ABSTRACT

This paper intends to show the contribution of satellite data towards studying the extreme wave climate in the Pechora Sea in northern Russia. Paras Ltd. used satellite measurements, output from the WINCH model and output from numerical wave models developed by M6t6oMer to determine design wave criteria for the proposed platform site in the Prirazlomnoye Field in the Pechora Sea. The M6t6oMer models made use of the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) wind fields to determine the wind forcing as well as satellite measurements to calibrate the wind field and the sea-state parameters as well as to define the sea ice coverage. The results illustrate the considerable benefit of having used these different databases for estimating the design 100-year significant wave height for the area of interest.

INTRODUCTION

Nowadays, marine operators prospect all over the world and increasingly in polar regions. Whatever the location, the design and requalification of marine structures or the preparation of marine operations first require the construction of a reliable sea-state database. Satellites - combined with wave models - bring new and powerful means for performing such metocean studies (Charriez and Olagnon, 1995 and Charriez et al, 1995). Firstly, remote sensed information allows for the well-known calibration of wave model input (winds) and output (waves). Secondly, the ERS scatterometer measurements, available in all-weather conditions, may be implemented in a procedure that allows the acquisition of a reliable knowledge of temporal and spatial sea-ice coverage and variability, thus dramatically improving wave model calculations. In the spring of 1996, BHP Petroleum Ltd. commissioned Paras Ltd. to study the extreme wave climate within the Prirazlomnoye Field which lies in the shallow water region in the southern part of the Pechora Sea (see Figure 1).

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