The Flow Rate Technical Group is a group of scientists and engineers from the United States federal government, universities, and research institutions created May 19, 2010, for an official scientific-based estimate of the flow of oil in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill

Deepwater Horizon oil spill

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico which flowed unabated for three months in 2010, and continues to leak fresh oil. It is the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry...

. It issued an interim report on May 27. It was convened again on June 10 by Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen after the drilling riser

Drilling riser

A drilling riser is a conduit that provides a temporary extension of a subsea oil well to a surface drilling facility. Drilling risers are categorised into two types: marine drilling risers used with subsea blowout preventer and generally used by floating drilling vessels; and tie-back drilling...

 from the well was cut by Maxx3 ROV Dive #35 on May 31, 2010, in an attempt to redirect the flow. Large amounts of oil were not being captured and the group was convened to estimate how much.

The group is led by Marcia McNutt

Marcia McNutt

Marcia Kemper McNutt is an American geophysicist. She is director of the United States Geological Survey and science adviser to the United States Secretary of the Interior....

.

Members of the group are:

• Bill Lehr, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , pronounced , like "noah", is a scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce focused on the conditions of the oceans and the atmosphere...
  
   (Lead)
• Alberto Aliseda, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Washington
  University of Washington
  University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
  
  
• Paul Bommer, Senior Lecturer, Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, University of Texas at Austin
  University of Texas at Austin
  The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
  
  
• Peter Cornillon, Professor of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island
  University of Rhode Island
  The University of Rhode Island is the principal public research university in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. Its main campus is located in Kingston. Additional campuses include the Feinstein Campus in Providence, the Narragansett Bay Campus in Narragansett, and the W. Alton Jones Campus in West...
  
  
• Pedro Espina, National Institute of Standards and Technology
  National Institute of Standards and Technology
  The National Institute of Standards and Technology , known between 1901 and 1988 as the National Bureau of Standards , is a measurement standards laboratory, otherwise known as a National Metrological Institute , which is a non-regulatory agency of the United States Department of Commerce...
  
  
• Juan Lasheras, Prof. of Engineering and Applied Sciences, University of California San Diego
• Ira Leifer, Assoc. Researcher, Marine Science Institute, University of California Santa Barbara
• James Riley, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Washington
• Omer Savas, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of California Berkeley
• Franklin Shaffer, Senior Research Engineer, National Energy Technology Laboratory
  National Energy Technology Laboratory
  The National Energy Technology Laboratory is a science, technology, and energy laboratory owned and operated by the U.S. Department of Energy . As part of DOE's national laboratory system, NETL supports DOE's mission to advance the national, economic, and energy security of the United States...
  
  , Department of Energy
• Steve Wereley, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University
  Purdue University
  Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
  
  
• Poojitha Yapa, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Clarkson University
  Clarkson University
  -The Clarkson School:The Clarkson School, a special division of Clarkson University, was founded in 1978 as a unique educational opportunity. The School offers students an early entrance opportunity into college, replacing the typical senior year of high school with a year of college...
  
  

Plume Modeling

Uses video of the oil/gas mixture escaping from the damaged well, using particle image velocimetry analysis to estimate fluid velocity and flow volume.

Mass Balance

Uses remote sensing data from deployment of the Airborne Visible InfraRed Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) and satellite imagery to calculate the amount of oil on the ocean surface on a certain day. The team is correcting the value for oil evaporated, skimmed, burned, and dispersed up to that day and divided by time to produce an average rate.

• Victor Labson, Director, Crustal Geophysics and Geochemistry Science Center (Lead)
• Roger N. Clark, Lead Scientist, Research Physical Scientist
• Gregg A. Swayze, Research Geologist
• Todd M. Hoefen, Research Geophysicist
• Raymond Kokaly, Research Geophysicist
• K. Eric Livo, Research Geophysicist
• Michael H. Powers, Research Geophysicist
• Geoffrey S. Plumlee, Research Geologist
• Gregory P. Meeker, Research Geologist

Reservoir Modeling

Describse the geologic formations as well as composition and pressures of the oil, natural gas, and other compounds that are being released. Using open-hole logs; pressure, volume, and temperature data; core samples; and analog well or reservoir data; the team will populate computer models and determine flow rate from targeted sands in the well as a function of bottomhole pressure.

• Don Maclay, Petroleum Engineer, MMS Gulf Regional Office (Lead)
• Other MMS engineers

Nodal Analysis

Uses input from reservoir modeling (including pressure, temperature, fluid composition and properties over time) and pressure and temperature conditions at the leak points on the sea floor, along with details of the geometries of the well, BOP, and riser to calculate fluid compositions, properties, and fluxes from both before and after riser removal.

• George Guthrie, National Energy Technology Laboratory
  National Energy Technology Laboratory
  The National Energy Technology Laboratory is a science, technology, and energy laboratory owned and operated by the U.S. Department of Energy . As part of DOE's national laboratory system, NETL supports DOE's mission to advance the national, economic, and energy security of the United States...
  
  , Department of Energy (Lead)
• Roger Aines, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
  Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
  The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory , just outside Livermore, California, is a Federally Funded Research and Development Center founded by the University of California in 1952...
  
  , Department of Energy
• Grant Bromhal, National Energy Technology Laboratory, Department of Energy
• David Hetrick, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
  Oak Ridge National Laboratory
  Oak Ridge National Laboratory is a multiprogram science and technology national laboratory managed for the United States Department of Energy by UT-Battelle. ORNL is the DOE's largest science and energy laboratory. ORNL is located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, near Knoxville...
  
  , Department of Energy
• Bryan Morreale, National Energy Technology Laboratory, Department of Energy
• Curt Oldenburg, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
  Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
  The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory conducting unclassified scientific research. It is located on the grounds of the University of California, Berkeley, in the Berkeley Hills above the central campus...
  
  , Department of Energy
• Rajesh Pawar, Los Alamos National Laboratory
  Los Alamos National Laboratory
  Los Alamos National Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory, managed and operated by Los Alamos National Security , located in Los Alamos, New Mexico...
  
  , Department of Energy
• Jud Virden, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
  Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
  Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is one of the United States Department of Energy National Laboratories, managed by the Department of Energy's Office of Science. The main campus of the laboratory is in Richland, Washington....
  
  , Department of Energy

External links

• Biographies of the group