New Weather Station at Honolulu Harbor Entrance
New Weather Station at Honolulu Harbor Entrance
Posted November 23, 2019In collaboration with the Hawaiʻi Pilots Association (HPA) and the State of Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation Harbors Division, PacIOOS installed a weather station at Pier 1 on the Diamond Head (southeastern) side of the Honolulu Harbor entrance earlier this year. The instrument measures air temperature, mean and maximum wind speed, wind direction, rainfall rate, relative humidity, and air pressure. All real-time data are available on the PacIOOS website, along with archived data that has been collected thus far.
HPA provides safe, reliable, and efficient pilotage services for all commercial ports throughout the Hawaiian Islands. Over the past years, ship sizes and depths have increased significantly and are expected to increase even more in upcoming years. In 2019, a new generation of cruise ships started to arrive in Honolulu Harbor, doubling in size from conventional cruise ships with up to 5,000 passengers. The increasingly large ships and vessels require optimal use of the shipping lanes and entrance into the harbor. The availability of environmental data, in particular wind and current data, is crucial for HPA’s safe navigation practices. PacIOOS partnered with HPA to collect wind and other atmospheric data at the harbor entrance for safe decision-making. The weather station is owned by HPA; PacIOOS maintains the station and enables easy access to the data.