Fast facts: MetOcean

Q What’s a metocean fun fact?

Our equipment measured the official World Record fastest wind speed, which was 408 km/hr (faster than a bullet train!) during Cyclone Olivia at Barrow Island.

Q How diverse is metocean?

It is very diverse. We support projects in water depths from a few metres to several kilometres in depth, across the globe, and we work with measurement, prediction, transmission, and analysis of ocean data. We also aggregate measured and modelled information to provide design guidance to clients. 

Our people are as diverse as our projects too. They range from PhD qualified experts to electronics technicians, field operations experts, mathematicians, physicists, meteorologists, and a range of other engineering and science disciplines.

The diversity of our projects takes us to a wide range of places, offering unforgettable experiences. Onboard different vessels, we get to learn about different cultures, discover stories from afar, and experience a wealth of food from different nations – in a nutshell, we get to meet people from all walks of life. 

Q What’s the most fascinating task/s someone working in metocean gets to work on?

•    Working in metocean takes you to far flung places – and opens the door to experiencing the marine environment in all parts of the world. From weather buoys in the Arctic to current meters in the Caribbean, and protecting marine wildlife on offshore Norfolk, we get to do rewarding work installing equipment, collecting data, and working with clients in places that most people will never see.
•    Working with global meteorological and oceanographic datasets, where in some cases there is very little location-specific historical data, we are the first team to unearth interesting or unexpected dynamics from the sea.
•    Taking a deep dive into the data recovered from an instrument which has sat in the bottom of the sea collecting information about pressure changes from big storms or soliton waves, which are localised stable wave packets that can be shaped like a hump and travel a long way holding their shape. 
•    Assisting with the deployment or recovery of instrumentation. 

Q Career vs reality: what’s metocean really like?

Working in metocean is dynamic, rewarding, and unique. It requires a wide variety of knowledge, both theoretical and applied. The best part of working in this field is the variety – some days you can be working only on electronics or instrumentation, and other days building buoys and making moorings.  

Our clients operate in an environment that is remote, harsh, and in many cases difficult to define. Understanding those conditions is critical for design in terms of integrity and safety. Our clients’ projects often involve billions of dollars in investment and are very important for energy security at many levels. At our core, we understand the most important decisions need to be made with the best information, so we work to provide the most vital data for project success. 

Working offshore also requires the utmost preparation; you can’t arrive at a site without meticulous planning, and that starts with knowing what you will need at the port when you get there. There will also likely be no internet signal offshore, so instruments need to be tested, documents need to be prepared in advance, plans checked with colleagues as well as the ship’s crew, even when there are possible language barriers. 

The time spent on a ship, working with colleagues and the crew to get equipment safely into and out of the sea, is immensely satisfying and requires good communication and teamwork. The ocean is a harsh measurement environment, and it’s always exciting when our field team recovers instrumentation successfully and brings back datasets for review. We may need to support the field work by quickly assessing if an instrument has collected high quality data before it is serviced and redeployed.

Increasingly we are supporting renewable energy projects, as the ocean remains an important source and location for energy generation, export, and import.

A typical day is anything but typical. It spans from planning projects and analysing data to performing field repairs on the deck of a ship at sea. You could be reviewing the real time currents in the Gulf of Mexico, writing a report on wave measurements in the Atlantic, checking on wind station measurements in Alaska, writing code to visualise ocean currents in the Baltic, or meeting with clients to communicate project results.

The RPS MetOcean team are passionate people who care about our planet, thriving on the opportunity to make a difference by bringing oceanography to the consulting world. 

What are some of the greatest challenges of working in metocean…
•    Time is the greatest of all challenges: With extensive periods spent traveling to remote sites or waiting out weather delays, the success of metocean projects hinge on the ability to make the most of your time, both mentally and physically, and preparing for the demanding tasks ahead.
•    It is both challenging and rewarding to shift gears between different project types: In metocean we take on a wide variety of projects, from coastal to deep water and from observation to desktop studies and advanced analytics, and even scientific software development.  
•    Getting good quality data from your instruments can be a challenge without good planning and preparation:  
-    There’s always the possibility that your instrument will be shielded, 
-    Your data may not be suitably high resolution based on maximising battery life, 
-    There could be excessive marine biofouling (the adhesion of barnacles, macroalgae, and microbial slimes) which can affect your instrument; and 
-    There’s the risk of instrument damage or loss if it is trawled accidently by fishing or other vessel interference; this is a persistent issue we face whilst carrying out potential wind farm studies.   

What’s surprising about working in metocean? 
•    Weather! The weather is always changing offshore, and it is never straightforward. The best models and forecasts can say it is flat calm, but when you’re a few hours from land it can be completely different to what was expected. From the Harmattan dusty winds off Nigeria to the huge cold waves in the Barents Sea, it is never dull offshore.
•    There are often surprises in metocean work because of the uncertainty of working at sea. Our data team works closely with the field team deploying and recovering instrumentation, to ensure instruments are configured properly and we collect high quality data. However, anything can happen at sea, from a shortage of washer fluid that's critical for an instrument to function, to an incoming storm that delays the vessel scheduled for the field work – these unexpected scenarios that arise all demand creative problem-solving skills for a job to move forward. You must stay on your toes in metocean!
•    Surprisingly, the metocean industry is remarkably small, no matter where you go, you’re likely to run into people with connections in common. 

Q What’s a favourite resource for metocean news?

•    Windy.com and the BOM app for looking up weather forecasts; and  
•    Offshore Engineer: Offshore News, Offshore Engineer Magazine