The physical fates component of the natural resource damage assessment model system

Abstract

This paper describes the details of the physical fates submodel of a natural resource damage assessment model system for marine and coastal areas. The submodel computes the dynamic distribution of a spilled substance in three spatial dimensions using a combination of analytic and discrete numerical representations. The user inputs information to characterize the spill and the environment. The submodel then draws additional parameters from a chemical database, and proceeds to compute the dynamic distribution of the spilled substance in the environment. The results of the computations are shown on the computer terminal, and are written to an output file for subsequent input to the biological submodel.