About
A science-based
ocean modelling consultancy.
Ocean Motion Analytics specialises in building and running regional to hyper-local ocean models in service of research, ports and harbours, offshore energy, coastal engineering, maritime operations, and aquaculture.
Why we exist
Research-grade ocean models, within reach.
With recent advances in cloud computing and machine learning, the modelling workflows that drive academic research and national operational ocean forecasts can now be used and tailored for industry — a port, a plant, or a coastal site — at a price that makes sense for individual operators.
Industry has its own established modelling tools, and we work with those too. The aim isn't to displace what already works for engineering teams — it's to bring research-grade ocean modelling within reach of the day-to-day decisions that have always needed it.
The founder
Coastal engineer, physical oceanographer.
Ocean Motion Analytics is the formal home of a coastal and ocean modelling practice that has been running, in various forms, for nearly two decades. Its founder, Giles Fearon, started out as a coastal engineer in 2007 at PRDW in Cape Town, where he specialised in coastal modelling for port engineering, coastal flooding, and environmental impact assessments before moving into physical oceanography from 2017 through a PhD at the University of Cape Town.
Since then he has worked at the intersection of the two disciplines. At SAEON he has been the technical lead on hindcast and forecast development for South Africa's National Oceans and Coastal Information Management System (OCIMS). Alongside the institutional work, an independent ocean modelling consultancy has run continuously since 2017. Recent and ongoing clients include Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, ADEC, Ayesa, WorleyParsons, PRDW, WildTrust, and SANCCOB, on work spanning hydrodynamic modelling of coral reef systems, nutrient loading, brine dispersion, tropical cyclone risk, and the fate of oil spills. Ocean Motion Analytics is the next step for that practice.
Peer-reviewed work in physical oceanography, coastal processes, operational forecasting, and oil-spill modelling. Full list → ORCID