Ocean sensors deployed to boost weather forecasts
Sofar Ocean, a company that makes instruments that collect vital ocean data, known as the Spotter, has spread enough of these sensors to give them a glimpse into half of the world’s oceans, the company has announced.
By the end of 2021, it hopes to cover all the oceans.
There already are more than 1,000 low-cost, remotely controlled Spotter coastal and open ocean drifter buoys deployed, and the data coming from them goes into a proprietary marine weather prediction model and also can be used to help improve models run by others, including governments.
Although there aremany of them, the drifter buoys that move along with ocean currents are not as sophisticated as many more expensive government-deployed sensors, such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s network of buoys.
However, the company provides an example of what the private sector increasingly is capable of doing on land, sea, air and in space. Namely, gathering data, processing it and selling it to paying customers as well as providing it to government agencies.
NOAA already is working with private sector satellite companies to help improve the accuracy of its weather forecast models.
Sofar Ocean CEO Tim Janssen said the company is rooted in “the premise that ocean data is inherently valuable.”
He added, “Clearly from an environmental perspective that’s the case.
If we can show that we can actually help industries perform better, save them money by collecting more ocean data that means that the paradigm of ocean sensing is going to change fundamentally.”
Each Sofar Ocean drifter buoy provides real-time wave, wind, temperature and ocean current information, and can be deployed by hand aboard a ship.
With the company currently covering the Pacific Ocean, Janssen said that if its network expands over the entire planet, the data collected will support improved weather forecasts that help ship captains determine whether to reroute their vessel around stormy seas. And it also will aid research that may be useful for climate scientists studying how the oceans are responding to global warming.
One current customer of the Sofar platform, which provides real-time data from the instrument network and information from an in-house computer model, is the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which invests in next-generation technology that could have applications that benefit the military.
The World Meteorological Organization also is incorporating Sofar Ocean’s data, along with about 70 universities.