Safe Ocean
The U.N. “Ocean Science and the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development” conference sites "safe ocean" as:
Human communities are protected from ocean hazards and the safety of operations at sea and on the coast is guaranteed.
With a target to achieve the following:
Improved impact based weather and storm forecasts. Enhanced services to support marine and coastal uses and the blue economy.
For humanity, there’s always been a mythical connection to the ocean; our expansion is a direct result of a desire to voyage beyond the horizon. It has created life by way of trade, commerce and civilization and metaphorically brought us closer.
In conquering an environment of the extreme, risk in all format increases too. To this end the commodification of data and its availability by way of information technology is paramount to human safety. In the North Sea this is not a new endeavor but rather the latest in a long line of historical iteration; that is as old as civilization itself.
A guiding light in the distant horizon, ways of forecasting localized weather, navigational readings & modes of communication and advances in technology & equipment have always been central to the notion of delivering safety at sea.
At sea risk is indiscriminate and as such access to information should be unilateral and unequivocal.
By way of research our group looked at a variety of issues that can be associated to safety in the North Sea. The research culminated in the production of a series of maps that highlight hazardous locations, and activity that aids safety in the area typically for navigation.
These maps show above surface energy production facilities, sub sea energy installations, undersea pipelines, and eutrophication in the North Sea.
These map show key navigational lighthouses and their relative visibility at the scale of the North Sea and shipping separation lanes.
This map is showing the dangerous waves and dangerous sailing directions at scale of the Norwegian coastline.
These maps show the shipping forecast zones, all sub-sea cables and pipelines and a bathymetric scan.
Before these maps were produced the research covered some wider, associated topics:
Language at Sea (click to enlarge):
And further info on reading a lighthouse and traffic separation schemes at sea
(click to enlarge):
As well as the shipping forecast; a specially tailored radio weather broadcast for maritime and coastal water based activities in which the information is communicated in an efficient manner. The main proponent behind this was safety and to reduce loss of life at sea.
The areas are rooted in mystique and the radio broadcast has a rhythm which has become part of British folklore.
Here is a informative video about the history of the shipping forecast