Met Office News

Global supplier of maritime digital data and compliance services ChartCo has selected MeteoGroup to deliver its weather routing technology services (SPOS) through its OneOcean platform.OneOcean is ChartCo’s software platform for e-navigation, route and passage planning, environmental compliance, data management and a broad range of other services. The MeteoGroup services enable ships to safely navigate the globe with minimal fuel consumption and emissions, by calculating and recalculating…

A three-year, €6.5 million ($7.7  million) research project has been launched to address safety and efficiency in Arctic ship operations. Funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 program, SEDNA sets out to develop a risk-based approach to Arctic navigation, ship design and maritime operations. Recent years have seen a rapid increase in shipping operations in Arctic regions, as ice cover has reduced due to global warming. While this offers the potential to save significantly on voyage times…

A cargo ship was being evacuated after it started to take on water off the coast of Dover after the biggest storm of the season hit southern England, the Coastguard said on Sunday.   Earlier, the port of Dover said ferry movements had been temporarily suspended because of the "very high winds", which the Met Office said could reach 70-80 miles per hour in exposed coastal locations.   The coastguard could not immediately give any further details. (Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Keith Weir)

The final phase of a competition to develop novel adaptive autonomous ocean sampling network (AAOSN) management systems for the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) is now underway. Two UK consortia will move forward to develop systems capable of coordinating a suite of marine autonomous vehicles gathering data from the ocean over periods of months, and tracking and sampling dynamic features. The two-phase competition was launched last September by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) in partnership with the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) and Innovate UK…

Talisman Sinopec Energy UK has closed its Buchan Alpha platform in the North Sea, the company said on Wednesday, ahead of an expected severe winter storm. The Buchan Alpha is a floating production installation that contributes less than 5,000 barrels of oil per day to the Forties crude stream. A spokeswoman for the company, a joint venture between Canada's Talisman and China's Sinopec, said 61 non-essential personnel had been taken from the installation to Aberdeen, Scotland, in advance of the storm. "This was completed on December 8. A team of 15 remain on board and production remains shut down for the time being," she said. Britain's Met Office has issued an amber "be prepared" warning for Scotland…

The second phase of an ambitious project to gather valuable information on ocean processes and marine life using a fleet of innovative marine robots has just reached its conclusion. Co-ordinated by the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), the Exploring Ocean Fronts project took place off southwest England and saw the largest deployment of robotic vehicles ever attempted in UK waters. The marine robots, which are powered by a combination of wave, wind and solar power, are controlled by satellite communications and can cover hundreds of kilometres in a single mission. In the latest phase of the project, three unmanned surface vehicles were used to track fish carrying acoustic ‘pingers’ off the Devon coast.

Low solar and wind power supply expectations on Monday boosted European prompt power prices with demand supported by a gradual turn towards colder weather. Point Carbon forecasts showed German solar supply on Tuesday likely to come in at 0.9 gigawatt (GW), down from 1.9 GW on Monday. Wind output was seen rising by 2.3 GW between Monday and Tuesday but only to a relatively low 5.3 GW. German baseload (24 hours) for delivery on Tuesday was 2.6 euros up from the price paid for Monday at 45 euros ($56) a megawatt hour. The equivalent French contract was up three euros at 48 euros/MWh. Average daily 24-hour temperatures will fall by 0.3 and 0.5 degrees Celsius respectively in Germany and France in the period between Monday and Tuesday, likely boosting French consumption by nearly 2 GW.

The ASV C-Enduro embarked on a robotics mission along with six other unmanned marine vessels off the southwest of England. Selected to take part by the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), C-Enduro is fitted with a range of meteorological and oceanographic sensors to collect scientific data about ocean  processes and marine life. The project, coordinated by NOC, is the most ambitious of its kind in Europe. The vehicles are aiming to travel up to 300 miles over the next 20 days.

Submarine HMS Tireless has been tasked to assist in the search for flight MH370 as UK support to the international effort continues informs the government's Ministry of Defence. The Trafalgar-Class submarine has arrived in the southern Indian Ocean to help with the search for the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 that went missing on 8 March, and with her advanced underwater search capability, HMS Tireless is expected to be able to contribute to the attempts to locate the missing plane.

A catastrophic ice storm wreaking havoc in the American South is now poised to pummel the eastern seaboard; on the other side of the ocean 'Orange', and 'Red' warnings have been issued by Met Éireann and the UK Met Office respectively. Crowley Maritime has warned customers: 'That due to he severity of the predicted storm tonight through tomorrow, be advised that all Container Terminals in the Port of NY/NJ will be closed Thursday, February 13th. We will advise tomorrow at 1:00 PM the gate opening hours for Friday morning.

As severe weather continues to hit the U.K., especially in the Southwest, large shipping delays are expected. According to a Met Office U.K. weather forecast, a ridge of high pressure in eastern areas at first will soon give way to a deep Atlantic low, bringing gales or severe gales to most areas with storms for a time in southwestern coastal areas.

The United Kingdom Hydrographic Office is launching a new large-scale routing chart covering the busy shipping waters of Vietnam, Indonesia and the Malacca Strait. Routing Chart 5141 is the latest addition to the UKHO's routing chart series and will be published on February 27, 2014. As well as covering a very busy shipping area, Routing Chart 5141 has been compiled in a larger scale than the UKHO's existing routing charts and features more detailed and up-to-date meteorological and currents information.

Belfast Coastguard are issuing a warning following the Met Office forecast for rain during the remainder of Sunday and for strong winds or gales on Monday. The Northern Ireland Coastline is expected to get hit with strong winds and high tides to produce large over-topping waves and another tidal surge, with the east coast particularly at risk. Belfast Coastguard Rescue Co-ordination Centre manager, Steven Carson, said, "With one of the worst tidal surges in recent years, we would urge members of the public to take extra care along our coastline at this time. Please stay away from coastal paths, sea walls and cliff edges. These types of conditions, with choppy seas and large waves, are likely to be with us for a few days yet, so please don't take risks.

Planet Ocean inform that they are supporting the UK Met Office and Plymouth Marine Laboratory to gather real-time Met-Ocean Data with their AXYS Watchman (WM-500) data acquisition and telemetry systems. The WM-500 can be configured to control a large variety of sensors providing data manipulation, logging and have the ability to interface with a variety of communication systems. The UK Met Office (UKMO) are using these systems in their range of inshore and offshore data buoy hulls provided by a growing range of manufacturers.

BMT Group Ltd, a leading international design, engineering and risk management consultancy, is pleased to announce that Wendy Barnes has joined the Board of Directors as a Non-executive Director. Wendy is presently a Non-executive Member of the main Board of OFWAT, the economic regulator of the water industry in England and Wales, a Non-executive Director of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office Services and a Non-executive Director at the Met Office. She was Interim Chief Operating…