Offshore Met-Ocean Systems and Moorings

Watch Dog

Woods Hole Group has successfully deployed the WatchDog-1000 ocean monitoring system in the deep Gulf of Mexico for an oil company client. The WatchDog is a rugged, moored, real-time metocean monitoring system that is open-ocean survivable and adaptable for use from coastal to deepwater locations. The WatchDog is designed to operate without servicing for up to one year and, as all data are transmitted by satellite, does not require hardware on the oil platform. WatchDog-1000 is customizable to offer a wide variety of data acquisition solutions including wind, wave, and current profiles in real-time (for example, every twenty minutes 24/7/365) in a variety of environments.

The WatchDog-1000 is designed to meet and exceed the data collection and reporting requirements of the BOEM Notice to Lessees (NTL) 2009-G02 during deepwater drilling and production operations.

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Caspian Sea Oceanographic Program

Woods Hole Group provided technical mooring design, equipment, and oceanographic consulting services to Total Exploration and Production - Azerbaijan for a 200-day program. The purpose was to provide an overall metocean study south of the Absheron Peninsula in the Caspian Sea off Azerbaijan. During the campaign the following parameters were recorded:

• Directional currents throughout the water depth at five locations
• Directional waves at three locations
• Sea temperatures at each instrument location and through the entire water column at one location
• Salinity profile at one location
• Meteorological information at an onshore location (wind speed and direction, air temperature, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure and rainfall).

Six moorings were deployed in 2014 and periodically serviced by Woods Hole Group. Woods Hole Group personnel reviewed all data files in the field on recovery and provided detailed data analysis reports after each recovery cruise. These reports included statistical analysis for major oceanographic parameters measured.

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Oceanographic System for Offshore Energy

Garden State Offshore Energy plans to build a wind farm offshore New Jersey and is currently involved in an exploratory and permitting process. They are investigating the wind resource using LIDAR measurements from the NJORD spar buoy, and assessing the oceanographic conditions, which will have bearing on the design and anchoring of the towers supporting the wind turbines. Measurements also document avian and bat activity so these species can be protected.

The instrument package provided by Woods Hole Group is composed of a TRBM (Trawl-Resistant Bottom Mount) equipped with autonomous, internally recording instruments. The suite of sensors includes a Nortek AWAC/AST profiling current and wave sensor, and an RBR CTD (Conductivity, Temperature, and Depth).

Nortek AWAC measurements of current velocity profiles and wave height are used to calculate wave spectra and statistical characteristics including significant wave height, frequency, and direction. Waves and currents are dominant contributors to the forces acting on structures and on the sea floor, so these measurements are critical inputs to the design of offshore towers.

RBR CTD measurements of conductivity, temperature, and depth are used to tag the movement of water masses and, combined with information from other sources, provide information about local and regional circulation, mixing, upwelling, and biological activity.

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