Provision and engineering/operational application of ocean wave data

Abstract

Retrieval of ocean surface data, in particular wave spectral data, both from space based and ground based instrumentation has reached a level, both in terms o f amount and quality, where a further assessment of societal benefit becomes important. There are engineering and industrial application sectors known to be in need for such data, both in planning, design, and in operations and real-time applications such as in monitoring and forecasting. At the COST conference «Provision and Engineering/Operational Applications of Ocean Wave Data», remote sensing and wave scientists met with potential users of such data within different sectors of ocean and coastal activities. These users were represented by academic and operational experts within naval architecture, offshore explorations and production, port and harbour management and operation and coastal engineering. The majority of presentations are included in these proceedings. It is believed that the conference has provided a broader and more pragmatic view on the future requirement for ocean wave data, as retrieved both from space and ground based instrumentation. The followup of the conference, accordingly, will be the development of joint project proposals in order to provide future ocean data products more adapted to the user requirements. A «Conference Whitepaper» was prepared immediately after the conference and is attached in the Annex at the end of these proceedings.