World wide coverage

Sea level; Air pressure; Wave direction; Vertical velocity of the water column (currents); Horizontal velocity of the water column (currents); Temperature of the water column; Spectral wave data parameters; Wave height and period statistics; Electrical conductivity of the water column; Air temperature; Wind strength and direction

Wave recorders; sea level recorders; current profilers; water body temperature sensor; current meters; meteorological packages

Observed metocean data, analyses and climate studies provide the oil and gas industry with essential information and knowledge for the design and engineering of offshore installations, such as production platforms and pipelines, and for assessing workability conditions. In addition the information is used for supporting the planning of, for example diving operations and the installation of pipelines, and the forecasting of storms and heavy weather conditions, which might require timely evacuation or other safety measures to be taken during the operation of offshore installations. To support these activities, and to complement metocean data and information, that can be retrieved from public sources, major oil and gas companies are active in monitoring and collecting metocean data themselves. This is done all over the world and over many years the oil and gas companies have acquired together a large volume of data sets. These data sets are acquired, processed and analysed both in joint industry projects (JIPs) as well as in field surveys and monitoring activities performed for individual companies. Often these data sets are acquired at substantial cost and in remote areas. These datasets are managed by the metocean departments of the oil and gas companies and stored in various formats and are only exchanged on a limited scale between companies. Despite various industry co-operative joint projects, there is not yet a common awareness of available data sets and no systematic indexing and archival of these data sets within the industry. Furthermore there is only limited reporting and access to these data sets and results of field studies for other parties, in particular the scientific community. Opening up these data sets for further use will provide favourable conditions for creating highly valuable extra knowledge of both local and regional ocean and marine systems. To stimulate and support a wider application of these industry metocean datasets a System of Industry Metocean data for the Offshore and Research Communities (SIMORC) has been established within the framework of the SIMORC project. The SIMORC project is co-funded by the European Commission for a 2 year project period starting 1st June 2005. The SIMORC system consists of an index metadatabase and a database of actual data sets that together are accessible through the Internet. The index metadatabase is public domain, while access to data is regulated by a dedicated SIMORC Data Protocol. This contains rules for access and use of data sets by scientific users, by oil & gas companies, and by third parties. All metocean data sets in the database have undergone quality control and conversion to unified formats, resulting in consistent and high quality, harmonized data sets. SIMORC is a unique and challenging development, undertaken by major ocean data management specialists: MARIS (NL) coordinator and operator, BODC (UK) and IOC-IODE (UNESCO), and the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (OGP), involving participation of major oil & gas companies that bring in their considerable data sets. The objective is to expand the coverage of the SIMORC database with regular submissions of major oil & gas companies, while the SIMORC service will be operated as part of OGP services.

SIMORC partners (2006) SIMORC User license Agreement for use of Data Sets by scientific and academic users, SIMORC partners

Marine Information Service
Gildeweg 7A
Nootdorp

2632BD
Netherlands