BarentsWatch one step closer to reality
The Norwegian surveillance and early warning system for the Barents Sea, BarentsWatch, is planned to be on air next summer. Last week a contract on the technical framework for the system was signed.
Forde Kjersem, project leader in BarentsWatch signed a NOK 12 million (app €1.5 million) contract with Kongsberg Spacetec on the technical framework for integration of an enormous amount of information from 27 different governmental institutions, BarentsWatch’s web site reads.
The Norwegian Coastal Administration is in lead of the work with BarentsWatch. The Norwegian Mapping Authority, the Norwegian Meteorological Institute and many other specialist bodies are also involved.
BarentsWatch is envisaged as a vital tool for providing the Norwegian authorities with a coherent picture of what may be happening at any time in the very extensive sea areas in the North. This in turn will serve to strengthen Norway’s role as a responsible manager of the sea areas and thereby safeguard the substantial assets they represent.
The plan is for BarentsWatch to be developed in several phases, the first of which will involve the creation of a public information portal for the sea areas. The operations centre for the portal will be located in Tromsø, as BarentsObserver reported.
In parallel with the establishment of this open system, a closed, operational system will be developed to combine information from various sources in order to facilitate dealing with special situations. The plan is for this closed system to be linked to the Vessel Traffic Service centre at Vardø.
