Earth Observation metocean requirements of the oil &amp; gas industry (DRAFT for comment)<br/>29th April 2008<br/>Introduction Following from the OGP metocean committee meeting on 14t h March 2008, this note provides some of the potential uses of Earth Observation (EO) data for the oil &amp; gas industry in the area of metocean (meteorology and oceanography) and ice (sea ice and icebergs). The information is based on input from: · · · Valerie Quiniou (TOTAL) Anna Maria Scofano (PETROBAS) Paul Verlaan, Nicolas Fournier (SHELL)<br/><br/>I n what follows we look at technical requirements (the type of product, parameters, location, area, etc.) and then some operational requirements (where the emphasis is on delivery time, costs, reliability). This list is not complete but gives a reasonable impression of the data requirements. Metocean data (including ice) is used to support all phases of a project and an increasing component of the data is supplied by remote-sensing methods.<br/><br/>Seismic Exploration drilling, Concept selection<br/><br/>Metocean/site surveys<br/><br/>Design criteria Operations planning<br/><br/>Installation<br/><br/>Marine transportation Oil spill contingency Emergency Evacuation &amp; Rescue<br/><br/>Assess<br/><br/>Select<br/><br/>Design<br/><br/>Construct<br/><br/>Operations<br/><br/>Metocean data input<br/><br/>EO data supporting real-time operations EO data for design<br/>Figure 1: Metocean data used in Project realisation<br/><br/><br/>Technical requirements (what, where and why)<br/>Parameter/ Data type<br/>Rainfall data<br/><br/>Area<br/>Globally, in particular higher latitudes Coastal areas and onshore<br/><br/>Data needs<br/>Extreme rainfall intensities on small timescales (10 min., 1 hour, 3 hours) High resolution winds in shallow water areas and near to land-sea borders, (e.g. along the coast of the Mediterranean)<br/><br/>Comments<br/>This information can partly be obtained for latitudes &lt; 45 deg, using TRMM. Models are usually not able to simulate the winds in these areas with sufficient accuracy and the QUIKSCAT data has not enough resolution to cover small-scale (e.g. land-sea, topographical) effects. Models are, in many areas in the world, not able to give reliable currents. EO data is already used to build up databases with some success but more needs to be done. The presence of clouds limits the use of EO data in this case. Water levels are widely monitored. The lack of data mainly applies to remote areas (such as the Arctic)<br/><br/>Wind speed and direction<br/><br/>Currents<br/><br/>Globally<br/><br/>Further improve the technology to incorporate EO data to get information on surface currents<br/><br/>Water level<br/><br/>Globally, Remote areas<br/><br/>Obtain reliable information about tides and sea-level in remote areas without having to collect field data Data is required for estimating occurrence, duration and size of dust particles for planning helicopter operations, designing HVAC and engine filters. Develop software to estimate i ce movements data on a detailed spatial level (e.g. 50-100 m) by automated crosscorrelation of SAR images Develop software to estimate ice thickness in an automated way and build up a historical database. This information is essential for design of any offshore structure, marine navigation though ice, etc. Develop software to compute the floe size distribution over areas covered with ice. This data is required for the design of offshore structures<br/><br/>Dust in the atmosphere<br/><br/>Tropical and desert areas<br/><br/>Ice movement<br/><br/>Arctic areas with slowly moving ice<br/><br/>· ·<br/><br/>SAR data is needed to do this At present EO data cannot be used in areas of rapidly changing ice drift (e.g. tidally induced ice drift)<br/><br/>Ice thickness<br/><br/>Pan-Arctic<br/><br/>Ice thickness can already be measured using in-situ techniques (ice profiling sonar, GPS, GPR), and EM-sounding techniques. These methods are (labor) intensive and expensive. We need CryoSat-2 now.<br/><br/>Floe size (distribution)<br/><br/>Pan-Arctic<br/><br/>High resolution SAR data is needed to do this<br/><br/><br/>Operational aspects (time, availability, resolution and cost) In order to be effective in supporting this process; (1) Delay time: EO data has to be made available in quasi real-time. In most cases, the satellite image needs to be made available within a couple of hours (or sometimes faster) to support an operation. EO data rapidly loses its value with time - a delay of 12-24 hours is in most cases too long to be useful (2) Availability and reliability: Data needs to be provided in a reliable way. The costs involved in many operations (drilling, geotechnical) are substantial and EO data can be a crucial element to support these operations. If the availability of EO data from one supplier/satellite cannot be guaranteed then an alternative source needs to be identified and lined up. (3) Resolution: The size of the picture and the associated spatial resolution is highly dependent on the type of operation that needs to be supported. For instance, marine transportation in ice requires an image over a large area (e.g. 500 x 500 km) with a limited spatial accuracy (50-100 m or less), whereas other operations around fixed (platform) locations require a satellite image over a much smaller area (50 x 50 km) with a higher spatial accuracy of say 10 m. (4) Costs: The cost of EO imagery is particularly relevant for ongoing operations. As an example, an offshore platform in sea ice needs to be supplied by vessels that navigate through ice. EO imagery of sea ice is needed to make routing recommendation for the supply vessel. This type of operation can typically be continued for several decades (the lifetime of a platform), for the whole year or part of the year. Negotiating reasonable rates for each image can be an important cost element consideration.