(LA | 14/07/2023)

The Metocean

Metocean is concerned with understanding meteorological and oceanographic conditions at an engineering, or renewable energy, project site. For marine engineers, , detailed quantitative understanding of metocean conditions is crucial. Engineering standards are made clearer and more operationally efficient and safe when oceanic and meteorological circumstances are understood.

The Key Metocean Conditions

In general, metocean conditions are an extensive knowledge of wind, wave, and ocean currents in a specific area. In practice, the analysis of metocean also takes account of the principal parameters affecting the conditions.

Meteorological conditions include wind (speed and direction), air temperature, surface atmospheric pressure, relative humidity, surface wind vector, precipitation, visibility, and occurrence of typhoons, hurricanes, and cyclones. Oceanographic conditions include variations in water levels (such as those brought on by storm surges and tides), water temperature, salinity, the depth of floors below the surface of the ocean, water stratification, and the presence of ice.

The Benefits of Having Metocean Study

Metocean information is required throughout the life of a project, from site selection and feasibility to development, design and certification, installation, operation, and management, and finally decommissioning. There are various advantages to doing metocean condition investigations. Data collected during a project guarantees that the local weather, sea, and other elements are taken into account during planning and construction.

More importantly, offshore projects involved in underwater exploration in the ocean often face difficult environmental conditions due to extreme winds, strong waves, and currents. Ocean-going vessels face similar challenges and need access to meaningful metocean data.

For offshore and marine projects, metocean conditions are usually classified as operational or extreme conditions.

• Operational, quantify weather conditions to ensure your offshore project or sea vessel is operating at full capacity.
• Extreme, draw the possible magnitude and occurrence of extreme events such as storms, hurricanes, and hurricanes based on climate history.

Metocean data can be used to better understand local climate. For example, it helps determine the likelihood of extreme events or weather windows.

Metocean Study for Assessing Risk on Planning Construction Layout and Materials

A more detailed understanding of the project location will provide beneficial information to avoid the risk of construction failure due to environmental influences. The construction of a building cannot be separated from the design of the building and the choice of materials. Of course, choosing between the two is not arbitrary; various pieces of information are required. One of them is the metocean information, which contributes to the estimation of loads brought on by environmental forces like waves, currents, storms, and others by providing values.