- MS Polarfront
MS "Polarfront" is a Norwegian
weather ship located in the North Atlantic. She is the only remaining weather ship in the world, maintained by theNorwegian Meteorological Institute .A weather ship is a
ship stationed in mid-ocean to make meteorological observations forweather forecasting . Since the 1960s this role has been largely superseded bysatellite s, long rangeaircraft andweather buoy s."Polarfront" is known as the weather station M ("Mike"), and is located at 66°N, 02°E. Standard meteorological observations have been performed on a hourly basis since the beginning of the sixties.
History of Station M
The
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) took the responsibility to operate an international network of Ocean Weather Stations in The North-Atlantic. The network was established in 1948 and consisted of 13 stations. Station ‘M’ (Mike) was one of these. The need for weather ships from civil aviation decreased gradually while the Meteorological society still needed the observations from the oceans. In 1974 theWorld Meteorological Organization (WMO) took the responsibility for the four remaining stations. The international agreement about weather ships was ended in 1990. Great Britain and Norway continued the operation of one station each, Lima West of Scotland and Mike in the Norwegian Sea. Lima was ended in the middle of the 1990s. Thus Mike is the only one still remaining.The first two weather ships to man station “M” were "Polarfront I" and "Polarfront II". The Norwegian authorities were the ship owners. The ships were rebuilt
Royal Navy corvette s (HMS "Bryony"). They were on duty until 1974 and 1976. In 1974 the Norwegian state made an agreement with the shipping company Misje Offshore Marine AS inBergen to hire a new and modern ship, which was given the name "Polarfront".For several years the ship alternated with the Dutch weather ship "Cumulus" to man station ‘M’. In 1986 and onward "Polarfront" has manned station ‘M’ alone. Each month "Polarfront" leaves the station for 1-2 days to take on a new crew and new supplies. Once a year, usually in the beginning of October, the ship will stay in her home port for a week due to carry out maintenance.
External links
* [http://www.yr.no/place/Norway/Hav/Værskipet_Polarfront/ yr.no: Observations and forecasts from Polarfront (station Mike)]
* [http://met.no/met/met_lex/v_a/weathership.html Norwegian Meteorological Institute - Station "Mike"]no:M/S «Polarfront»
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