What ships and marine navigation need for safe sailing in difficult weather

Weather of Arabia - There are many factors that can make seafaring a risky business, and despite the skill of some sailors and their ability to reduce these risks, the weather remains one of the risk factors that may exceed the sailors' ability and skill , as bad weather and conditions can cause Difficult weather can cause ships and boats to capsize, veer off course, or collide with other ships and objects, so knowing what kind of weather is coming is very important in making sea navigation safer.

Here, the importance of forecasting the weather in advance appears, which helps greatly in preventing accidents that lead to losses in trade and cargo shipping, material damage, human injuries, and even deaths. It can help ships and their crews to navigate better, and to make decisions that reduce risks.

weather at sea

The weather at sea is different from the weather on land. There are many driving forces that affect the movement of ships, including:

1. Wind: The wind of the main driving forces of the ships at sea, including the trade winds blowing towards the west in the tropical oceans, the western winds blowing toward the east in the mid - latitudes.
2. Surface ocean currents: Winds create surface ocean currents by pushing water. These currents move clockwise in the northern hemisphere, while they move counterclockwise in the southern hemisphere.
3. Marine: There is also a smaller vortices water currents moving on the edges of the main currents, called vortices (Gyres).
4. Border currents: These currents generate and affect much of the marine weather that we see across the world's oceans, and the Gulf Stream is a border current, as it travels from the Gulf of Mexico along the eastern coast of the United States and Canada, and cuts the ocean to the British Isles.
5. Sea waves: The weather produces waves and bulges that have a significant impact on ships and marine navigation. Wind is the main generator of waves in the oceans, so that the size of the waves depends on the strength and duration of the wind and the extent of the continuity of its blow. Swells are groups of large, powerful waves that are caused by winds and storms. Ships at sea may encounter unusually large waves between smaller waves, which can cause a lot of damage.
6. Hurricanes: The waves and winds that occur together during storms are considered very dangerous, which are called hurricanes. Hurricanes are very large and destructive storms, accompanied by high-speed winds that revolve around a calm center called the eye of the hurricane. Predicting the formation, strength, duration and path of a hurricane is an important part of marine forecasting.

Marine accidents that can be caused by weather conditions

Marine weather is unpredictable, but predicting it gives sailors and crews the ability to make better decisions about safe routes to cross. High winds, storms, waves or swells are among the most important types of weather that can cause marine accidents.

Any of these types of weather can cause ships to tilt excessively, which in turn can lead to accidents on board, damage to goods and equipment, and falls into the water.

Ships can also be derailed by bad weather, which can lead to serious accidents, such as stranding in shallow water or on reefs, which can damage ships, throw crew members overboard, and even cause a ship to sink. Weather can cause a ship to collide with another ship or something like a bridge.

Marine weather forecasting methods

Marine weather forecasting can be done in several ways:

Satellites:

They are important for tracking weather across oceans and other bodies of water. There are special meteorological and weather-tracking satellites that include those that orbit around the Earth's poles, stationary satellites that monitor only one part of the Earth's surface, and satellites that orbit the entire planet. Satellites can collect information about clouds, air and water temperature, currents, dust storms, ice coverage, and many other things.

weather buoys:

There are two types of weather buoys. A moored weather buoy is a fixed device that can be attached to one part of the ocean to collect weather information there. There are also floating weather buoys that track the weather as it moves across the oceans. Currently there are more than 1,000 weather buoys around the world, which helps to better predict marine weather.

Information from weather stations and satellites is used by meteorologists and computer programs to model currents and winds , track temperatures and storms , predict what weather will happen next, where it will happen, and how it might affect ships in the oceans.

Entities responsible for forecasting marine weather

There are many official organizations around the world responsible for tracking and forecasting marine weather, and sharing that information with relevant authorities. Weather companies such as MeteoWeather can be used, which provide weather services to sailors, marine companies, and seafarers, forecast marine weather, and provide forecasting services. With storms and dangers and provide the necessary warnings, and also provide maps and weather models and many other types of information that can be used for safe marine navigation.