Weather ship
A weather ship or weather observation ship is a fixed-station ship on the ocean that is equipped with meteorological measuring instruments . Meteorological observations are made on this throughout.
In the years 1900 to 1906, the German meteorologist Peter Polis made several business trips to the office for weather services in the Department of Agriculture of the American government in Washington, DC , which were also research trips for him. Based on the experience he gained, he was instrumental in promoting international cooperation to set up a wireless telegraphic measuring network with the help of selected merchant or mail ships and thus for multiple daily and fast weather forecasts. He underpinned this during his various crossings with numerous test runs, in which up to nine ships were involved in some cases, as well as with detailed research reports on the current sea weather conditions.
In 1941 the Allies set up a network of eleven stationary weather ship stations in the North Atlantic, which, in addition to weather observation and navigation aid, was designed as a platform for the sea rescue of pilots and castaways during the Second World War and then remained in operation for thirty years.
Since the 1960s, the weather ship has been almost entirely replaced by weather satellites , weather buoys and long-haul aircraft. The last remaining weather ship, the polar front at 66 ° N 02 ° E, was taken out of service at the end of 2009 according to plans by the Norwegian government, which led to protests by climate researchers.
In addition to the normal weather ships, merchant ships can also send weather reports. The scope of weather observation on a weather ship includes the same weather elements as an observation at a land station, expanded to include elements such as water temperature , wave height , wave period , the direction from which the waves come, the height of an existing swell and its direction.
Individual evidence
- ^ New York Times, August 16, 1908 issue
- ^ Clayton Evans: Rescue at Sea . P. 184 f.
- ↑ The last stationary weather ship in the world is decommissioned ( Memento from December 30, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) In: Mitteilungen DMG 3, 2009, p. 20 (PDF; 13.7 MB).