In the iOS Offshore App Professional version users have access to the best ocean data in the form of Sea Surface Temperature and Ocean and Tidal currents from 3 different sources.

Select ocean data from the main menu, Move your green start waypoint and red destination waypoint to your desired locations, the same as for the other tools. This will automatically select an area around your route to get the data. Or you can tap and drag the corners of the white box to set your own download area. The app has a limit on the area you can download for currents and SST, ensure you stay inside this max size.

Then tap the Download symbol from the top right.

In the download settings box select Enable Ocean data to be on in the slider box.

Then tap ocean data preferences

For SST on iOS we use 4km resolution to cover a larger area. The SST data can be used to validate which ocean current forecast is showing the most accurate data.

You can select from the 3 different Ocean and Tidal currents models.

In the iOS version Tidal Currents are from the global model only.

Hycom Global Currents model, this is the ocean current forecast driven by the GFS forecast. Hycom is available in 2 time periods, 24 hours and 7 days.

Mercator Global currents model, this is the ocean current forecast driven by data from ECMWF.

Once you have made your selections tap ‘back’ to go to the Downloads settings box. Next turn on Standard weather routing to download as this can overlay on the currents and SST data.

Now tap “continue to download”.

Then "Download All".

The GRIB files will generally be too large for low bandwidth satellite & ssb connections (unless you control the area and model to a very small area). If turned on the weather routing will contain the current data for the route using the Mercator Ocean Currents or High resolution tides if available.

Once downloaded. Tap "Close", you will see the weather routing tables, you can view these or go to the “map” then Ocean data from the main menu to start viewing your Ocean Data.

You will see the Mercator Ocean Currents or High resolution tides displayed with your weather routing. Zoom to your desired level and then press play. On the animation control you can control the animation speed with the pop up control box. You can pause and rewind or skip with the animation controls. Alternatively, slide the blue circle or tap on the time slider at your desired time. The boats will move along the route in time with the animation of the Ocean data.

We can also select the different models by clicking on the model menu. Next we can validate the model data by comparing it to the SST. Click on Sea Temp it may take a few seconds to load. You can compare the temperature differences in relation to current flows. The currents model that most closely matches the sst data is the most accurate currents model for this forecast run. The SST does not animate, as it is an observation not a forecast.

If you wish to view the Ocean currents and SST without the weather routing overlaid, tap on the Show Route button, to remove the route and view just the currents and SST data.

For further explanation please watch the video above or click here for more information.