Frequently-Asked Questions About ADIOS2

Q. Why can't I view the ADIOS2 manual on my Windows-based computer?

A. ADIOS2 comes with an HTML manual that contains valuable information on using the program correctly. To use this manual, you must have installed the HTML Help system on your computer. If you're using Windows 98, Windows Me, or Windows 2000, you need not install HTML Help Viewer, because it's already part of your operating system. If you're using Windows 95 or Windows NT, and you don't have Microsoft Internet Explorer version 4.0 or above on your computer, then you probably should install the HTML Help system. HTML Help is becoming the standard help system for the Windows platform. You'll find lots of information about Microsoft HTML Help on Microsoft's website.

Q. Does ADIOS2 have any bugs?

A. Yes. We've identified one bug that we're fixing right now: some ADIOS2 estimates of initial benzene concentration are too high by two orders of magnitude. That is, it reports a benzene concentration of 200 ppm when it should report a concentration of 2 ppm. The bug is manifested only if the ADIOS2 oil properties library does not include an initial benzene fraction in the selected oil. It is the default estimation routine which has the bug. To check whether ADIOS2 has an initial benzene fraction value for an oil of interest: (1) select that oil from the oils and products list, (2) Click Oil Information, (3) Click the More Properties tab, and then (4) see whether there's a value for "benzene" (if not, "--" appears).

We're expect to have a new bug-free version ready by early fall 2002; we'll post a note on this webpage as soon as it's ready for downloading.

Q. How can I install HTML Help support on my computer?

A. The easiest way to install HTML Help is to install the latest version of Internet Explorer. We recommend version 5.0 or above. You can download the latest version of Internet Explorer from Microsoft's website.

Q. I don't want Internet Explorer to be the default browser on my computer. How can I install HTML Help in this case?

A. There are two ways to do it:

  1. If you want to continue to use a different default browser for your web surfing, you can "silently install" Internet Explorer. You do this by installing only the essential files that HTML Help requires. Here are detailed instructions for creating a "silent", minimal install of Microsoft IE5.
  2. Another way to avoid having the complete, latest version of Internet Explorer as your default browser is to download and run the HTML Help Update utility. This free utility from Microsoft will guide you through installing the latest HTML Help system onto your PC. Because HTML Help requires Internet Explorer, you'll need to have installed Internet Explorer, version 3.0 or later, on your computer before before you run HTML Help Update. You can find out how to determine which version of Internet Explorer you are using from Microsoft.

Note: Installing on an Windows NT system will require administrative privileges on the system.

Q. Can you tell me about the algorithms that ADIOS2 uses to make its predictions?

A. You can find this information in the ADIOS2 HTML manual, which comes with the program. You also might want to read the following reference:

Lehr, W., D. Wesley, D. Simecek-Beatty, R. Jones, G. Kachook, and J. Lankford. 2000. Algorithm and interface modifications of the NOAA oil spill behavior model. Pp. 525-540. In Proceedings of the Twenty-Third Arctic and Marine Oilspill Program (AMOP) Technical Seminar, June 14-16, 2000, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Volume 2. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Environment Canada.

Revised: August 13, 2002
Office of Response and Restoration, National Ocean Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration