Best Metocean Datasets, Databases & APIs

What is Metocean Data?

The term metocean is combination of meteorology and oceanography in offshore and coastal engineering. Metocean study is conducted during the stages of offshore or coastal engineering projects to get an overview of environmental conditions and how they affect the choices to be made during the project phase hence leading to an effective and efficient solution for any problems or goals that may be stated. Metocean data may include statistical information on meteorology and physical oceanography.

How is Metocean Data collected?

Metocean data is collected by measuring instruments that are positioned in or close to the project area, global (re-analysis) models, and remote sensing often done by satellites. The availability of metocean data can be further stretched by the application of validated numerical models. At the offshore and coastal locations, buoy systems are used for collecting meteorological and oceanographic data. Buoys are instruments with calibrated sensors and remote communication systems that are designed to measure and deliver quality data to a computer in a remote location.

What are the attributes of Metocean Data?

Data on water movements - this is the forecast rise and fall of the sea in open water. It is the fundamental effect of gravitational forces of the sun and moon. The common parameters that are used to describe water movements in metocean data include sea-surface elevation, current speed, and current direction.

Offshore wind - these winds are prone to wavering sharply in speed and direction. Owing to the boundary layer effect, and offshore wind’s force and strength are expected to decrease through the vertical towards still water level. The insights provided by metocean data evaluates wind behavior by defining mean wind speed, standard deviation, gust wind speed, turbulent intensity, and mean wind direction.

Sea state - this is an attribute of metocean data that describes the wave field that comes as a result of combined contributions of wind-sea and swell components. The core properties of each wave within a given sea state are described according to wavelength, wave period, and wave direction.

What is Metocean Data used for?

Metocean information is vital to oil and gas organizations that are carrying out activities offshore. The information is pivotal to ecological regulators, assumes a pivotal part in drill rig and production platform selection, and is depended upon for safe and proficient operations during the production life of a well. The capacity to screen continuous met-sea parameters, such as directional waves, current waves, wind, and salinity with a dependable framework increases the value of the oil and gas company all through the whole life cycle of an offshore well.

How can a user assess the quality of Metocean Data?

Users of metocean data can conduct a process of data review for given inputs into a study and highlight data quality issues by taking into account the following minimum requirements of the data:
• Data spikes – assessing if the data is within the projected upper and lower limits and is an actual representation of estimated conditions.
• Data gaps – pointing out missing links in data and coming up with the means to handle any observed gaps in the data.
• Data accuracy – seamlessly verifying the accuracy in geo-referencing, timestamp, and individual metocean parameter units, taking into account the fact that developments in technology may lead to improved accuracies over time.

Where can I buy Metocean Data?

Data providers and vendors listed on Datarade sell Metocean Data products and samples. Popular Metocean Data products and datasets available on our platform are CustomWeather - Global Historical Marine Data and Analytics - 10 Years by CustomWeather, CustomWeather - 5-Day Global Marine Forecasts by CustomWeather, and Blue Bot: Marine image data of a coral reef that is in Barbados by BlueBot.

How can I get Metocean Data?

You can get Metocean Data via a range of delivery methods - the right one for you depends on your use case. For example, historical Metocean Data is usually available to download in bulk and delivered using an S3 bucket. On the other hand, if your use case is time-critical, you can buy real-time Metocean Data APIs, feeds and streams to download the most up-to-date intelligence.