The Japan Coastguard (JCG) announced the expansion of their Wave Glider fleet to the 9th Regional District, headquartered in Niigata, Japan, in an attempt to enhance their commitment to ocean monitoring.
In 2016, a fleet of Wave Gliders arrived in Japan, to provide autonomous observation and situational awareness of ocean currents, wave activity, and weather along Japan’s coastlines. It was the first unmanned ocean observation network in Japan’s history.
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JCG will also publish the environmental data for free and in real-time to Japan’s commercial fisheries and tourism industries. Current and historical oceanographic data helps the commercial and tourism industries with have an insight into weather patterns and ocean conditions that impact the safety and efficiency of their maritime operations.
Wave Gliders are environmentally safe and a way to expand ocean observation systems when compared to traditional methods such as ships. By using a network of unmanned systems, JCG wants to provide access to continuous, real-time meteorological and oceanographic information from seas where monitoring ships often cannot operate and without putting personnel at risk.
