Wave Rider Buoy Deployed For Improve Forecasts of Indian Ocean Islands

A Wave Rider Buoy was Deployed off Seychelles by India for Improved Ocean State Forecasts for The Indian Ocean Islands. The buoy is deployed in coordination with RIMES and the Seychelles National Meteorological Services (SNMS). 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.

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.