Offshore staff
WALLINGFORD, UK – Fugro has started a three-year period of metocean and ice data acquisition as part of the Barents Sea Metocean and Ice Network Project, a Statoil-led joint industry project.
In October 2015, five Fugro-manufactured Wavescan buoys, one current- and water level-monitoring mooring, and five ice thickness and current-profiler moorings were deployed at offshore sites between Hammerfest and Svalbard. The Wavescan buoys are now collecting raw wave, current, meteorological and sea-water parameter data, processing the information and transmitting the summary data via satellite link.
Real-time data are then displayed on a project-specific webpage that can be accessed by the client via secure log-in. Data from the current- and water level-monitoring mooring, and the five ice measuring rigs are being stored within the instruments’ internal memories for download at service visits, which are scheduled at six-month intervals for the buoys and annually in the open water season for the ice measuring equipment.
The first service visit was undertaken in March/April 2016, following which Fugro processed, analyzed, and reported data collected over the first phase of measurements. The final dataset will be produced for the JIP partners upon completion of the measurement campaign in autumn 2018.
According to Fugro’s Mark Jones, “While there are significant historical metocean data available, additional collection of data related to the metocean and ice regime will further strengthen the safe planning of operations, design engineering, calibration of models and validation of weather forecasting in this frontier region.
“Fugro’s careful planning and management of site visits ensures that data acquisition is maximized. Equipment needs to be deployed and serviced during open water periods, and to collect data during the ice seasons.”
05/10/2016
