Research & Development
Horizon Marine’s research efforts are focused on the continued improvement of our operational oceanographic services. We seek innovative observational techniques and improved forecasting capabilities. A successful result of this R & D is our alliance with Accurate Environmental Forecasting (AEF) to develop the AEF dynamical eddy model.
We have worked closely with AEF to refine and improve the model for high resolution, detailed site-specific forecasts. This research began with the belief that if we could initialize the dynamical model with highly detailed observations of a Loop Current eddy, the model effort would likely show high skill. We needed a model which could assimilate drifting buoy measurements, our frontal analyses, temperature and salinity profiles, and Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) measurements.
We developed FAST Eddy, a quick-reaction ADCP system which can be mobilized in a day and its self-contained van hoisted on the deck of any offshore work boat. This system relays data to Horizon Marine automatically in real time where it is quality controlled and displayed for clients on the FAST Eddy website. Also, and in collaboration with Oceaneering International, we developed a deep current observing system. Our 75 kHz ADCP towfish system permits response to opportunities to observe troublesome ocean current events and to profile down to 600 meters. Both systems are used extensively for the extreme ocean current detail required during threatening currents and sensitive operations.
Horizon Marine collaborates with scientists from Louisiana State University (LSU) and the University of Colorado to combine the remote sensing tools of each group to better understand circulation processes in the Gulf of Mexico. The LSU Earth Scan Laboratory provides measurements from Terra MODIS, Oceansat OCM, GOES-12, SeaWifs, and NOAA AVHRR. The University of Colorado provides sea surface height (SSH) from the TOPEX/POSEIDON, ERS-1/ERS-2, GFO, Jason-1, and Envisat satellites. Horizon Marine provides an archive of satellite-tracked drifting buoy data. These data are studied and compared to the sea surface height, sea surface temperatures, and ocean color fields observed by the satellites. This integration of advanced remote sensing technologies will eventually enable improved observation and forecasting techniques.
Also, with funding assistance from MMS, we developed a real-time data assembly center (presently EddyNet). This center receives ADCP measurements from offshore operations, assembles the data into several graphical forms, and hosts a website to permit access by members.
Hindcast work serves as a valuable tool in structural design of offshore facilities. Horizon has conducted historical eddy studies for the Climatology and Simulation of Eddies (CASE) consortium. This includes analysis of historical eddy events to produce path and configuration (P & C) files which numerically describe the features. These P & C files enable the use of the Gulf Eddy Model (GEM) to reproduce historical currents at several depth levels at chosen sites.
Horizon Marine is a partner in the National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP) under the auspices of the US Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment (GODAE). We work with scientists from the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and the University of Miami. Both have developed sophisticated, high resolution ocean dynamic models. Horizon’s role is to evaluate model skill. Our daily observational data in the Gulf of Mexico and offshore Trinidad permit direct comparison of model nowcast and forecast results with the synoptic conditions.
