For a Printable PDF Version
of this article
Click here to >>Download
Document << (approx. 344k)
Silicon
Valley's Role in the Gulf Oil Cleanup
-
- NBC News Silicon Valley affiliate
KNTV airs segment on
CODAR SeaSondes in Gulf of Mexico.
3 May
2010
The antenna and computer
mapping system developed by Mountain View-based CODAR Ocean Sensors
is being used to create maps of the ocean currents in the Gulf of
Mexico.
The maps
show where the millions of gallons of oil are moving, so that crews
can target their clean up operations in the largest leak of its kind
in U.S. history.
The CODAR SeaSonde radar uses radio waves to detect the speed of
ocean currents over time. That data is then used to create models
of maps with hundreds of arrows with each arrow marking a data point
rich with information about the velocity and direction of that ocean
current.
"What you see are patches [of oil]. You don't know how fast
they're going." CODAR founder Don Barrick said.
"What this allows you to do is measure
drectly the velocity of the oil and that tells you where its going
in the future and where to go clean up tomorrow morning."
image courtesy NASA
Scientists in the Tiburon lab are monitoring what's happening in
the Gulf in real time, using three CODAR radars. More could be installed
along the Florida
coastline soon because wind currents appear to be moving the oil toward the Sunshine
State.
Barrick says it's extremely rewarding to know the technology he invented is being
used to help mitigage the damage from this massive leak.
The same radar systems were used during the 2007 Cosco Busan spill in the San
Francisco Bay.
