Rachel Shafer

Project Description

This application calculates and displays the most probable positions of an object adrift at sea within the Gulf Stream area, given last known position or intended path, the time the object was there, the object type (person, raft, sailboat, or buoy), and its speed along the intended path.

The image below is the opening window of this application before data is entered. On the left side of the page is where all of the data is entered and then the simulate button starts the simulation. After the simulation is started the step button down at the bottom of the screen will advance the simulation the selected amount of time. After all the data is entered, the application then uses ocean current and wind data from NOAA to calculate the effect the ocean current and wind will have on the object. The current time of the simulation is displayed in the box on the bottom right. There is also the option to display the intended path and vector arrows for the ocean current and wind on the right side of the page.

The two pictures below shows the map when the ocean currents and wind vector arrows are displayed.

The picture below shows a drift simulation of a sailboat that would have lost control somewhere along the intended path (green line). The picture shows a simulation that is two days in from the start time. This simulation is in a portion of the Gulf Stream located in the Gulf of Mexico. The red represents all of the possible positions of the sailboat two days in that were calculated. The red area is further away from the left side of the intended because the boat started at the left side of the intended path. On the right side of the intended path the red area is closer because if the boat stayed on course, at 5MPH, it would have just arrived at the right side of the path at the current time displayed. As the boat drifts the possible positions the boat could be will expand due to the random effect waves have on the boat. You can see this effect by how the red area on the left side is more expanded than the red area on the right side.

Team Project
Backend by Rachel Shafer
Frontend by Natalie Shafer
Language: Java