Overview
The inaugural meeting of The Australian Forum for Operational Oceanography (FOO) was held in Fremantle, Western Australia on 21-23 July 2015.
The meeting was attended by participants from across 50 organisations, with representation from all ‘four pillars’ of the Forum’s stakeholder base, namely marine industries, service providers, government agencies and research providers.
The meeting was sponsored by the Australian Government Department of Industry and Science, and Hon Ian Macfarlane MP, Minister for Industry and Science addressed the Forum.
Feedback about the first meeting was very positive, and participants felt it should not be a one-off event. There was a strong desire to build on the dialogue commenced at the meeting to establish effective, ongoing communication between Forum participants.
FOO 2015 Steering Committee
The overarching goal of the initial steering committee, outlined below, was to bring the FOO into existence, with a specific target of holding the inaugural Australian Forum for Operational Oceanography meeting in June 2015.
- Jan Flynn, Shell Australia (Co-Chair)
- Tim Moltmann, Integrated Marine Observing System (Co-Chair)
- Emma Sommerville, Integrated Marine Observing System
- Brian King, RPS Group
- Simon Foster, Fugro GEOS
- Tim Sawyer, Carnegie Wave Energy
- Martin Exel, Austral Fisheries/ Commonwealth Fisheries Association (CFA)
- Martin Rutherford, Royal Australian Navy (RAN)
- Craig Longmuir, Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA)
- Alan Stokes, Australian Coastal Councils/ National Sea Change Task Force
- Nick Rayns, Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA)
- Richard Brinkman, Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS)
- Boris Kelly-Gerreyn, Bureau of Meteorology (BoM)
- Andreas Schiller, Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
- Stuart Minchin, Geoscience Australia (GA)
- Ben Evans, National Computational Infrastructure (NCI)
- Nick D’Adamo, Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), UNESCO
Theme 1 – What is Operational Oceanography and what does it mean in the Australian context?
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What is operational oceanography?
Andreas Schiller, Boris Kelly-Gerreyn and Tim Moltmann
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Why have we established a Forum for Operational Oceanography and who is it relevant to?
Jan Flynn and Tim Moltmann
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Operational oceanography and the oil and gas industry – the UK experience (Keynote)
Colin Grant, CG Metocean Consulting Limited, UK
Theme 2 – Assessing Present Capabilities - what can we do now?
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Scope of capabilities under consideration – ocean circulation, sea state and weather, climate, atmosphere and ecosystems
Richard Brinkman
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Observing systems – research and operational
Tim Moltmann, Boris Kelly-Gerreyn, Lyndon Llewellyn and Adam Lewis
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Modelling systems – research and operations
Peter Oke and Gary Brassington
Theme 3 – Uses of Operational Oceanography
Topic 1 – Emergency Response
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The U.S. Coast Guard’s Search and Rescue mission and operational oceanography: use, challenges, and opportunities
Art Allen, Office of Search and Rescue, United States Coast Guard
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Operational drift forecast modelling in support of the AMSA search for Malaysia Airlines MH370
Ben Brushett, David Griffin, Sasha Zigic, Murray Burling, Ryan Alexander, David Wright and Neal Moodie
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Numerical model to simulate drift trajectories of large vessels
Simon B. Mortensen, Kasper Kaergaard, Alex Harkin, Jonas Mortensen, Sabine Knapp and Geoff Wake
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New advanced computing research infrastructures to support operational oceanography
Roger Proctor and Ben Evans
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Practical application of drift modelling to search and rescue
Craig Longmuir
Topic 2 – Coastal and Marine Management, Ports and Shipping
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Marine forecasting in coastal and nearshore waters using dynamical process models
Peter McComb, MetOcean Solutions Ltd, NZ
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Real-time information needs for ports and shipping: status and gaps
Captain Allan Gray
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Information needs for marine resource management: status and gaps
Tom Holmes
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Dredging and Associated Environmental Aspects: Real-time and Longer Term Information Gaps
Piers Larcombe and Angus Morrison-Saunders
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A National Shelf Re-analysis (ANSR) project for Australia
Moninya Roughan, Emlyn Jones, Peter Oke, Tim Moltmann, Peter May and Andreas Schiller
Topic 3 – Oil Spills
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Oil spills – perspective from an industry-owned cooperative
Liam Harrington-Missin, Oil Spill Response Ltd, UK
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Trajectory modelling for Australian maritime environmental emergency response
Paul Irving
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Oil spill modelling - Montara case study
Brian King, Trevor Gilbert, Ben Brushett, Jeremie Bernard and Nathan Benfer
Theme 4 – Identifying and Addressing Future Challenges and Opportunities
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Shell’s experience using gliders for observational oceanography
Michael Vogel (Shell US), Ruth Perry, Louis Brzuzy, Pak Tao Leung, Walt McCall, Kevin Martin and Ryan Vandermuelen
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Future opportunities in earth observations
Stuart Minchin
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Numerical model to simulate drift trajectories of large vessels
Simon B. Mortensen, Kasper Kaergaard, Alex Harkin, Jonas Mortensen, Sabine Knapp and Geoff Wake
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Improved tropical cyclone wind and wave forecasts for offshore industries
Jeffrey D. Kepert, Noel Davidson, Paul Gregory, Alister Hawksford, Andy Taylor, Xingbao Wang, Harvey Ye and Stefan Zieger
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Assessment of metocean forecast data and consensus forecasting
Ben Brushett, Brian King and Charles Lemckert
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Advances in swell prediction for Australia’s North West Shelf
Greg Williams and Steve Buchan
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Wave forecast and wave climate, advances and challenges
Alexander V Babanin, Ian R. Young and Stefan Zieger
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Enhanced storm surge forecasting services
Mikhail Entel and Eric Schulz
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Operational oceanography in the nearshore
Graham Symonds, Ryan Lowe and Jeff Hansen
Citing this work
If you would like to use any of the above, please use the following information:
[author/s], presentation at the Forum for Operational Oceanography (21-23 July, 2015) Fremantle, Australia.