New Cowes weather station goes live

Environmental monitoring stations deliver tide and weather data for harbour users

Cowes Harbour Commission (CHC) and OceanWise Ltd. have completed a Stakeholder Benefit project to install two environmental monitoring stations on the River Medina to provide harbour users with tide and weather data allowing commercial and leisure vessels to make timely safety related navigational decisions.

A fixed weather station at Shepards Marina provides tide height and visibility information, whilst a floating weather station in the main harbour provides information on harbour wind speed and direction, temperature, and barometric pressure. The tide and weather sensors feed data to the online Cowes Weather Station that has just been launched on CHC’s mobile enabled website.

Hampshire-based OceanWise, specialists in marine environmental data management, have installed similar systems at other ports in the UK, including ABP Southampton, London, Dover and Liverpool. For Cowes, OceanWise has used a range of monitoring instruments including the Valeport Tide Gauge and Biral Visibility Sensor. Data from all the sensors is collected and transmitted using OceanWise’s smart telemetry service and data management and display system (Port-Log), for use by Cowes Pilots and commercial vessels, and publication online.

Cowes Harbour Master Ed Walker said: “As a trust port, we work to ensure navigational safety remains a top priority in the harbour. The new Cowes Weather Station is the latest CHC Stakeholder Benefit project designed to help us, leisure and commercial stakeholders continue to operate safely. Delivered with OceanWise’s expertise in marine data it will also enable CHC to monitor and manage key environmental data for the harbour.”

Mark Jonas, Technical Director at OceanWise commented: “We are proud to have worked with Cowes Harbour Commission on this project. CHC has not only taken a proactive approach to their monitoring requirements but are innovating and thinking ‘outside the box’ to seek out the best solutions to support their operations.

“We are assisting more ports and harbours than ever to improve and modernise their environmental monitoring capabilities. Robust and integrated marine data management systems are helping our customers to improve safety, respond to changing weather patterns, and enhance decision-making.”