About TideTech

Company Profile

Tidetech is a young and dynamic technology company whose people are recognised as leaders in their field. Our science team is comprised of pre-eminent Government research scientists, who have between them published over 200 peer-approved papers and journals and are held in high regard by the ocean science community.

The company was formed in November 2008 by Dr Roger Proctor and Penny Haire. Their objective was to create a commercial product based on a combination of their complementary expertise in scientific coastal oceanography and electronic navigation systems.

Our experience in the maritime sector and of electronic systems told us that there is a clear and growing demand for oceanographic data and given the continuing and rapid shift to all forms of electronic navigation across multiple platforms and devices, Tidetech was formed to build a resource of data that would be compatible with the systems that mariners use now and ones that will be used in the future.

Dr Roger Flather joined in May 2010 adding a considerable data modelling expertise. Matias Bonet joined in September 2010 leading the data visualisation and integration projects.

The initial two years of company activity have focused on:

•    Research and development work
•    Support (custom data products and analysis) where required
•    Providing a subscription service for recreational users
•    Developing specialist services for the shipping industry, including voyage optimisation and custom data supply.

Our commercial customers include shipping companies, research and exploration companies, towing operators and deep sea fishing companies. 

Our recreational customers include Americas Cup Teams, Volvo Ocean Race Teams and Olympic Sailing Teams, plus a range of elite yacht racing teams from around the world.  

Tidetech’s long-term aim is to make the high-quality data accessible to as wide a range of users as possible and to continue to be the market leader in providing oceanographic data and consultancy to all sectors, whether commercial or recreational. 

Our People:

Dr Roger Proctor, BSc (Maths), PhD (Physical Oceanography), Director

Research Scientist at the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory (now National Oceanography Centre) UK between 1979 and 2008. Research specialist in coastal oceanography; published over 70 peer-reviewed journal papers and more than 100 other publications.

Expertise in:

• Tide and storm surge modelling, research studies and development of operational forecast systems.

• Three-dimensional hydrodynamic modelling, biogeochemical modelling, bio-physical interactions. Originator of POLCOMS (Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory Coastal Ocean Modelling System), a 3-dimensional modelling system consisting of interacting modules resolving barotropic and baroclinic hydrodynamics, surface wind waves, sediment transport, biogeochemical processes, and sea ice. Provided the UK Meteorological Office with 3-dimensional operational forecast model for the Northwest European Shelf and the world’s first operational ecosystem forecasting model.

• Elite sailing support – oceanographic consultant to the British Olympic Sailing Team in 1988 (Pusan, S Korea), 1992 (Barcelona), 1996 (Atlanta), 2000 (Sydney) 2004 (Athens), 2008 (Qingdao). Development of tidal models and current models as required; planning and direction of field measurement programs, including small boat surveys; analysis of field data; interpretation seminars for sailors and coaches; development of digital tidal/current atlases for day-to-day strategy. Developer of tidal stream atlas for the Solent region (UK) for the RYA Admirals Cup challenge (1989).

• Coastal observing systems – from 2000-2007 leader of POL research program ‘model and observation systems for coastal seas’. Initiated coastal observing system in Liverpool Bay (http://coastobs.pol.ac.uk), consisting of meteorological observations, ship surveys, fixed moorings, ships of opportunity, HF coastal radar, X-band coastal radar, tide gauge network, satellite remote sensing. Experience in leading ship surveys; deploying moorings; equipping ships of opportunity with surface sensors; analysing HF and X-band radar signals; analysing ADCP, other current meter data; analysing tide gauge data; analysing remote sensing data.

• Applications of particle-tracking (individual based models) for oil spill prediction, search and rescue, fish larvae recruitment.

• Applications of tidal models to palaeo-oceanography; development of global and regional tidal models and interpretation of a range of epochs between 300My BP and the present.

• Data management, data integration – from 2008-present Director of Information Infrastructure for the AUD$150m Australian Integrated Marine Observing System (www.imos.org.au) , responsible for the management, discovery of, and access to, a comprehensive suite of measurement platforms and sensors in the oceans and seas around Australia.

Dr Roger Flather, Bsc (Maths), PhD (Physical Oceanography)

A pioneer in coastal oceanography, Dr Flather is considered by his peers to be a pre-eminent research scientist in the field of tidal/surge modelling. He was responsible for operational tide/surge forecast modelling in the UK for 30 years, including development of the UK Government's storm surge model, which informs decisions on whether to raise or lower the Thames Barrier in London.
Research Scientist at the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory (now National Oceanography Centre), Liverpool, UK between 1974 and 2006. Research specialist in coastal oceanography; published over 90 peer-reviewed journal papers and more than 100 other publications.

Expertise in:

• Tide and storm surge modelling – developer of the first operational numerical model-based tide-surge forecast systems in the UK in 1978.

• Tide modelling – applications in regions with different tidal phenomena, e.g. west coast USA / Canada; NW European shelf; Indian Ocean

• Tropical cyclone modelling – Bay of Bengal cyclone warning system and monsoon flood forecasting systems  

• Prediction of sea level rise under climate change scenarios

• Application of statistical methods for predicting extreme sea level rise return periods

• Development of numerical methods for ocean models – originator of the ‘Flather’ radiation boundary condition for limited area models-in universal use by ocean modellers worldwide; developer of wetting and drying methods for inter-tidal regions

- see publications by Dr Flather

Matias Bonet
Technical Engineering in computing systems, Senior Engineering in computer systems, PhD in Computer Science (In progress).

• Specialist on Oceanographic Data Management at IMEDEA (Instituto Mediterraneo de Estudios Avanzados, Majorca, Spain) from 2007 to 2009. (http://imedea.uib-csic.es/tmoos).

• Responsibility for Oceanographic Data Management at OceanBit from 2009 to 2010.

• Freelance Project, Data management of 24 real-time meteorological stations “Servei de automatització de la gestió de dades de les estacions meteorològiques de la conselleria de medi ambient”, Balearic Environmental Agency, 2010.

• Specialist data analyst, Australian Integrated Marine Observing System, 2010.

Expertise in:

• Computing:Programming languages: Java, Python, PHP, SQL, PHP, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, C, C++, ADA, Java, JSP, XML, Perl, Matlab. 

• Operative systems: Linux, Windows, Mac .

• Databases: PostGIS, MySQL, Oracle.

• Web Servers: Apache 1.x/2. Apache TomCAT.

• Sensor networks: Field bus (Protocolo CAN), Grafcets, real time operative systems (Micro-Cos-II), Embedded Systems. Wireless sensor networks (ZigBee), Sensor Observation Service.
  

• Oceanographic software: formats NetCDF/GRIB/HDF, javaNetCDF, NCML, THREDDS, RAMADDA, IDV, LAS (Live Access Server), DAPPER, ncBrowsers, ODV.

• Sailing: Matias is a world-class match racing sailor and has competed in Grade 1 events

Penny Haire, Director

Penny has 20+ yrs experience as a skipper and navigator with specialist knowledge of the theory and practice of electronic navigation and yacht racing performance systems.

She is currently the Chief Examiner and Instructor for the RYA/Yachting Australia National Yacht Training Programme. Previously she was Chief Instructor for the RYA Yachtmaster scheme based in Hamble UK.

Penny’s role is the intermediary between the science world and the sailing world, understanding the requirements of the sailing community and translating this into the requirements for scientific information.

-see publications by Penny Haire