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  • Weather Downtime Sorted with SDA
    1 Jun 2010

    Working out the time a complex offshore project may be delayed or halted because of marine weather conditions has become more accurate with MetOcean Solutions Sequenced Downtime Analysis (SDA) tool.

    Oceanographer Dr Brett Beamsley of MetOcean Solutions presented SDA tool at a recent conference in Brisbane. SDA analyses a project’s timelines and weather requirements for execution – by activity – against the past 12 years of high-resolution historical weather conditions. In turn this drives effective project, resource and contract planning.

    “Quite simply, SDA analyses the start date and duration of each task in sequence, given the conditions it requires for execution, analyses how long the task will take and downtime in the light of weather experience, and then moves on to the next dependent task,” he says.

    “Job and task completion statistics can be determined for each year in the metocean database, providing inter-annual statistics as well as the impact of start date slippages.”

    First developed in 2005 and refined on numerous projects since then, SDA uses a Monte Carlo approach to test the cumulative effect of small, random delays to the overall project schedule; an additional feature to traditional downtime analysis techniques. SDA has been applied on offshore platform and facility installations, offshore maintenance projects, pipeline construction, and a range of port operations.

    Dr Beamsley says the time to call in MetOcean Solutions and undertake SDA is at the start of a project where SDA can help inform the critical project planning and costing stage.

    Read the technical paper here [Beamsley et al, Estimating Weather Downtime for Ocean Engineering using Sequential Downtime Analysis (SDA)].

  • Weather Forecast Drives Action on WeatherMap
    28 May 2010

    Go to WeatherMap.co.nz and organise your life.

    This ground-breaking site delivers weather forecasts by activity and includes site specific forecasts for thousands of golf courses, and boating and surf spots around New Zealand, as well as daily activities like walking the dog or putting out the laundry.

    Wes Warner of MetOcean Solutions says it’s the combination of the activity and the forecast which makes this product different.

    “We’ve tailor-made the weather information so you can plan your week by activity making the most of the weather,” says Wes.

    “You simply zoom into the map of New Zealand, find the region you’re interested in and click on the activity you want a forecast for, and double click on one of the icons that appear on the map.

    Wes says that WeatherMap gives a localised forecast, which is handy in New Zealand where conditions may be very different just 20km apart.

    The activity forecasts brought to you by WeatherMap are surfing, boating, golf, gardening, farming, laundry, shopping, pets, roads and airport forecasts as well as a general forecast. An additional quirky forecast provides a hair frizz factor rating – a must for working out when you may have a bad hair day!

    WeatherMap is driven by the sophisticated computer weather models run by MetOcean Solutions – providing high resolution and high accuracy.

    Find out what the weather is doing in your back yard at www.WeatherMap.co.nz

  • Potential Oil Spills Tracked with Innovative New Forecasting System.

    28 May 2010

    Virtual oil spills from drilling locations and offshore facilities around New Zealand are being tracked with a new product developed by MetOcean Solutions.

    The computer generated visual representation of potential oil spill resides on the MetOcean Solutions internet forecast portal, and is designed to give spill responders an instant ‘heads up’ on trajectory in the event of a spill incident.

    Dr David Johnson, Technical Director of Metocean Solutions, says rather than waiting on weather information to come through, and then running a trajectory model, responders can now have trajectory results available to them in real-time. “Normally, we provide a simulation result within 30 minutes of notice, but if an event occurs at 3 in the morning for example it will take longer to prepare.”

    “Timing is of the essence when major decisions are being made in the initial stages of an oil spill event,” says Dr Johnson.

    “With the spill forecasting system, as soon as a spill occurs, responders can see immediately how the oil spill is likely to behave over the next five days. This gives a good indication of what resources may be required and where they need to be deployed.” The initial simulation result would of course be backed up with a ‘hands on’ trajectory simulation, which can refine the release timing and magnitude.

    The spill simulations are undertaken every time the MetOcean Solutions weather forecast cycle is updated, which is six hourly for most locations. The system also works on a global scale; using the best available forecast data - which may be from a global scale model or a custom domain.

    The simulations need a fixed release point identified, making it particularly suitable for drilling platforms, production facilities and tanker moorings. However there is potential for other industries to make use of the product. Dr Johnson says the product can be to be adapted to track sewerage outfall plumes or bio-security events, for example.