Tag Archives: oil

335 Tropical Cyclone Tacks analysed for the past 10 years

335 tropical cyclones have been independently analysed and tracked by Offshore Weather Services Duty Forecasters over the Northwest Pacific, Eastern Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal and northern Australian oceanic waters since 2008.

Using established Dvorak satellite analysis techniques from imagery received directly at the OWS satellite earth station in Melbourne, Australia, and more recently microwave imagery, scatterometer and other imaging data, OWS provide independent analysis of tropical cyclone activity in the Asia Pacific region.

As OWS celebrates its 15th years of uninterrupted service to the oil and energy industry, we look back and celebrate how the company has grown. Continuous improvement in weather forecasting technology has resulted in enormous improvements in the accuracy of marine weather, aviation and tropical cyclone forecasts.

OWS monitoring squalls for Woodside in the NW Shelf

NWS Squall

Offshore Weather Services has been providing a squall monitoring and squall forecasting service in support of Woodside Energy Limited operations over the NW Shelf, Western Australia for the past 5 months.

Squall events over the NW Shelf and along the Pilbara coast are not frequent but when they do occur they are likely to be of a severe variety with winds speeds in excess of 35kt. Squalls are characterized by a very rapid onset of winds well above those prevailing at the time. These elevated winds strengths last for several minutes before gradually decreasing. Squalls pose a very real risk to the safety of operations, have been known to cause significant damage to assets in the region and are an unwelcome disruption to operations.

OWS utilise the high resolution Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) atmospheric model programmed by OWS’s modelling specialist Dr Simon Caine to assist forecasters in evaluating the potential risk of squalls developing, their expected movement and intensity. Specialised tracking software is then used to track individual cells or squall lines giving more accurate predictions as to the timing and likely impact at the client’s locations. Surface and upper air observations, radar and satellite data are additional tools to assist with squall monitoring and development.

A squall event occurred on 10 February 2014 producing sustained winds to 35kt (as recorded at Lagendre Island) and with gusts to over 50kt.  The WRF model captured the event very well as shown by the simulated radar images for 1200-1400UTC, and is an invaluable and proven aid in the forecasting of squall events.

OWS has been providing similar squall warnings to clients throughout Southeast Asia for many years utilising the same technology as introduced to the NW Shelf.

Angelo Portelli at the AMOS Conference 2014

h1-amos-logoOver two fair days in Hobart, OWS Senior Forecaster Angelo Portelli attended many and varied presentations at the AMOS Conference held at Grand Chancellor Hotel on February 13-14, 2014.

The Thursday morning sessions provided excellent presentations by Sally Lavender on the influence of sea surface temperature on Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi.  Also notable was the presentation of evidence of low-level volcanic ash clouds during the 2008 Chilean eruption by Andrew Prata.

The session attended on Thursday afternoon was the “The weather and climate of the Maritime Continent region in observations and models” including a presentation by Jules Kajtar on the importance of the atmospheric bridge on the Indo-Pacific climate feedback interactions. Another interesting presentation was also provided by Eric Oliver on the Madden-Julian Oscillation and the Gulf of Thailand sea level and circulation variability.

After an excellent dinner at MONA (Museum of Old and New Art) the previous night, Friday brought new sessions on “Waves and Coastal Inundation” and “The Structure, Dynamics and Predictability of High Impact Weather”. An update on the operational wave model in the Bureau of Meteorology was provided by Aihong Zhong in the former session, along with an excellent presentation by Joanna Burston on the potential for forecasting of coastal inundation from Tropical Cyclones using case studies from QLD in the latter session.

The latter session included two more interesting presentations specific to tropical cyclone eyewall replacement cycles and then dynamical sensitivity of tropical cyclones to SST. Also, an update on the U.S. CLIVAR Hurricane Working Group activities was provided by Kevin Walsh.

The Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (AMOS) is an independent Australian society that supports and fosters interest in meteorology, oceanography and other related sciences, providing a forum for people with a common interest, and by publishing relevant material.

High Resolution WRF ARW in the Gulf of Thailand

Early trials of the WRF ARW high resolution mesoscale atmospheric model developed by Dr Simon Caine specifically for squall forecasting in the Gulf of Thailand have shown great promise with convective cells being accurately modelled both temporally and spatially when compared with available radar data. This model is in the early stages of development and further refinement of the model’s convective parameterisations are expected to yield even better results resulting in more accurate squall forecasts for OWS clients in the Gulf of Thailand as the 2014 squall season begins from early May.

The Advanced Research WRF (ARW) is one of the two dynamical core versions of WRF.

For more information on OWS modeling capabilities, please contact us through our Contact link.

 

3slp-14 3slp-11

OWS at the WRF Tutorial and Workshop

wrf_logoOWS Weather Forecaster, Alistair McKelvie, attended the WRF Tutorial and Workshop held at the University of New South Wales in Sydney on February 24-28, 2014 to keep up to date with the model system, latest developments, evaluations and applications.

The event was run by members of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), a consortium of more than 100 member colleges and universities focused on research and training in the atmospheric and related Earth system sciences.  The WRF tutorial and workshop is the first to be held outside of the USA.  The four day tutorial explained the model system, how to run, customize, and use the output.  The workshop was held on the final day which included talks from visiting UCAR members, local academics and students about research relating to WRF and its applications.

The WRF is the next-generation mesoscale numerical weather prediction system designed to serve the atmospheric research and operational forecasting.  WRF features multiple dynamical cores allowing parallel computation and system extensibility.  WRF serves a wide range of meteorological applications giving spatial resolution ranging from a few meters to thousands of
kilometers.

Offshore Weather Services have already set up WRF atmospheric model grids over the entire South China Sea, Gulf of Thailand, NW Shelf and Bass Strait in Australia.

For more information on OWS modeling capabilities, please contact us through our Contact link.

OWS in the Zawtika topside installation in Myanmar

Offshore Weather Services was commissioned by UTEC and Saipem to provide onsite weather forecasting support during the installation of the Zawtika topside in the Gulf of Mottama, Myanmar.  The Zawtika Project is a gas field development project between partners PTTEP International Limited (PTTEPI) as operator and Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE).

The ZPQ is an integrated platform which combined both natural gas processing facilities and living quarters into a single platform. The topside weighs 16,500 metric ton (MT) and is one of the largest topside structures installed in South East Asia. It was designed and constructed by SOME (Singapore) with Saipem engaged for the installation.

OWS Director and Senior Forecaster Eric Tiong was the Meteorological Consultant on board the support vessel PW Natuna and worked directly with and advised the operations personnel responsible for the successful float over which occurred during the early morning on 21st October 2013.

Zawtika topside being towed

Zawtika topside being towed

PTTEP Thailand gears up for the 2013 Tropical Cyclone Season

Offshore Weather Services have recently conducted the PTTEP 2013 Tropical Cyclone Briefings and assisted in the Typhoon Exercise in preparation for the 2013 Tropical Cyclone Season in the Gulf of Thailand.

Offshore Weather Services senior forecasters Peter Wellby and Aila Aguilar took turns and went around the PTTEP assets in the Gulf of Thailand to conduct the Tropical Cyclone Briefings. The briefings covered the tropical cyclone risk in the region, TC forecast tracks and warnings issued during cyclone occurrences and the PTTEP TC Emergency Response Zones. A ‘Tropical Cyclone Exercise’ followed.

The Gulf of Thailand normally has one to two Tropical Cyclone threats each year, occurring mainly in the months of October to December. The region has been affected by 23 tropical cyclones for the past 21 years with 17 tracking across the gulf at varying intensities.

2013 PTTEP TC Briefing

Offshore Weather Services opens a branch in the Philippines

Offshore Weather Services opens a branch in the Philippines

OWS Philippines was officially launched by Mr Peter Wellby, Chairman of the Board of Directors of OWS Australia with Mr Gao Hongmin, Managing Director of OWS Asia, on 19 April 2013 at the EDSA Shangrila Plaza Hotel in Ortigas Center, MandaluyongCity, Philippines. Present  during the launch were Mr James Hogan, Operations Manager of Otto Energy, Mr Jaime A. Bacud, Exploration Manager of PNOC Exploration Corporation, Mr David R. Baladad, VP for Operations of South China Resources and Ms Alma D. Roxas, Corporate Project Manager of Alternergy, to name a few.

Peter and Gao presented and discussed the meteorological and oceanographic products and services as well as the vast experiences of Offshore Weather Services in Southeast Asia and Australia including its active involvement in the Malampaya float over wherein Peter was the onsite meteorologist. Dr Nilo is looking forward to providing specialized weather forecasting and climate consultancy services to the energy sector in thePhilippines. At present, OWS is providing site-specific weather forecast for the Palawan Galoc oil field in western Philippines.

WRF Model created for the South China Sea

OWS has recently commissioned a new Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) atmospheric model grid encompassing the entire South China Sea with a higher resolution sub grid covering the important offshore oil & gas industry region off the coast of northwest Borneo.

The early use of the model has shown some promising results. One example includes the WRF model identifying a local affect causing a plume of stronger winds near Palawan which has never been identified on coarser global atmospheric models. This local generation of winds was only previously noted by personnel offshore in certain synoptic situations, but could not be correlated with coarse global atmospheric modelling. It is now possible to forecast the region and length of time this wind, and subsequently generated waves, may affect clients working in the region.

The WRF Model is a next-generation mesoscale numerical weather prediction system designed to serve both operational forecasting and atmospheric research needs. It features multiple dynamical cores, a 3-dimensional variational (3DVAR) data assimilation system, and a software architecture allowing for computational parallelism and system extensibility. WRF is suitable for a broad spectrum of applications across scales ranging from meters to thousands of kilometres.

For more information on OWS modelling capabilities, please contact us through our contact link.