Sources de donnees meteo-oceaniques pour l'ingenierie marine

To design offshore structures, to prepare operations at sea and unusual transportations on marine routes, to assess safety levels with respect to marine climate, one needs practical data describing the wave, wind and current conditions that may occur. This essential information is unfortunately very seldom readily available exactly for the geographical area of interest. Where to look for it, how to evaluate and choose amongst what one may find, how to get aware of its adequation and drawbacks for the projected use, whom to call for help, as many questions to which this report is expected to bring some answers. Engineers in charge of coastal or offshore projects, logistics managers implied in sea transportations, underwriters, planners for shore equipments should find here some grounds on which to base their decisions. Data collectors should get better ideas of the interest and uses of their work for operational industry purposes. Also, inquiring minds may measure the contribution of novel sensor technologies, such as satellites, and computer simulations to the understanding of seas and oceans.