SPC Geoscience Division

Home

‘Time is right’ to boost capacity in Pacific ocean forecasting

E-mail Print PDF

forecast

5 September 2016, Nadi

Weather forecasters, hydrographers, oceanographers, fisheries officers and maritime safety experts from around the Pacific region have gathered in Nadi, Fiji, today to take part in training to boost understanding, monitoring and forecasting of oceans and tides.

First Secretary of the Australian High Commission in Suva, Raymond Bojczuk opened the training, which is jointly organised by the Pacific Community (SPC) and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology under the Climate and Oceans Support Programme in the Pacific (COSPPac).

“The timing is right to boost regional capacity to monitor and forecast ocean conditions,” Mr Bojczuk noted, recognising the severe wave damage many coastal communities in Fiji experienced during Tropical Cyclone Winston and the numerous inundation events that have threatened low-lying atolls across the region in recent years.



According to meteorologists and oceanographers present at the workshop, strong El Niño conditions contributed to many of the ocean and climate extremes experienced in the Pacific in 2015 and early 2016.

An El Niño occurs when ocean temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean become warmer than average, and this causes changes in the prevailing trade winds.

El Niño conditions typically last for about a year and are associated with noticeable changes in rainfall, sea level, and the frequency and severity of tropical cyclones.

“For a region that is 98 percent ocean, we have surprisingly little ocean data,” said Mr Bojczuk. “I can proudly say, however, that Australia has supported one of the most long-standing, high quality ocean monitoring systems in the region- the Pacific Sea Level Monitoring Project.”

A key component of COSPPac, the Pacific Sea Level Monitoring Project, is a network of 14 tide gauges across the region, providing continuous data on temperature, tides, and weather for more than 20 years.

The real-time data from this project is openly accessible online on the newly developed COSPPac Ocean Portal.

“The Ocean Portal also serves up near real-time Pacific Ocean data such as sea surface temperature, wave forecasts, surface current forecasts, coral bleaching alerts, and seasonal sea level variations as user-friendly maps and graphics,” SPC’s Manager of Oceans and Coastal Geoscience, Jens Kruger, said.

This information can be very useful to any public or private sector organisation that interacts with the ocean, including shipping, fisheries, tourism, disaster management, conservation, and coastal infrastructure development.

“Now that this information is available, it is our duty to ensure the right people know how to access and apply it to improve our preparation and resilience in the face of extreme events,” Mr Kruger said.


Media contacts
Molly Powers-Tora    COSPPac Regional Officer, [email protected] // or +679 3249250
Merewalesi Nailatikau   Australian High Commission Media, [email protected] // or +679 3388381

Photo: Tide guage, Tuvalu by Lily Frencham

Last Updated on Friday, 30 September 2016 14:54  

Newsflash

Majuro, September 6, 2013 - This afternoon, the United States and the Republic of Kiribati signed a boundary treaty delimiting the waters between their two countries. The boundary treaty was signed on behalf of the United States by Ambassador Frankie A. Reed and, for the Republic of Kiribati, by President Anote Tong. The treaty was signed in Majuro, Marshall Islands, in connection with the Pacific Islands Forum.

During the signing ceremony Ambassador Reed said, “This maritime boundary treaty with Kiribati further highlights that the U.S. is a pacific nation.  We look forward to deepening our already strong relationship with Kiribati here at the Forum and in November, during the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Tarawa.”

She added, “The negotiations leading up to this important moment were extremely cordial, productive, and efficient, and the U.S. team extends its appreciation to Kiribati’s representatives for the manner in which the two negotiating teams were able to work together in a spirit of collaboration.  It was truly a pleasure to work together with Kiribati on this important endeavor.”

President Tong said, “The signing of this Maritime Boundary Delimitation Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and my country signify the vital importance of clearly establishing the national limits of jurisdictions under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).