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PROVIDING REAL-TIME DATA FROM THE WORLD’S OCEANS
Using metocean buoys in the open sea is an efficient and cost-effective method of gathering meteorological data. Oceanographic and water quality parameters can also be measured for climatological studies. Fugro’s metocean buoys are collecting and transmitting data in real-time for both new and well-established projects
Polarbuoy Project
Funded by the Norwegian Research Council and led by the Institute of Marine Research in collaboration with the University of Bergen and the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, the Polarbuoy project began in 2010. At the heart of the project is a Fugro Wavescan buoy from which data from the ocean and atmosphere are collected and transmitted in real-time via satellite. The buoy measures temperature, salinity and currents from the surface to the sea floor as well as chlorophyll, oxygen, pH and CO2 in the upper water layers. The data is displayed on the Institute of Marine Research website (
http://talos.nodc.no:8080/stasjonm/
view.html?lang=en) where it offers unrestricted access and easy downloading in a number of formats.
Using buoy measurements for collecting meteorological data is an efficient solution and much more cost-effective than the network of weather ships which was established in the North Atlantic after the Second World War. Thirteen vessels were located at stations named by the letters A to M and weather Station M, located in the Norwegian Sea (at 66°N, 2°E), in the core of the North Atlantic Current, was the weather ship MS Polarfront.
The annual operating cost of MS Polarfront was US$3.7 million, which represented a considerable proportion of the running expenses for all of Norway’s meteorological observations. The removal of the weather ships began in the 1970s and the vessel at Station M was the last to be decommissioned, in December 2009. The installation of the Wavescan buoy at Station M brought significant savings with the cost of operating a buoy station being about US$100,000 per year. “The Wavescan buoy continued to operate despite wave heights of over 12 metres during the very first storm it encountered. We’re very satisfied with the data collected by the Polarbuoy.” - Øystein Skagseth, Project Manager, Institute of Marine Research
Integrated European Network
Station M is now one of nine observatories which form an integrated network in deep-ocean areas of Europe. Launched in April 2008, the EuroSITES project aims to bring a greater understanding of the impact of the changes in the Earth and its oceans through the development of more sophisticated sensors which will measure more complex properties of the oceans.
Worldwide Operations
The number of metocean buoys around the world is still relatively small but the data from these networks continue to supersede weather ship data. The Indian National Data Buoy Programme is thought to be the largest national programme with deep ocean directional buoys used as standard. Other significant networks include the NOAA-NDBC buoys in the USA (covering its east and west coasts, the Gulf of Mexico and the Hawaiian Islands) and a more recent Canadian network. Additionally there are Japanese ODAS buoys in the Pacific, Sea of Japan and East China Sea; national networks in Spain, Greece, France and Italy; the Norwegian network in the Barents Sea; Iceland and Ireland.
Future Developments
Adopting a programme of continuous upgrades, Fugro OCEANOR upgrades its buoys to include new sensors and technology and an all- new buoy concept measures the wind profile using LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging). Potential applications include obtaining data for design and operation of wind farms and collecting near surface wind profiles which can be assimilated into weather forecasting models. Data from this new buoy is to be transferred to the Norwegian Meteorological Institute and then distributed via the Global Telecommunications System - the integrated network which connects meteorological telecommunication centres.
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