Updated at 7:50 a.m., Thursday, October 4, 2007
Coast Guard helps restore weather buoy now off Oahu
Advertiser Staff
A U.S. Coast Guard cutter and crew recently helped the National Weather Service restore a critical tool used to forecast incoming surf and weather around the Hawaiian Islands.The Coast Guard cutter Kukui recently re-positioned NOAA Weather Buoy 51003 on scene about 205 nautical miles southwest off O'ahu.
The buoy had been adrift since breaking free from its mooring in January. The Kukui's crew put it back on station late last month after repairs were made in Honolulu.
The 6-meter long, 5.7-ton aluminum hull NOMAD buoy is operated by the National Data Buoy Center, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Coast Guard reported that for almost an entire day, Kukui and her crew worked in arduous conditions to anchor Buoy 51003 to the sea floor with a 6,000 pound anchor and steel chain. The buoy is attached to the ocean floor with a synthetic mooring line more than 20,000 feet long.
The sophisticated weather instruments housed on Buoy 51003 measure typical readings like temperature, pressure and wind. However, it is also equipped with specialized sensors that calculate swell height, period and direction. This information is used by the Honolulu NWS office to issue lifesaving high-surf advisories, analyze tropical cyclone formations, and fine-tune daily weather forecasts.
