Equipment damage hits weather forecast services

Vandals cut wave rider buoy while huge waves damage monitoring facility

A Coast Guard vessel recovering the wave rider buoy from the sea off Vizhinjam.​

Two critical facilities used for continuous monitoring of weather and ocean conditions along the southwest coast of India have been damaged, leaving scientists starved of data for weather forecast and early warning of tsunami, storm surges, and swell waves.

While vandals are suspected to have cut a wave rider buoy (WRB) from its moorings off the Kollam coast last week, huge waves damaged a coastal monitoring and forecast facility at Valiathura here on Wednesday. Both the facilities were installed by the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) and the National Centre for Earth Science Studies (NCESS).

On Wednesday, the buoy was recovered by the Coast Guard off the Vizhinjam coast after an earlier attempt had to be aborted owing to the rough sea and inclement weather conditions. The equipment was handed over to scientists at the Vizhinjam harbour.

L. Sheela Nair, Scientist, NCESS, said the damage to the WRB was yet to be assessed. The buoy at Kollam is one of the three WRBs deployed under a project of the Ministry of Earth Sciences. The other two are located off Kozhikode and Colachel.

The buoys are used to generate real-time information on wave height, wave length, and wind direction and validate the daily ocean state forecast (OSF) issued by INCOIS for the benefit of fishermen venturing out to sea. The data are also used for accurate prediction of tsunami, storm surges, swell waves, and other abnormal conditions.

Dr. Sheela said the priority would be to restore the buoy at Kollam to its position as soon as possible. She added that the data feed from the other two units would keep the system running.

Scientists point out that the WRB is strongly moored to the seabed with a rubber cord and a heavy-duty chain and there was very little chance that it could have drifted apart unless deliberately cut loose.

Meanwhile, the equipment at the coastal monitoring station at Valiathura was shifted with the help of the Fire and Rescue Services after high waves began pounding the coast since Monday.

“We began salvage operations after the basement of the building was exposed and one of the rooms suffered damage. The cameras and computers have been removed. However, the weather station is still functioning,” Dr. Sheela said.