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The MetService has begun minute-by-minute monitoring of weather around coastal New Zealand by mounting an automatic station on a ship.
Previously, forecasters relied on calls by sailors every 12 hours to tell them about the conditions.
The first station has been fitted on to the Spirit of Competition, sailed by Pacifica Shipping between Wellington and Lyttelton.
Measuring wind, temperature and barometric conditions, the stations, adapted from MetService's land-based ones, send the information collected back through Vodafone's cellular link.
Pacifica Shipping chief executive Rod Grout said the company had offered its other ship as a platform for the machines.
"Our ships' masters and officers have provided weather information manually for the past 22 years and the new system relieves them of some responsibilities," he said.
The sailors would still pass on observations of sea swell, cloud cover and visibility, because the machine couldn't read them.
MetService marine observations manager Julie Fletcher said the aim was to put the stations onto more ships and expand the area covered.
- NZPA
