Darwin Harbour Instrument Deployment and Retrieval for Darwin Metocean Study

With increasing activity occurring on Darwin’s Harbor due to major oil and gas projects, it’s important to maintain integrity of Darwin’s fragile marine ecosystems. Critical to this is gathering vital information on what happens within this rich and complicated world on a daily basis.

Broadly, metocean data relates to meteorological and oceanic data within an area. It is vital for the success of any marine-based projects.

Metocean data allows our clients to predict weather windows, forecast currents and sea surface heights, wave climate, temperature, salinity levels and much more.

Territorial Waters played a key role in sourcing valuable metocean data for our client- a key player in a major oil and gas project currently in development. Our survey vessel Northern Exile and crew worked with a team to gather valuable metocean data on a daily basis over an extensive 12 month period.

The project involved deploying and removing ADCP and Wave Gauges at several locations in Darwin Harbour.  Assembled instruments were loaded onto the boat, which steamed to the deployment sites and the instruments were then lowered to the seabed using a davit arm and winch. 

When required, the instruments were located and then retrieved from the seabed onto the vessel and transported back to port.  These instruments were able to collect valuable data about the complex environment that is Darwin Harbour, and inform the success of major projects that impact on our local community.