Refurbishment of drifters for the VOS Donation Programme Pierre Blouch EUMETNET/E-SURFMAR Operational Service Manager JCOMM/PMO-5 meeting Viña del Mar 20-24 July 2015

Buoys found ashore Many are beached or picked up. Some still work if their batteries are not empty They may be recovered thanks to local contacts found on the Web The manufacturer is sometimes contacted thanks to the buoy nameplate

Possible refurbishment If there is a chance to refurbish the buoy, this latter is either rapatriated in France or sent to a partner (e.g. Icelandic Met Office) Batteries are then replaced: easy to do on Metocean buoys (hemispheres are bolted) A battery pack (8x10 D cells) costs about 250 € It confers more than 18 months of lifetime to the buoy The buoys are then either re-deployed without its drogue (its replacement is a professional work) or used as a « deck drifter »

Deck drifter The buoy is put in a wooden box which is attached on a ship deck Total cost includes: the buoy transport custom fees new batteries and the wooden box but remains cost effective in most of the cases … and makes us slightly eco-responsible

Experiences 2014’ Tenace (French navy tug) campaign in northern seas Will be renewed with a sister ship of Tenace in 2015 a second deck drifter will be used on another French ship based in Newfoundland

Questions ?

Pierre Blouch E-SURFMAR Programme Manager GIE/EIG EUMETNET Contact Details Pierre Blouch E-SURFMAR Programme Manager GIE/EIG EUMETNET   E-SURFMAR Programme Manager Meteo-France Centre de Meteo Marine 13 rue du Chatellier – CS 12804 F-29228 Brest Cedex 2  Tel: + 33 (0) 298 22 18 52 Fax: + 33 (0) 298 22 18 49 Email: Pierre.Blouch@meteo.fr Web: www.eumetnet.eu GIE EUMETNET Secretariat c/o L’Institut Royal Météorologique de Belgique Avenue Circulaire 3 1180 Bruxelles, Belgique   Tel: +32 (0)2 373 05 18 Fax:     +32 (0)2 890 98 58 Email: info@eumetnet.eu Web: www.eumetnet.eu