SINTEF Ocean AS
Description
SINTEF Ocean (SOCEAN) is a multidisciplinary research institute within the SINTEF Group (www.sintef.no), Scandinavia's largest independent, non-profit research company with about 2000 employees doing contract research within a wide range of disciplines, headquarters are in Trondheim (Norway). SINTEF Ocean employs 320 people who undertake about 600 projects per year under the vision "Technology for a better society". SINTEF Ocean is representing technological expertise and industry knowledge along the whole marine and maritime value chain from climate & environment with marine modelling and ocean observations, aquaculture, new bio-marine industry, energy and transport to ships and ocean constructions. We develop technology and knowledge and model-based decision support tools for marine operations and environmental management targeting innovative industrial development and blue growth.
SINTEF Ocean has comprehensive experience and expertise in connecting science and industry, with the ability to seize opportunities to develop and create successful technical solutions that are brought into practical use. With core competence within ocean observation, marine modelling, data analysis, machine learning and environmental risk assessment of marine operations, SINTEF Ocean will contribute with its domain and location knowledge on digital ocean technology in Norwegian waters, specifically Trondheim fjord and the Atlantic Ocean between Ålesund and Trondheim.
SINTEF Ocean has developed the ocean and ecosystem model SINMOD for over 30 years (www.sintef.no/sinmod) which includes data assimilation of observations, has developed the OSPAR standard models for regular and accidental discharges from oil & gas operations for over 20 years (www.sintef.no/dream , www.sintef.no/oscar) and been a major contribution to the related environmental risk assessment methods EIF and ERA Acute (https://www.norskoljeoggass.no/miljo/mer-om-miljo/miljorisiko-og miljorisikoanalyser2/era-akutt). For ocean observations we have been using the SINTEF developed camera system SilCam since 2014 (https://www.sintef.no/silcam/) to study small particles in the ocean with applications from droplet size estimation in subsea oil blowouts or studying marine snow to mapping of spawning products or relating ocean colour to plankton biomass.
Role In Project
Together with our research partner NTNU we will use the full-scale research infrastructure Ocean Space Field Laboratory Trondheim fjord (OceanLab) with its marine observatory, subsea facility, test site for autonomous shipping and aquaculture site to develop, pilot and scale digital twins of the ocean and the infrastructure itself. We will employ machine learning for advanced data analysis of the digital twin results and their transfer to other ocean areas and climates.
SINTEF Ocean will work closely with SINTEF Digital and all partners (esp. WP1-7) on integrating different Digital Twins of ocean areas and ocean activities into the Iliad solution. SINTEF Ocean will contribute by establishing an operational Digital Twin of the Ocean for the Trondheim fjord and the Atlantic Ocean between Ålesund and Trondheim, with a highresolution numerical representation of the ocean conditions in Trondheim fjord and of the marine observatory in OceanLab including plastic pollution scenarios. In WP2 we will focus on observation of small particles (natural or from pollution) that are important for light conditions and primary production. In WP5 we will AI/ML to understand ocean data and improve predictions from sensor data, either for the future, alternative scenarios or for lacking data. We use MaskRCNN for automatic classification of imaging observations.