Oceanscience Group

The Oceanscience Group, Ltd in California has sold six instrument mounts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The mounts allow an acoustic Doppler current profiler or other instrument to be mounted on an existing navigation buoy without modifications to the buoy. The Clamparatus, as the mount is known, was developed for the NOAA PORTS programme. The PORTS system uses US Coast Guard buoys and other platforms to provide ship’s masters and pilots with accurate real-time information required for the avoidance of grounding and collision. A prototype installation has been operating successfully off the mouth of Chesapeake Bay since December. A similar mount has been operating on a privately owned oil-offloading buoy since 2001.