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7.06 Frontex Oceanographic data

Agency responsible
Data group
07. Meteorological and Oceanographic Data
Coast Guard Functions with access
Maritime Customs Activities
Prevention and Suppression of Trafficking and Smuggling and Connected Maritime Law Enforcement
Maritime Border Control
Maritime Monitoring and Surveillance
Maritime Search and Rescue
Status of implementation
Available
Dissemination channels
Agency web interface
Point(s) of contact
Last reviewed on
Last saved on
Description

This service provides information about past, current and forecasted oceanographic and maritime information (from national and EU oceanographic and maritime services).

Data elements

The following data is presented via dedicated information layers and accessible directly in the systems available to all users:

a. Oceanographic model data and forecast:

Current, forecasted and past (last 7 days) oceanographic conditions based on European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and Nautical MeteoBase (NMB) models provided for the geographical extent described in section VI.

Data attribute

Unit

Description

Display

Current

Dgs true North,

speed in m/s

Contains the speed and direction of current. The arrow points to where the current is going to. The larger the arrow, the higher the speed.

arrows

Current speed

m/s

The horizontal movement of water. It is a combination of tidal water movement and oceanic water movement.

area and contours

Current direction

Dgs true North

The direction the current is going to.

grid

Sea surface temperature

oC

Water temperature of the sea surface.

area and contours + grid

Significant wave height

m

Mean wave height (trough

to crest) of the highest third part of all waves.

area and contours

+ grid

Significant wave mean direction

Dgs true North

Mean direction of the total wave spectrum, the direction the waves are coming from.

grid

Swell

Dgs true North

The symbol shows a combination of swell height and the direction. The arrows point to where the waves are going to.

The larger the arrow, the

higher the swell.

arrows

Swell height

m

Swell consists of wind-generated

waves that are not significantly

affected by the local wind at that time. They have been generated elsewhere or some time

ago.

area and contours + grid

Swell period

s

The time required for two successive swell wave crests to

pass a fixed point, or the time for a single swell wave crest to travel a distance equal to the length of the wave.

area and contours + grid

Swell direction

Dgs true North

Swell direction is the direction

the swells are coming from.

grid

Visibility

nm

The horizontal visibility.

area and contours

+ grid

Wind

Dgs true North,

speed in kts

Contains wind speed and wind direction. The symbol points to where the wind is going to. Each short barb stand for 5 knots, each long barb stands for 10 knots. A pennant means 50 knots.

barbs

Wind gusts

m/s

Highest 3 seconds duration wind speed at 10 metres.

area and contours + grid

Wind speed

m/s

Average wind speed over 10 minutes at a height of 10 metres.

area and contours

Wind wave height

m

Mean wave height (trough

to crest) of the highest third of the wind waves. Wind waves are directly generated and affected by local winds.

area and contours

Wind wave period

s

The time required for two successive wind wave crests to pass a fixed point, or the time for a single wind wave crest to travel a distance equal to the length of the wave.

area and contours

Wind wave direction

Dgs true North

The direction the waves are coming from.

grid

Tidal location elevation

m

The height above (below if value is negative) the level in case there is no tide.

point locations

Tidal location depth

m

The depth of the seabed under the water level.

point locations

b. Historical data

The online services described in point a) provide data for a historic period of time up to 7 days.

Additionally, marine model and forecast data (except tidal locations) can be requested for a historic period of time since January 2017. The data is available as polygon (area) and point (grid) GIS feature classes.

 

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Scope and source of data

The data is used for operational and mission planning as well as risk analysis purposes. It covers the entire Schengen Area and the adjacent third countries and open seas (compare the figure in chapter 7.5, section VI). The data is supplied by a commercial operator which combines data from a variety of commercial and national in-situ sources with meteorological models.

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Technical implementation

The data is supplied via Open GIS Consortium (OGC) web services by the service provider and ingested into Frontex systems. From there it is provided to authorised users. The past model data (from the previous day) is supplied as GIS datasets and loaded into the Frontex database. 

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Conditions of access

Access to online meteorological data is granted to EFS users.

The archive, model-based oceanographic data can be delivered upon request to EUROSUR Fusion Services (EFS) Service Desk.

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