New AMVERSEAS 9.1 tested in the NOAA vessel Gordon Gunter

Two meteorological components of the new AMVERSEAS 9.1 were installed and sucessfully tested on the NOAA fleet vessel Gordon Gunter. This was the first AMVERSEAS 9.1 test in a shipboard environment performed by volunteer observers.

Figure: (left) NOAA ship Gordon Gunter. (right) ship's officer working on the SEAS Met Observations Logger application.

Caridad I Gonzalez, the AMVERSEAS software developer, joined Paula Rychtar, NOAA/NWS VOS Operations Manager, and Stephen Allen, OMAO Ship Chief Electronic Technician, aboard the NOAA Ship Gordon Gunter (left) to test the meteorological components of the new AMVERSEAS 9.1; the SEAS Met Observations Logger and the SEAS AutoIMET Data Logger. The SEAS Met Observations Logger takes manual entries to provide accurate meteorological and oceanographic data in real time from ships at sea, while the SEAS AutoIMET Data Logger is a real-time automatic application that produces high quality marine weather observations.

The ship departed Woods Hole, Massachusetts to Norfolk, Virginia. During the cruise, new software code was written to extract the additional sensors values necessary for the ship to be considered at the higher ship class, "VOSClim". The successful release of SEAS AutoIMET Data Logger, and its consequence for ship classifications, will enable the U.S. VOS program to realistically obtain the goal of including 25% of the NOAA fleet as VOSClim platforms.

AMVERSEAS is a comprehensive computer application system used in research and commercial vessels worldwide to acquire and distribute oceanographic and meteorological observations in real-time. The system has been created to assist the Ship Of Opportunity Program (SOOP) and the Voluntary Observing Ship (VOS) program in their effort to provide data to scientists working in climate research, weather forecast and modeling. The system also generates reports for the U.S. Coast Guard's Automated Mutual-assistance Vessel Rescue system (AMVER) to aid in rescue missions at sea.