OS-IS a new method for the sea waves monitoring

The European project 'Wind, Ports, and Sea' (VPM), funded by the European Cross-border Programme 'Italy-France Maritime 2007-2013', aims to improve the safety conditions and to reduce the hazards by the development of a coupled monitoring and forecast system of the sea-state outside the main harbors of the Northern Tyrrhenian and Ligurian Seas. In particular, the sea and wind forecasts are evaluated by using a numerical model specifically implemented for this project and the monitoring system is made of measuring stations installed on the coast near the harbor areas. The Port Authority of La Spezia has implemented a pilot project based on a new method, called OS-IS (Ocean Seismic-Integrated Solution, [1]), for the inland remote monitoring of the sea. The key advantage of OS-IS is that is installed inland, inside a building, and there are no parts in the sea. The core elements of the system are high sensitivity accelerometers and specifically developed algorithms for the evaluation of the sea state using the micro-seismic signals on the basis of mathematical models and fitting calibration factors. After more than one year since the first installation, OS-IS has shown a high level of reliability and the validity of the measurements has been demonstrated by comparison with those of the buoys. In the following, the installed systems will be shortly described and compared with the conventional methods.