Unidentified Floating Object - any ideas?

[Naughty Cat]

We came across this the other week off the Isola Gallinara, about 3nm offshore, Andora in the Gulf of Genoa. It was not marked on the chart, did not have AIS (which surprised me given its obvious sophistication including solar panels) and is definitely a cut above any lobster pot marker in those parts. It was about 1.5m across and 2.5m above the water line. Any ideas what it could be?

[IMG][/IMG]

[John_Trusty]

Looks like a weather buoy with all the instrumentation on top. This is the US equivalent:
http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/images/stat...mfoam_mini.jpg (sorry, image wouldn't copy in). This is the description of all the US models maintained by the National Data Bouy Center - NDBC - Can You Describe the Moored Buoys?

These are (normally) marked on the navigational charts, however. They're universally yellow with a meteorological package mounted 4 - 5 meters over the buoy.

There is a Meteo France buoy off the Gulf of Genoa / Nice, that the US has a record of: NDBC - Station 61001 Recent Data

[chris mac]

We saw something like that at a boat show a while back. Sits above a mooring so you can plug in and get additional power. I don't know if it's the same thing, or even if they are in production yet. The ones we saw were still in planning stage.

[Olddan1943]

Originally Posted by chris mac

We saw something like that at a boat show a while back. Sits above a mooring so you can plug in and get additional power. I don't know if it's the same thing, or even if they are in production yet. The ones we saw were still in planning stage.

Ah, so you have a flat battery, you can plug in and start your main engine?
What a wonderful idea.

[Naughty Cat]

Thanks for the pointer. After a little research it does look like a weather buoy but I can't find its owner. It is much closer inshore than the Italian buoys. Could be European Mongoos but struggling to find coordinates for them. I am amazed it does not have AIS though, or maybe it does and it's broken? It was neither on paper nor electronic charts. In future I will check for these critters - I notice there is one off Toulon as well, presumably south of Porquerolles. I love the idea of being able to tie off and use a bit of floating power - presumably get an accurate forecast while I'm about it. At the moment though, I'm more concerned about colliding with it!

[skipmac]

I couldn't see from the photo but did the buoy have lights on it?

[SouthernPride]

Alien ship waiting for the mother to activate and remove all water from the earth

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Naughty Cat

We came across this the other week off the Isola Gallinara, about 3nm offshore, Andora in the Gulf of Genoa. It was not marked on the chart, did not have AIS (which surprised me given its obvious sophistication including solar panels) and is definitely a cut above any lobster pot marker in those parts. It was about 1.5m across and 2.5m above the water line. Any ideas what it could be?

[IMG][/IMG]

Out of curiosity, was it fixed or free floating?

[philtrick]

It is an Oceanographic/Meteorological buoy, usually used in research purposes, or as verification / input to meteorological forecast models.

Probably wouldn't have AIS, as the system power budget would be quite low, and transmission of data is probably by satellite, most likely Iridium.

[redbeard1]

hi,

do you have approximate lat long?

[AlanR]

Originally Posted by Cadence

Out of curiosity, was it fixed or free floating?

It has a noticeable wake, so it must be anchored.

[Maka]

It belongs to a Russian Nuclear Sub. They send it to the surface to get a GPS fix and communicate w satellites.

Either that or its a crashed weather balloon inverted in the water.

Then again, it could be something else.

[zboss]

[Offshore1960]

Weather or meteorological data buoy. I set up and configured some of those for deployment in the Bosporus straits a few years back. Also deployed a couple south of Nantucket and some north of Cape Cod for acoustically monitoring Right Whales

[patprice]

Originally Posted by AlanR

It has a noticeable wake, so it must be anchored.

And in shallowish water?