INVC NEWS
New Delhi,
As a part of the ‘Integrated Ocean Information System’ for the Indian Ocean Countries Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad successfully deployed a Wave Rider Buoy, 27 Nautical Miles off a fishing harbour at Frigate Island, Seychelles. This is part of the technical cooperation umbrella of the Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System for Africa and Asia (RIMES), for which India represented by Dr M. Rajeevan, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences is serving as Chair of its Executive Council. It is a follow up to the ESSO-INCOIS’ Ocean State Forecasting System for Seychelles and Sri Lanka inaugurated by the Minister for Science and Technology, Dr. Harsh Vardhan in July last year in Delhi on the occasion of the 2nd RIMES Ministerial Conference. Ocean state forecasts are imperative for safe navigation and operations at sea.
The buoy deployment was accomplished in coordination with RIMES and the Seychelles National Meteorological Services (SNMS).
To ensure the buoy safety and easy retrieval, a ‘Buoy drift alert system’ has also been developed and implemented. All concerned officials from SNMS, INCOIS and RIMES, will receive the alert, in case the buoy drifts more that 200 metres from its position.
The ocean data collected will be useful not only to validate the Wave and Sea Surface Temperature (SST) forecasts from INCOIS for the oceanic regions surrounding Seychelles, in real time but also to fine tune the forecasts further. In addition, the data from this buoy data will be analyzed daily to track high swell events originating from the Southern Ocean and arriving at the southwest coast of India. These observations will help in further strengthening and enhancing our capability to predict the occasional High Wave events (Kallakadal) that often attacks the Kerala coast causing damages to coastal villages and fishing boats.
