window. Now you can close the “LSD Setup” window using the [X] button in the upper part of the window header, and collapse the “LSD View” window to continue working with the scenario.

Do not close the “LSD View” window, unless you don’t need to send data to LSD.

To stop sending data to LSD, close the “LSD View” window using the [X] button in the upper part of the window header.

8.3.2 Colors of “Read-only” Fields The OPTIONS/COLORS item of the main menu allows setting the colour to be used to represent the PISCES II parameters and fields, which are in the “Read-only” mode”. Select this command in the main menu. This will open the window “Color Settings”:

Click the “Choose” button and select the required colour. Click “OK” to save the changes in the cooler scheme or “Cancel” to close the parameter edit window.

8.3.3 Refresh Rate The OPTIONS/REFRESH SETTINGS item of the main menu allows setting the minimal data refresh rate in the PISCES II data windows. Whenever possible, the information is refreshed right after the changes. Otherwise refreshing will occur as specified in the OPTIONS/REFRESH SETTINGS menu item. Select this command in the main menu. This will open the “Refresh Settings” window.

Use the “Refresh Period” field to specify the refresh rate. Click “OK” to save the changes or “Cancel” to close the parameter edit window.

ATTENTION!

Oil Spill Display Settings


8.4 OIL SPILL DISPLAY SETTINGS

The OPTIONS/SPILL DISPLAY SETTINGS item in the main menu allows setting option of oil slick representation in the chart window: slick outline, turning ON/OFF the trajectory, etc.

8.4.1 Spill Thickness The SPILL THICKNESS items in the “Spill Display Settings” window allow setting the representation of oil slicks in the chart window. See the table below for parameters of this menu item.

Parameter Value

Outer line Outline. Non-editable field. Shows the minimal slick thickness taken into consideration for model calculation

Inner line Intermediate outline. The outline confining the slick area with a specified thickness

Thick line Thick outline. The line confining the thickest part of the oil slick

There are two ways to set the oil slick boundaries in the chart windows: as a threshold thickness of oil film or as a share of maximum oil film thickness. To set boundaries of oil slick presentation with threshold values of oil film thickness, select “Manual” option button and enter thickness values in the activated fields. If “Auto” is selected, you can set position of the oil slick contours by specifying the share of the oil film maximum thickness. The maximum thickness of the oil film is provided in the spill statistics (for more details see section 5.4.1 General Statistics).

Air Pollution Display Settings


8.4.2 Spill Trajectory The SPILL TRAJECTORY items in the “Spill Display Settings” window allow setting the representation of oil slick motion trajectory. See the table below for parameters and options of this menu item.

Parameter Value

Num trajectories Number of trajectories. In the spill process, the oil slick can be broken up for several fragments. The “Num trajectories” parameter allows specifying the number of the larges fragments, trajectories of which will be represented and motion of which will be forecasted

Trajectory marks interval Interval between trajectory marks. The minimum time interval of trajectory mark representation

Automatic interval calculation

The option turns ON the automatic calculation of the time interval between the trajectory marks depending on the current chart scale instead of using the “Trajectory marks interval” parameter

Show trajectory The option turns ON representation of the oil slick motion pattern in the chart window

Show future trajectory points

The option turns ON the forecast of oil slick motion pattern in the chart window

8.4.3 Pollution Footprint The SHOW POLLUTION FOOTPRINT item in the “Spill Display Settings” window turns on the representation of oil footprint in the chart window (for more details see 5.4 Display of Pollution Area).

8.5 AIR POLLUTION DISPLAY SETTINGS

OPTIONS/AIR POLLUTION DISPLAY SETTINGS item allows setting smoke display options in the chart window. When this menu command is selected, “Air Pollution Display Settings” window opens up:

The table below describes air pollution parameters which can be set in “Air Pollution Display Settings” window:

Parameter Value

Show smoke Turns on/off the display of smoke in the chart window. The smoke is shown in the chart window if “Show smoke” checkbox is checked

Min smoke altitude Altitude beneath which the smoke is not displayed

Max smoke altitude Altitude above which the smoke is not displayed

Display quality Sets smoke display quality. Corresponding to the best display quality is level of detail 10, 1 – for the roughest display of smoke

PM10 ambient air standard

Threshold value for the maximum permissible concentration of smoke particle 10 microns in size, which is used for constructing the smoke display internal contour

Spill Statistics History Display Interval


8.6 SPILL STATISTICS HISTORY DISPLAY INTERVAL

In the scenario modelling, information on the spill state is saved every five minutes of model time(for more details see 5.3.2 Spill Statistics History). You can look up this information in the “Pollution/Spill Statistics/History” category in the “Data browser” window.

At scenario modelling on a long time interval viewing statistics history with an five minutes interval, can be inconvenient. In that case spill statistics history display interval can be increased

To display spill history settings with required time interval select the OPTIONS/SPILL STATISTICS SETTINGS menu command. In the window which will appear specify the interval value in the “Display interval” field and press “OK” to display data with specified interval, or “Cancel” to close the dialog.

8.7 SYNCHRONIZING DELAY SETTINGS

After the connection with an external VTS or UAIS data source has been established and the scenario has been run, target data is updated with short delays rather than constantly. The display of target marks in the chart window varies depending on the latest target updating delay value and on the set permitted delay values (for more details see 7.4.1 External Targets).

OPTIONS/TARGET SYNCHRONIZATION SETTINGS item allows setting external targets display options in the chart window depends on its last updating time. When this menu command is selected, “Target Synchronization Settings” window opens up:

If the time interval from the latest target data updating to the current moment is smaller than the value set in the “Short delay” field, the target mark in the chart window is drawn in bold black dashed line.

If the time interval from the latest target data updating to the current moment is larger than the value set in the “Long delay” field, the target mark in the chart window is drawn in bold red dashed line.

If the target updating delay is within the interval between the set short and long delay, such target in the chart window is drawn as a thin twin red dashed line.

Displaying Windows


8.8 DISPLAYING WINDOWS

The WINDOW item of the main menu allows setting display of PISCES II windows on the screen.

The upper part of the WINDOW item is used to open/close the “Data Browser” main data window, the scenario task list, the event log and the event scenario. The open windows are ticked off.

The LAYOUTS item is designed for selecting a window layout in the program (see the section 2.9 Layouts for details).

The third group of commands of the WINDOW menu allows adjusting position of the windows displayed on the screen: “Cascade”, “Horizontally”, “Vertically”.

The bottom part of the WINDOW menu contains a list of currently open PISCES II windows. The active window is ticked off.

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PISCESII 2 90 User Manual Eng

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