Overview
EN ISO 35106:2019 (ISO 35106:2017) - titled Petroleum and natural gas industries - Arctic operations - Metocean, ice and seabed data - is a CEN-endorsed European standard that specifies requirements and gives recommendations for the collection, analysis and presentation of physical environmental data used in Arctic and cold-region petroleum and natural gas activities. The standard covers metocean data (meteorology and oceanography), sea-ice and iceberg information, seabed and bathymetry, and related atmospheric and temperature parameters required for offshore design and operations planning in environments with low temperatures, sea ice, glaciers, icing, permafrost and rapidly changing weather.
Key Topics and Requirements
EN ISO 35106:2019 provides structured guidance and technical requirements across the following areas (as reflected in the standard’s contents):
- General requirements: selection of parameters, data sources, monitoring, data storage, expertise, and the relationship with other offshore design standards.
- Data characteristics: region of interest, criticality, variability, statistical treatment, forecasting, weather windows and climatic trends.
- Metocean parameters: wind (including polar phenomena), waves (including wave-ice interactions), currents (and drift prediction), tides and storm surges.
- Thermal and atmospheric data: air and sea temperature, visibility, cloud ceiling, precipitation, daylight considerations.
- Sea ice and iceberg data: seasonal behaviour, coverage, thickness, drift/movement - with separate guidance for operations planning, during operations and design considerations.
- Seabed and bathymetry: water depth, seabed data requirements and mapping relevant to anchoring, moorings and subsea operations.
The standard states requirements and recommendations rather than prescriptive techniques, and can be applied to a range of existing and new design concepts - noting that not all data needs may be covered for every novel operation.
Applications and Who Uses It
EN ISO 35106:2019 is intended for practitioners involved in Arctic and cold-region offshore activities, including:
- Offshore and structural design engineers performing environmental load and risk assessments
- Petroleum and natural gas operators planning field development, drilling, installation and decommissioning in cold regions
- Metocean scientists and data providers responsible for measurement campaigns, data analysis and forecasting
- Environmental and geotechnical consultants assessing seabed, permafrost and ice-related hazards
- Regulators and project managers establishing data standards and operational envelopes
Typical applications include metocean campaign planning, environmental data reporting for platform and subsea design, ice- and iceberg-drift forecasting, weather-window specification for marine operations, and long-term climatic trend assessments for risk management.
Related Standards
- ISO 19901-1 and ISO 19906 (referenced in EN ISO 35106), which address offshore structure design and Arctic offshore structures - EN ISO 35106 clarifies the metocean, ice and seabed data inputs that support those design standards.
Keywords: EN ISO 35106:2019, ISO 35106:2017, metocean data, sea ice data, seabed data, Arctic operations, petroleum and natural gas, offshore design, cold regions.
