SACRAMENTO, CA, Oct. 16, 2007 -- All Weather Inc. (AWI), a leading manufacturer of weather information systems and meteorological sensors, has completed installation of its advanced Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS) on Exxon Mobil Corporation's Platform Harmony offshore oil platform to support helicopter flights to and from the platform.
"Keeping a close eye on the weather is critical to offshore oil operations," said Bernard Kirby, Vice President of AWI. "In addition to the safety concerns with landing on rigs in bad weather, there are financial implications as well. The cost of missions aborted due to bad weather can be high, and reliable weather information can go a long way toward negating those costs."
The AWOS, developed by AWI, is an unmanned system that measures current weather conditions at the Harmony oil platform in California's Santa Barbara Channel. The weather data gathered by the AWOS is displayed on-site, as well as broadcast to helicopter pilots en route to and from the platform.
An ongoing and accurate picture of both current weather conditions and longer term weather trends at the platform is available around the clock, including measurements of wind speed and direction, temperature, humidity, rainfall, and barometric pressure.
The offshore AWOS is also outfitted with AWI's Laser Ceilometer, which uses laser pulses to "see" cloud cover. Using sophisticated software algorithms, the AWI ceilometer is able to determine the height and depth of up to three layers of clouds.
A Dual-Technology Visibility Sensor monitors visibility at the platform, alerting pilots and platform personnel to hazardous visibility conditions, such as the dense fog common along California's coast.
All Weather Inc. (AWI) is a leading developer of high accuracy, high dependability weather information systems that help users minimize risks in an unpredictable world.
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