A ceremony to launch the SeaSonde® System at the FRIO Site, located on Cabo Frio Island, took place on June 25 and it marked the CRONOS Platform’s startup. This state government scientific and natural heritage site preserved by Brazilian Navy, which has a fabulous view of the ocean, was chosen by OceanPact to host one of its high-frequency radar stations to monitor currents and waves.
The launch event, broadcast live on OceanPact’s YouTube channel, featured the company’s innovation team and representatives of the Brazilian Navy, who celebrated their successful partnership, which will yield positive results for society and the environment. The attendees included Vice Admiral Edgar Luiz Siqueira Barbosa, who is the Navy’s director of hydrography and navigation; Rear Admiral Marcelo Gurgel de Souza, the director of the Navy’s Technology Center in Rio de Janeiro; Dr. Eliane Gonzalez Rodriguez, the director of the Admiral Paulo Moreira Ocean Studies Institute (IEAPM); and Captain Vicente Barroso Júnior, IEAPM’s research superintendent.
“I want to congratulate OceanPact for its great achievement we are witnessing. This new high-frequency radar will obtain information about sea currents up to 300 km off the coast, enabling the improvement of environmental monitoring. Together with other meteorological and oceanographic data from different sources, it will help reduce the time between the occurrence of an incident at sea and an effective response to it. Knowing the dynamics of environmental factors in the region, such as currents, winds and waves, planning becomes more robust and detailed, and defense actions can become more efficient and precise,” said Vice Admiral Edgar Luiz Siqueira Barbosa.
The CRONOS Platform is financially supported by the Funding Agency for Studies and Projects (FINEP) and partnerships with the Brazilian Navy, through the Admiral Paulo Moreira Ocean Studies Institute, and the Computational Metrics and Engineering Methods Laboratory (LAMCE) at Rio de Janeiro Federal University. It is a pioneering technology in Brazil, a watershed for knowledge of the coast and for the government agencies, markets and laboratories that operate in this environment. “Only by bringing together all these actors was it possible to arrive at this historic moment for Brazilian meteorology and oceanography. We will now enter a new phase of monitoring sea conditions, contributing to the safety of operations in one of the most important areas of our ‘Blue Amazon,’” said Carlos Leandro, OceanPact’s innovation business manager, during the ceremony.
About the CRONOS ocean platform
Created based on synergies between sustainability and innovation, the CRONOS Platform consists of three sites located in the state of Rio de Janeiro (in Campos, Maricá and Arraial do Cabo). The platform can monitor areas more than 300 km off the coast and at more than 3,000 meters of water depth, including the pre-salt perimeter. It integrates meteorological and oceanographic data from different sources, aiming to reduce the time between the detection of an incident and an effective response. Its main innovation is to obtain maps of surface currents using high-frequency radar in near real time. The maps are added to other data collected by sensors or satellites, keeping the operational system up to date and prepared to assimilate and generate hydrodynamic current prediction models.