Increasing Weather Observations with Automatic Identification System - Alaska Ocean Observing System
Original (non-English) name
Acronym
Increasing Weather Observations with AIS - AOOS
Citation
Abstract
The Marine Exchange of Alaska (MXAK) builds and operates the only terrestrial AIS network in Alaska that is serving as the primary component of the U.S. Coast Guard’s and State of Alaska’s maritime domain awareness network. The MXAK is internationally recognized as having some of the most extensive maritime domain expertise in region. The MXAK AIS network currently has over 120 AIS receiving stations, of which over 50 are located in the Arctic, a region encompassing the Bering Sea north of the Aleutian Islands up through Bering Strait, across the Chukchi Sea and into the Beaufort Sea as far as the Canadian border. Though AIS technology is traditionally used to track vessels for collision avoidance, AIS was also designed to communicate safety and environmental information to mariners. The MXAK has worked with the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) in a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to develop and demonstrate the Arctic Next Generation Navigational Safety Information System, which utilizes AIS transmitters to send environmental and safety information to mariners to aid safe and environmentally sound maritime operations.
Initially with AOOS support, the MXAK tested and developed the technology to obtain and transmit environmental information to mariners via AIS and the internet accessible by smart phones and/or computers. AOOS now continues its support through investments in weather sensors and weather station installation efforts.
All real time data are made available to the NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) to aid forecasting and the dissemination of real time weather information via their VHF broadcast and web notification system. Though the primary focus of this project is to provide direct weather information to mariners opearting at sea, the NWS is consulted by AOOS when selecting additional sites for weather installations of any kind, including AIS weather stations. Several AIS weather installations are also reported out through the National Data Buoy Center (NDBC) data portal. All AIS weather data are publicly available through the AOOS Ocean Data Explorer data portal, both in real time and as historical data dating back to 2015.