Date:
7 March 1997

Name of centre:
Farvandsvæsenet, Oceanografisk Tjeneste (OT)
(Royal Danish Administration of Navigation and Hydrography, Oceanographic Department)

Full address:
Overgaden o. Vandet 62 B

Postboks 1919
DK-1023 Copenhagen K

Communications:
Telephone: +45 32 68 95 00
Telefax: +45 321 57 43 41
Electronic Mail (to contact person): pbn@fomfrv.dk

Contact person:
Palle Bo Nielsen

Background and role:
OT was formed as a unit within FarvandsvæFsenet in 1990. The principal role of OT is to collect oceanographic data in Danish, Faroese and Greenlandic waters and supply a variety of mariners (ranging from ships masters, hydrographic surveyers to private individuals), scientists and engineers with the data in real time mode and derived data products as well to ensure navigation safety and to support programmes dealing with marine research and construction works.

National activities:

• Collection of oceanographic data from an observation network in Denmark, Faroe Islands and Greenland
• Dissemination of oceanographic data in real time as a service to mariners
• Dissemination of forecasts of oceanographic variables
• Production of official tide tables ofr Denmark, Faroe Islands and Greenland
• Quality assurrance and archival of the data
• Support marine activities with raw data and derived data products

International activities:

• Data and information exchange
• Danish representation in a variety of organisations such as EuroGOOS, SeaNet, HELCOM, North Sea Hydrographical Committee and ICES
• Participation in working groups on collection, quality assurrance, archival and dissemination of oceanographic data. Participation in working groups on tidal matters

Plans for new activities:

• Initiation of a telefax service for near real time oceanographic data
• Extension of the observation network
• Configuration of selected oceanographic stations withOperation of wave recorders wave recorders
• Change of data base system to Oracle
• Improvement of the real time data dissemination and the voice response sevice with forecasts based on a hydrodynamic model
• Making an oil drift model operational
• Making a wave model operational
• Making a model of the Sound operational

Data/Information products:

• Near real time raw oceanographic data
• Voice response service
• Quality assured oceanographic data
• Derived data products: tide tables, graphical presentations, statistics
• Other data products on request

General description of data bank:
A relational data base on a VAX mainframe computer.

Data holdings (digital):

• Sea level time series
• Current speed and direction time series
• Sea temperature and salinity time series
• Wind speed and direction time series
• Sea temperature and salinity profiles (not in the data base yet)

Publications:

• Annual reports
• Quarterly reports
• Tide Tables

Exchange media:

Diskettes
Internet/FTP