Op-Ed: Extreme Maritime Weather Symposium— unprecedented

The Voluntary Observing Ships scheme (VOS).

By Roberta Weisbrod, Executive Director of the Worldwide Ferry Safety Association

“Unprecedented” was the word most frequently used at the Extreme Maritime Weather Symposium held in London September 22-26.  Unprecedented was used to describe the explosively rapid intensification of weather systems; the extraordinary heat content of the ocean waters; the severity, scale, and frequency of storms; and the intensity of polar warming, thawing the Arctic’s permafrost, releasing methane, the very potent greenhouse gas.

“Bridging the Knowledge Gap Towards Safer Shipping, was the stated goal by the symposium hosts, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the International Maritime Organization. In many respects they are well on their way to success on three of the key agenda items (but not the fourth).  (1) The need for collaboration between meteorologists, shipping companies, and governments was a recurring theme throughout the symposium. The several hundred people, from the maritime and meteorological sectors with nationals from all the continents, committed to enhance close working together with regular regional meetings to advance the agenda items. (2) Efforts were described for better delivery of weather information to mariners—by making weather information clearer, particularly with graphic displays, in such a manner as to assist in decision-making  (3) Another important theme discussed was the need to improve mariner understanding of weather. The symposium highlighted efforts to enhance the weather training of mariners, with new certification requirements for seafarers to better understand weather patterns and safety protocols. Programs like the Indonesia Met Service, BMKG’s “Weather Field School for Fishers” are vital for training small vessel operators to interpret weather data and respond to changes in real-time. This program is being expanded to ferry operators, to gain critical weather knowledge.

But there is one critical gap that many speakers, and many participants, highlighted—the lack of adequate vessel-based maritime weather data. Vessel-based weather station data is needed to complement weather buoys data—and to correct the deficiencies of satellites which provide broad trends but are insufficient for what is happening in local areas on the oceans, the squalls and dangerous local storms, and the changes in temperature and pressure and wind speed that are harbingers of bigger systems. These vessel-based or in situ weather observations are generated by ships that are part of the Voluntary Observing Ships scheme (VOS).

The VOS feeds weather data to the global weather models. But only 3% of the vessels that could provide weather information, actually do so. This is the same anemic percentage as five years ago despite the urgent need for the data. Why so low? The answer may be historical. The VOS started 171 years ago with manual reporting by crew four times a day. This commitment of manual observations would be onerous to modern vessels which don’t have excess crew with excess time on their hands. However in recent years more, 75%, of the VOS participants are using automated weather stations so there is no time and staff penalty. The cost is zero for installation and operation. The ease and lack of barrier needs to become widely known.

Why don’t fleet owners join this effort that is in their self-interest, that if were more robust would improve the commercial routing services that depend upon VOS output?  Many fleets use vessel routing services – some of which, like Weathernews (just acquired by AEM) and Ocean Sync and others, require their customers to install automated weather stations on their vessels. Their customers could elect to join VOS as well.  An alternative that fleets might find to their direct benefit is to use WxAIS—Automated Weather Stations connected to AIS which text out weather and locational information to vessels in VHF range—enabling vessels to exchange real-time weather and location data, providing immediate awareness of nearby severe weather conditions. The WxAIS can be integrated into the VOS system and feed the same global weather model.

What could break the deadlock?  (1) The wholesale approach: Reach out to all the routing companies; to trade associations; to leaders in the maritime sector like Maersk, and have them commit to providing weather data.  They have all committed to decarbonization efforts—but those efforts will take decades to at least partially reverse carbon emissions and allow the seas to cool.  Who will be responsible to reach out to the big players and make the ocean weather ready for all?

(2) The retail approach.  The VOS map shows that a huge swath of the world’s ocean, the South Pacific, has obviously sparse VOS readings.  Representatives from Chile, Indonesia and the Worldwide Ferry Safety Association realized they could locate vessels that traverse the South Pacific, (thanks to the vessels’ AIS tracks), and reach out to them encouraging their participating in VOS or WxAIS.

For those fleets and vessels who want to join the VOS, it’s free and easy via the national meteorological service.  For those who want to join WxAIS, similarly feasible, reach out to the author or to Dr. Gregory Johnson at SERCO. 

Roberta Weisbrod is the Executive Director of the Worldwide Ferry Safety Association. Over the past several years she has co-led the Maritime Weather Project with co-lead Aleik Nurwahyudy, Indonesia National Transportation Safety Committee and ITS Surabaya, with team members Bayu Edo Pratama, Indonesia Met Service and University of Brest, Dr. Catherine Lawson University at Albany, NY, and Dr. Gregory Johns at SERCO.