NOAA Intern’s Spill Modeling of Potentially-Polluting Wrecks Helps Protect Louisiana’s Coast

Screenshot of oil spill modeling trajectories from within the Trajectory Analysis Planner (TAP) software program embedded on a PowerPoint slide. Modeling shows impact and response time analysis for a wrecked tanker located at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Analysis shows in non-summer months, transport of surface oil is predominantly westward due to prevailing winds and currents. During summer, transport to the east may also occur.
Impact and response time analysis in TAP for the wrecked tanker Virginia, located at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Analyses differ between non-summer (September through May) and summer (June through August). In non-summer months, transport of surface oil is predominantly westward due to prevailing winds and currents. During summer, transport to the east may also occur. Image credit: Ainsley Vanderhyde.

SEPT. 16, 2025 — For Ainsley Vanderhyde, a NOAA scholar and rising senior at Barry University, a summer project supporting NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R) wasn’t just about updating a database—it was about modeling real-world threats.

Using NOAA’s spill trajectory model, GNOME, and statistical data tool, Trajectory Analysis Planner (TAP), Vanderhyde analyzed the fate and transport of potential oil spills from several high-priority sunken wrecks off the Louisiana coast. This modeling work provides critical data that helps local communities and response agencies prepare for the possibility of a spill.

Vanderhyde’s modeling work was informed by NOAA’s Remediation of Underwater Legacy Environmental Threats (RULET) database, a tool that identifies and prioritizes potentially polluting wrecks. Developed jointly by OR&R and the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries and completed in 2013, the database resulted from close collaboration with the U.S. Coast Guard and other spill response stakeholders. The project used a comprehensive process, combining ecological and socio-economic risk assessments with historical evidence and pollutant fate modeling to identify and assess high-risk wrecks.

Student presents behind a table with a laptop opened to a mapping software program.
Ainsley Vanderhyde providing a demonstration of her TAP analyses at the NOAA Office of Education Science and Education Symposium. Image credit: Chris Zimmer Photography.

As part of her internship, Vanderhyde refined the location coordinates of several wrecks and added new categories to the database, including vessels suspected of leaking since the project’s 2013 release. Her updates ensure that the RULET database—which can be viewed in the ERMA® mapping tool—is as accurate and useful as possible for spill planners.

Vanderhyde’s updates to the RULET database, coupled with her modeling work using GNOME and TAP, allow OR&R and other members of the response community to more accurately model potential spill impacts from shipwrecks, ensuring coastal communities are better prepared to respond to and recover from potential spills. 

Vanderhyde is an undergraduate scholar for the NOAA Educational Partnership Program with Minority Serving Institutions Class of 2024. She is pursuing a Bachelor's degree in marine biology with a minor in chemistry and aims to further her studies in environmental policy after her anticipated graduation in spring 2026.

Last updated Tuesday, September 16, 2025 9:00am PDT