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From
March 2005, the Met Office has a new partner in forecasting, as
its base in Exeter becomes the home of the new National Centre for
Ocean Forecasting.
Three-quarters
of the planet is covered in water and humans are forever travelling
on it, over it or building things on it.
Because
of this having a good knowledge of weather over the oceans as well
as land becomes vital...this
is where the NOCF comes in.
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| The
ambient sea temperature map |
It's
a collaboration of five organisations, all of whom are known for
their maritime bent.
The
Met Office and Plymouth Marine Laboratory have been joined by the
Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory, Southampton Oceanographic Centre
and the Environmental Systes Science Centre.
The
focus of Devon's new weather helper is going to be short range predictions
of a series of factors that'll affect the oceans and then make the
information accessible right across the county, the country and
the world.
The
centre will use detailed systems and predictions to help forecast
not only what will happen but what might happen.
"We
can do a lot of 'what if' scenarios," said Icarus Allen of
the Plymouth Marine Laboratory.
"What
if the climate does this and the temperature increases by five degrees
or two degrees?"
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| One
of the pictures predicting surface wave patterns |
The
NCOF hope their findings will be used by any number of different
people and societies from search and rescue and defence, to wind
farms and fisheries.
Despite
its obvious commercial uses, the NCOF hope it'll help the biggest
group of people on the planet - the public.
"We
sit on the beach very often at weekends in the summer and so our
forecasts of the surf coming in will be relevant to people,"
said Dr Mike Bell of the National Centre for Ocean Forecasting.
"It's
the safety of people at sea that is of great interest to us and
coastal flooding is also one of the things we forecast."
For
Dr Bell, it's the mix of all the institutions that's the most exciting
part.
"The
creation of the NCOF is a fantastic opportunity to bring together
marine expertise from across the UK," he said.
"Through
the collaboration of the work of the NCOF partners, this broad base
of marine science will be a powerful tool."
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