The Naval Service and meteorology

riffmongous

Just something I was thinking about lately, how do they handle weather forecasting and measurements, at all levels?

Are there specialists on board each ship, a special group at base? I would presume most cadets would receive a basic training in observation and reading weather charts as it's required for sailing, but does it go much further beyond that into people being able to make their own forecasts and run models themselves? How much of a coooperation with Met Eireann is there? Do the ships collect observations themselves?

Sorry for all the questions (I have many more too ) but I'm a meteorologist myself and curious as to how it works.

Jawgap

Presumably, in addition to receiving forecasts and met data, they listen to the shipping forecast

http://www.met.ie/news/display.asp?ID=289

Ireland’s Voluntary Observing fleet includes ships from Irish Ferries, the Commissioners of Irish Lights and the Irish Naval Service. These ships are visited regularly to check and install equipment. The Irish Buoy Network was established in 2000 and we now have five buoys operating around the coast of Ireland. The M2 is located 20 miles off Howth Head, the M3 is 30 miles off Mizen Head, the M4 is 45 miles off Rossan Point, the M5 is 30 miles off Hook Head and the M6 is 210 miles off Slyne Head. The procurement, deployment and annual servicing of the buoys is carried out by The Marine Institute. The waters around Ireland can be very hostile during the winter and on occasion some of the buoys break their moorings and come adrift. A quick recovery of the buoy is necessary to reduce the navigational hazard and to ensure that the buoy is not damaged by landing ashore.

Tabnabs

I'd imagine it's similar to the civilian side, they make regular observations and note it in the deck log, if they have weather reporting capabilities (i.e. additional instrumentation) then they carry out that function too, and record and send back observations. They will receive weather updates from their chosen provider, usually though email. God be with the days you had to stand beside the weather fax and tune the signal to get a good printout from the USA or UK met services.

They wouldn't have the training (or the need) to make their own forecasts, a black art in itself.

riffmongous

Jawgap wrote: »

Presumably, in addition to receiving forecasts and met data, they listen to the shipping forecast

http://www.met.ie/news/display.asp?ID=289

That sort of implies that the ME take care of all the equipment, interesting.

Tabnabs wrote: »

I'd imagine it's similar to the civilian side, they make regular observations and note it in the deck log, if they have weather reporting capabilities (i.e. additional instrumentation) then they carry out that function too, and record and send back observations. They will receive weather updates from their chosen provider, usually though email. God be with the days you had to stand beside the weather fax and tune the signal to get a good printout from the USA or UK met services.

They wouldn't have the training (or the need) to make their own forecasts, a black art in itself.

Well the training is an interesting thing I guess, I thought it possible to have a cooperation with ME or maybe one of the oceanography universities to train some people. Need is another thing I guess but as a meteorologist I can always see a need for better forecasts

Jawgap

According to the Dept of Defence there's a Service Level Agreement between the NS and ME " regarding the exchange of meteorological data between the Naval Service and Met Éireann."

FOI it I'd say all the answers will be there!

mikeym

http://www.bbc.com/weather/coast_and_sea/shipping_forecast

and

http://www.met.ie/forecasts/sea-area.asp