The suspected vandalism of a wave rider buoy (WRB) off the Kollam coast earlier this week has snapped critical data feed for weather forecast and early warning of tsunami, storm surges, and swell waves.
Scientists at the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad, and the National Centre for Earth Science Studies (NCESS) here are frantically trying to reinstall the unit used for continuous monitoring of ocean conditions along the south-west coast of India.
On Tuesday, the Coast Guard had recovered the buoy that was found drifting at sea after being severed from its mooring at Neendakara. “We are working closely with INCOIS to redeploy the WRB in the shortest time possible,” T.N. Prakash, director, NCESS, told The Hindu .
The buoy is one of the two WRBs deployed off the Kerala coast under a project of the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences for monitoring and collection of wave data. The second one is located off the Kozhikode coast.
The buoys are used to generate real-time information on wave height, wave length, and wind direction. The inputs are transmitted to INCOIS through high-frequency units, satellite (INSAT), and mobile phones and used for validation of the daily ocean state forecast (OSF) issued by the Centre for the benefit of fishermen venturing out to sea.
The data are also used by INCOIS for accurate prediction of tsunami, storm surges, swell waves, and other abnormal conditions.
The WRB installed off Valiathura in Thiruvananthapuram in 2011 was later shifted to the Kollam coast.
“Efforts are on to reinstall the WRB in time to capture data during the perigean high tide on December 18,” Dr. Prakash said. “The WRB is strongly moored to the seabed with a rubber cord and a heavy-duty chain and there is very little chance that it could have drifted apart unless deliberately cut loose.” A spare buoy was also being readied for deployment.
Meanwhile, the NCESS and INCOIS are gearing up to establish a third WRB off the coast of Colachel in Tamil Nadu to enlarge the data feed network. Another buoy to monitor ocean current is also to be deployed soon off Kollam or Kozhikode.
