Block
specific results of comprehensive Metocean hindcast
studies supported on a Joint Industry Project (JIP)
basis are now available. The first such JIP, NESS
(Northern European Storm Study), was launched in 1986
by a consortium of nine major oil companies and two
government agencies to develop a definitive database
of wind, sea state, water level and current parameters
for the North Sea, Norwegian Sea and Northwest Approaches
following a hindcast approach using wind, wave and
hydrodynamic models considered state-of-the-art in
the 1980s. NESS addressed the continuous time and
space evolution of the surface wind and wave fields
over the winter half of 25-years (October-March 1964-65
to 1988-89), three complete years (1977, 1978, 1979)
within the 25 years and 39 summer storms and of storm
surge, tide and currents for 250 storms within the
25-year period.
In
a follow up JIP, NUG (NESS User’s
Group) the hindcast was expanded to include the continuous
period April 1989 to September 1998 with Oceanweather’s
kinematic wind hindcast methodology and advanced third-generation
spectral wave model. The reanalyzed atmospheric forcing
for the NESS and NUG period up to March 1995 was applied
by Danish Hydraulics to its improved MIKE 21 hydrodynamic
model. The hindcast databases have been extensively
validated against high quality platform measurements
available post-NESS. The hindcast time series at hourly
intervals are available at the points archived (see
maps) to the end-user and consulting communities on
a grid-point specific basis at reasonable cost.
