At a maritime conference in London, Danish expert Keld Qvistgaard took part in a debate on the potential of better forecasts for weather and ice conditions in the polar regions as a foundation for increased safety at sea. Among other things, it is about making the reports more easily accessible to seafarers.
In connection with World Maritime Day 2024, the IMO held a symposium together with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on extreme maritime weather. The title of the event was 'Bridging the Knowledge Gap Towards Safer Shipping' with a focus on 'finding possible solutions to minimize the risks created by extreme maritime weather events.'
The IMO defines extreme maritime weather as those events that are 'dangerous to any ship at sea and are a threat to life, property and the marine environment, in addition to the economic consequences for the global blue economy.' Like the IMO, we here at the Danish Shipowners’ Accident Insurance Association have a great interest in seafarers on all fronts being able to cope with extreme weather in the best possible way.
At the event, Keld Qvistgaard, a Senior Ice Specialist at DMI Greenland Ice Service, participated in a panel on the distribution of ice-metocean information to ships, and spoke about the opportunities and challenges that lie in both the basic and new communication tools that are becoming available these years.
»We live in a time of climate change, and also a time when accidents still occur at sea – even if they are relatively few. The purpose of the conference was to gain an understanding of the two worlds, the causes of the accidents that occur, and how meteorological information is translated into on board decisions in practice,« he explains.
To this end, a need for better information about wind and weather has arisen, along with it a need to work smarter together in the area as well as for effective visualization tools. The parties will therefore look at which forums can be strengthened to get better weather information out to seafarers so that they can make better decisions.
»In the polar regions, the sea ice is changing, the icebergs are changing, so there are many changes in the ice-filled areas. Therefore, it is about making new technology available to seafarers, and there are new communication systems on the way, for example, to supplement Inmarsat and Iridium,« Keld Qvistgaard says.
He mentions technologies such as 5G, which is becoming more widespread closer to land, and the vast number of Starlink satellites gradually being launched to bring the internet to all corners of the world. These opportunities must be better utilized, according to the IMO and WMO, allowing seafarers to gain better knowledge about potentially dangerous weather conditions.
While many people are gradually gaining access to new technology, it is important to remember that there are also some who do not get access to the opportunities due to the associated costs, Keld Qvistgaard points out.
Keld Qvistgaard is a long-standing expert on ice conditions in the polar regions and participated in a panel at the conference in London on the distribution of ice information to ships. Photo: IMO
Interesting human element
Sporting extensive experience from many years at the Danish Meteorological Institute, not least the polar regions as well as the Caspian Sea, Keld Qvistgaard is very pleased to be able to bring home some clear cut messages from the four-day event in the British capital.
»It's about strengthening the opportunities to delve into the causes of accidents, for example when a container ship loses some of its cargo in high seas. Has the captain made a bad decision, has he had the right basis for decision-making, have the containers not been properly fastened, are we looking at several interrelated factors? There is a lot of learning and understanding to be gained there,« Keld Qvistgaard says and continues:
»As a service provider, we are used to producing weather forecasts and warnings primarily as text information, but this service needs to be done more graphically to provide greater value for the recipients at sea. In this area, we have some new S-41X standards on the way to ECDIS on the ships that should be published in 2029,« he explains.
Interest in the Arctic regions is growing, Keld Qvistgaard adds. Climate change is causing the coldest parts of our planet to change and make the Northeast Passage, for example, more accessible. Taking a peak 20-30 years further ahead, a polar route across the North Pole may become relevant.
»This opens up a number of new issues for safe sailing. The starting point is always to reduce the number of accidents at sea, and from the WMO's point of view, it is about what weather measures can be taken so that better decisions can be made on board the ships,« he says.
At the conference in London, Keld Qvistgaard has gained insight into the transformation that occurs when a piece of weather information is sent out and translated into decisions on a vessel, which he calls 'a very diffuse process'.
»It is often very unclear what is going on and what is included in a captain's or a navigator's decision-making process. This human element is a very interesting aspect; that is, how to act on the information you receive, or how that information should be translated into a safe decision. On the other hand, you have to remember that the vast majority of sailing decisions are extremely sensible and are made on a solid basis,« he says.
With more and better information on the way, Keld Qvistgaard and the people at IMO will also have a wider audience to work with, and this means that a group of users will demand better products, more frequent updates, heavier animations, video clips, briefings and the like, he explains.
»It puts some pressure on the operational weather/ice services around the world. So, at the international level, we need to look at how we define the requirements for baseline systems for communication. And there is probably no single solution to that,« he analyses.
