A Circulation Model to Investigate the Movement of Wastes from an Open Ocean Aquaculture Site David W. Fredriksson U. S. Naval Academy NOAA Research - Marine Aquaculture Program Grant # NA08OAR James D. Irish University of New Hampshire Dale A. Kiefer University of Southern California Jack Rensel Rensel Associates Aquatic Sciences Frank O’brien System Science Applications

Objectives 1.Build hydrodynamic model mesh – perform calculations driving system with diurnal and semi-diurnal tides 2. Validate model hydrodynamics with measured velocities 3.Drive the AquaModel (simulates bio-energetics and the fate of wastes) 4.Preliminary case studies – goal to “Quantify Effects of Commercial Offshore Aquaculture” viewed in Google Earth 1.Develop a validated, simple to use regional circulation model of coastal MA, NH, ME (USA). 2.Use the hydrodynamic output to drive a bio-energetic and fish farm waste model Approach

Hydrodynamic Model 1.Advanced Circulation Model – ADCIRC: Standard “off-the-shelf” depth averaged hydrodynamic model (with variations) 2.Solves shallow water wave equations – suitable for coastal applications – requires bathymetry and boundary conditions 3.Used by:  U.S. Army Corps  FEMA  Navy  NOAA  Just about everyone else 4.Techniques can be taught to STEM* majors 5.Validation is the difficult part of modeling! * Educational buzz-word for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

Modeling and Data Collection Site University of New Hampshire Open Ocean Aquaculture Site within the model domain

Boundaries and Bathymetry Open Ocean Shoreline Island Bathymetry: National Ocean Service Database (NOSDB)

Mesh Generation Aquaculture Site 1.Unstructured Mesh (triangular elements) 2.Interpolated Bathymetry 3.High Resolution at aquaculture site (~50 m) Apply tide elevations and phases at open boundaries

Hydrodynamic Modeling “Forcing” by tidal elevations 1.Model was “Forced” by tidal elevations at the open boundaries 2.Tidal elevations produced from the K1, O1, M2 and N2 constituents (no weather components) – low flow condition? 3.Constituent amplitudes and phases with nodal factors interpolated from database EASTCOAST 2001 for the open ocean boundaries 4.NOAA data for the Portsmouth boundary

Simulation Video Portsmouth, NH Harbor Isles of Shoals Aquaculture Site

Oceanographic Buoy at the Aquaculture site Hydrodynamic Modeling Comparison with measured data Pressure Sensor measures surface elevation ADCP measures velocities

WARNING !!!! The next THREE slides shows DATA DATA

Data Comparison – Aquaculture Site Model vs. Measured Surface Elevation

Data Comparison – Aquaculture Site Model vs. Measured Velocities

Data Comparison – Aquaculture Site Model vs. Measured Velocities

AquaModel 1.AquaModel: Simulates waste deposition, benthic dynamics, water quality and bio-energetics 2.Like the hydrodynamic model results, operated within the EASy GIS program. 3.In this case, used the output of the circulation model as input to AquaModel 4.Results can be view in a Google-Earth environment

AquaModel – UNH site example 12 Net Pens 12 Net Pens Pen volume: m 3 Pen volume: m 3 stocked at 15 kg/m 3 stocked at 15 kg/m 3 Portsmouth, NH Isles of Shoals

AquaModel - Settings Net Pen Configurationsand Stocking Density

AquaModel - Settings Ambient Water Conditions OperationalSettings

AquaModel - Settings BenthicConditions

HydrodynamicandAquaModelresults Presented Google Earth

Hydrodynamic and AquaModel results in Google Earth Fish Farm Data Site Oxygen Profile Oxygen Transect Nitrogen Profile Nitrogen Transect Sediment Characteristics

Hydrodynamic and AquaModel results in Google Earth Aquaculture Site: Velocity Vectors Fish cages Surface Oxygen Portsmouth, NH Harbor Isles of Shoals

What have we done? 1.Refine hydrodynamics – develop 3-D structure in water column 2.Develop details input to AquaModel 3.Investigate “carrying” capacity of the offshore site HOW MUCH BIO-MASS CAN BE RAISED AND AT WHAT CONDITIONS INVESTIGATE ECONOMICS OF SCALE WHILE MINIMIZING IMPACT What are our next steps? Integrated GIS to show hydrodynamic calculations driving a fish farm bio-energetic and waste model PRESENTED IN GOOGLE EARTH

GO NAVY