World Wide Drilling Resource May 2005

New Software Deals with Acts of Environmental Terrorism

Crisis management system software helps officials deal with acts of environmental terrorism--aids speed and effectiveness of response teams, reduces damages. The post 911 world has forced emergency management agencies and crisis management response teams to add more terrorism related scenarios to their training programs. Dealing with acts of environmental terrorism has received special emphasis.

The Crisis Management System (CMS) developed by Applied Science Associates is being used to predict and graphically depict how hazardous gases disperse in air and how chemical or radioactive releases disperse in water bodies like lakes or at sea.

In addition to being useful in the event of an actual emergency, the CMS program is being used to teach, train, and prepare crisis-management teams how to deal with situations that could arise if oil, chemical tankers, or hazardous or radioactive facilities are sabotaged by terrorists. CMS is a real-time visual interpretive aid to responders and managers responsible for emergency planning and crisis management. It helps eliminate the uncertainties from estimating the location, direction of movement and concentration of hazardous chemicals in air and water.

It doesn't matter if it is day or night. The software reveals where the contaminants are located visually. You know where the atmospheric cloud is and where it will most likely go. This gives you the ability to warn people in the path or locate your teams to respond so that they are not in harms way.

In training programs, the software serves as a reality check for trainees, allowing them to see if their recommendations make sense. For example, a training exercise might require responders to clean up 1,000 tons of oil spilled in a local bay. Any idea how big the slick will be, how far it will travel, and where to place absorbent booms to prevent spread of the oil? The software suggests the size, location and spread of the contaminants and allows emergency planners to estimate the size of the slick and the quantity of materials needed to quickly and adequately contain a spill.

The same software is being used in coastal, off shore, and lake search and rescue operations. It is used to predict the likely path of an object floating at sea, such as a person in a life jacket, and how it is moved by the tide and wind conditions. It tells rescuers where to look for survivors. Before the predictive software was introduced, emergency planning was done with big paper maps laid out on a table and documents. Now, large computer screens give responders and managers a view that has been called a 'god's eye' view.

The CMS software was developed by Applied Science Associates of Narragansett, RI. Technical information sheets about the CMS system are available on request in PDF file format. Vivid, colorful, high-resolution graphical pictures showing typical GIS displays and media demonstrations are available on request at ASA facilities world wide.

For more information, contact Nicole Whittier, nwhittier@appsci.com or by phone (401)789-6224