Barbados set to be hub for marine science

BARBADOS IS BEING seen as a future hub for marine innovation, hurricane forecasting and scientific education.

Regional and international ocean experts made that announcement at the pre-launch media briefing for the Vetlesen Caribbean Hurricane Ocean Glider at the Barbados Blue Dive Shop in Aquatic Gap, Needham’s Point, St Michael yesterday.

This came about through the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH), Rutgers University’s Centre for Ocean Observing Leadership (RU COOL), the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI), and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission Sub-Commission for the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions (IOCARIBE).

Three leading experts in the field – regional coordinator and head of Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, Dr Lorna Inniss, professor at Rutgers University’s Centre for Ocean Observing Leadership, Scott Glenn, and principal for the CIMH, Dr David Farrell – shared their unified vision for a regional ocean observing system that will strengthen climate resilience and support sustainable development throughout the Caribbean.

Protecting ocean

“Whether we’re talking about biodiversity conservation, pollution monitoring, ecosystem preservation, or, in this case, more accurate hurricane forecasting, this system has the potential to transform how we manage our coastal and oceanic resources in the Caribbean,” Inniss said.

She reminded attendees that the ocean’s condition directly affects the population’s survival as it produces half of the planet’s oxygen and regulates global climate, adding that after years of environmental abuse, the ocean is now “sick”.

“Every second breath you take, it comes from the ocean – the ocean supplies 50 per cent of our oxygen. It means that the ocean is again having problems doing what it usually does in a predictable manner . . . . We need to make that change to bring back the ocean into equilibrium so that our economic and social gains can be sustainable over time,” she added.

With hurricanes growing stronger and more unpredictable because of climate change, Glenn stressed the need for more accurate and smarter forecasting tools. Central to this new strategy is an underwater robot called the RU 29, which will be deployed off the coast of Barbados.

“It goes down to a thousand metres and then it comes back up to the surface, pops up its antenna, and phones home on a satellite phone . . . . We’ve gone out to sea in ships for decades to study ocean flow – from the South Atlantic into the Caribbean, and even the Amazon River plume. But now we’re doing it with robots, at a fraction of the cost, with far greater reach and longevity. These gliders dive a kilometre deep, resurface, transmit data via satellite and go right back down again. It’s like having an autonomous research vessel beneath the waves, constantly sending back critical ocean data in real time,” he said.

Glenn also highlighted that this was the first time a glider had been deployed this far east in the Caribbean, making Barbados a key player in the region’s hurricane early-warning system “During COVID-19, we needed to get more gliders in the Caribbean for hurricane forecasting. So the Vetlesen Foundation, our sponsor, said, ‘Take the RU 29 there and keep it there’. And so it’s been travelling around from the different islands. We established a glider port at the UVI and there are also gliders going between Dominican Republic and Curacao. The glider is the very first one that any hurricane is going to hit. So Barbados is the most forward deployed spot and that’s why we want to be here,” he added.

Farrell gave further insight and spoke about the urgency of promoting a greater focus in marine science across the Caribbean.

“We’ve come to recognise, beyond any doubt, that marine science is absolutely critical to the economies of this region, to our food security, our job security and especially our ability to forecast marine conditions more accurately. What we’ve learned is that good marine forecasting begins with good marine science, and you can’t have one without the other,” he said.

Farrell also described the collaboration as “an opportunity to strengthen the scientific foundation of everything we do in marine forecasting, from data collection to the products we deliver to governments and people across the region”, especially in the wake of Hurricane Beryl last year.

“I think some of us remember Beryl and the importance of getting it right. It reminded us in a very real and painful way that forecasting errors have consequences. The ocean space matters in those predictions,” he said.

“We need to understand what’s happening below the surface, understand the gaps in our models and use that information to improve things like surge forecasts and wave height predictions. That’s what this project is about – it’s not just academic; it’s about saving lives and reducing economic losses.” (CS)

FROM LEFT, Alexa Clarke, Nicole Dawson (partly hidden), Christian Burshay, Hailee Harding (partly hidden), Jonathan Newland and Tatiana Watts with principal of the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology Dr David Farrell, Distinguished Rutgers University’s Centre for Ocean Observing Leadership Professor Scott Glenn and regional coordinator and head of Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO Dr Lorna Inniss posing next to the glider, which was taken out on a boat to be submerged.

(Picture by Shanice King.)