Weather ship

A weather ship or boat is a weather monitoring station fixed ship on the ocean, which is equipped with meteorological instruments. In this continuous meteorological observations are created.

In the years 1900 to 1906, the German meteorologist Peter Polis made ​​several business trips to the office for Meteorological Services Department of Agriculture in the American government in Washington, DC, at the same time were also expeditions for him. Based on his experience gained, he sat down significantly and for an international cooperation to establish wireless telegraphic monitoring network with the help of selected trade or Post vessels and thus for multiple daily weather forecasts and fast. This he underscored during his various crossings with numerous test runs, where sometimes up to nine ships were involved, as well as with highly detailed research reports on the current Seewetterlagen. Based on this question later, the steady-state and operated by the countries bordering the ocean weather ships, which also served as a medical emergency stations and deployment platforms for rescue aircraft originated. Since the sixties, the weather ship is almost completely superseded by weather satellites, weather buoys or long-haul aircraft. The last remaining weather ship, the MS Polar Front at 66 ° N 02 ° E, should be placed at the end of 2009, out of service according to the plans of the Norwegian government, which led to protests by climate researchers.

In addition to the normal weather ships, merchant ships can issue weather reports. The scope of the weather observation on a weather ship includes the same weather elements such as an observation on a country station, extended to elements such as water temperature, wave height, wave period, the direction from which the waves come, the amount of an existing swell as well as their direction.