The background for this study is the requirements from the off industry to obtain more knowledge about currents and eddies for the deepwater exploration west of Mid-Norway. In this study more than 70 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) scenes from the ERS-2 satellite, each covering 100 by 100 km, were investigated for low wind conditions allowing observation of current patterns and fronts. Location, scale and rotation of eddies was determined from the SAR images. Also altimeter data from ERS and TOPEX POSEIDON satellites were analyzed in order to estimate geostrophic currents in the study area. The results showed that satellite SAR and altimeter data can play an important role to obtain synoptic information about current regimes over larger areas, which is complementary to standard buoy measurements at fixed locations and model simulations.
The offshore petroleum exploration is moving from the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NSC) at water depths of 200 – 400 m to the continental slope and deepwater areas with depths from 500 to more than 2000 m. The offshore industry in Norway has instituted a joint meteorological and oceanographical (metocean) project within the Norwegian Deepwater Programme in connection with opening of new licences in deep waters off Mid-Norway. The metocean conditions of these areas are generally more extreme that at the NCS because of the greater exposure to the Atlantic Ocean and the Norwegian Sea. One of the aims of the metocean project is to obtain knowledge about current conditions required for design and operation of floating structures. Use of satellite data is part of the observation programme in this project. The specified study area is west of mid-Norway approximately from 62° to 67° N (Fig. 1). The region's complicated bathymetry, combined with strong ocean currents and the presence of a front between the Norwegian Atlantic Current and the Norwegian Coastal Current makes it an area of high mesoscale variability, with generation of meanders and eddies representing the maximum current velocities. Hence, regular monitoring over an extended period of time is necessary to obtain reliable statistics on the current regime, including mesoscale eddy activity.
