Offshore staff
HOUSTON – ION Geophysical Corp. (NYSE:IO) is showing its new Narwhal integrated ice management system at the 2013 SEG Annual Meeting. The tool is designed to improve seismic data acquisition and drilling operations in or near offshore ice conditions.
Narwhal is designed to gather, monitor, and analyse data from a number of sources including satellites, vector ice charts, radar, direct observation, metocean conditions, etc. to forecast weather and ice movement. The ability to track, forecast, and monitor ice conditions and movements can extend the operations window and minimize downtime while improving safety and environmental protection.
“Narwhal extends ION’s Orca and Gator II nav systems,” said Chris Usher, ION executive vice president and COO of GeoScience. “It automates the tasks and uses whatever information is available in the right place for informed decisions. It monitors ice and alerts of intrusion into an alarm zone.”
“One of the unique aspects of Narwhal is the way it manages ‘trafficability’ – the ability to use all of the ice information to define go/no-go areas, plan routes, optimize vessel operations, and identify escape routes – in multi-vessel and platform operations,” said Des Flynn, VP of Ion’s Concept Systems group.
9/24/13