As part of the National Agency for Research and Development’s (ANID) Public Challenges program, the Naval Polytechnic Academy (APOLINAV) raised the need for Chilean companies or academic institutions to find solutions for port operations. As a result, the University of Concepción’s COPAS Coastal Center has been developing technology for the last two years.
By: Celeste Burgos Badal, Journalist – COPAS Coastal cburgos@oceanografia.udec.cl Images: Courtesy of COPAS Coastal
Having a tool capable of monitoring the state of the sea in real-time is fundamental in a country like ours, which has several ports relevant to the national economy, whose closure leads to significant losses. To give some context, in 2008, DIRECTEMAR, the General Directorate of Maritime Territory and Merchant Marine nationwide, ordered a temporary closure of ports due to storm surges for a total of 17 hours. Ten years later, the country’s ports had to be closed for 3,022 hours in a single year.
Considering this context, the “CDOM Portuario – Port Operations Oceanographic and Meteorological Monitoring and Forecasting System” project was created to provide better tools to face these situations. This meteorological and oceanographic monitoring system provides real-time information to support decision-making for maritime operations regarding inclement weather.
This system records wind, wave, and marine current data, which are displayed via a digital platform available to the Navy, ports, and commercial vessels.
The project, comprising a team of professionals, is led by researcher Diego Narváez, who explained that “we installed a buoy with instruments to measure different ocean conditions in Coronel Bay, Biobío Region. The instruments can send data in real time to decision-makers. This system is able to reliably measure, transmit, model, and promptly predict three to six days in advance.”
The computational models undergoing a validation process in Coronel Bay are needed to make the prediction. “This project uses the center’s experience running observation systems in other places,” Narváez commented.
Vinko Yap, Assistant Operations Manager at Puerto Coronel, says that the system provides very accurate data in bad weather situations. “It is vital for us to have information from the sea, where the buoy is located. Sometimes, a wave is one meter high at the dock, but it measures two offshore, where the pilots have to get on the ships to perform the docking operation. So, this data helps improve operational safety,” he explained.
Breakthrough process
Implementing this type of project is not without difficulties and challenges, and it has gone through several stages. The initiative, which has been under development for two years, arose as part of the National Research and Development Agency’s (ANID) Public Challenges program with the Naval Polytechnic Academy, APOLINAV, highlighting the need for Chilean companies or academic institutions to find solutions.
The first stage of these Public Challenges projects was awarded to four groups, with COPAS being the only one still in competition. The first phase involved preparing a buoy prototype with real-time measurements in a controlled environment. The second included working on the buoy in Coronel and implementing predictive models. Currently, the challenge lies in installing other buoys and developing models for ports in the north of the country.
As Dr. Maricarmen Guerra, a researcher at the center, mentions, “We are in the project’s last stage, which involves replicating the system in other relevant real environments. In the second stage, we validated it in a real environment, and now we have to replicate it in two more places (scale it up). We now need to build/implement a new, improved observation system based on the one in Coronel,” Guerra explains. This system will be installed in Arica and Antofagasta’s Ports and should operate for several months.
When asked about the new challenges in this third stage, the engineer pointed out that more advanced logistics will be required. “We are going to replicate the system and the operation in new areas where we have not worked before, which will be more challenging. We are going to need more robust operational logistics. The forecast system will also be made almost from scratch, so it will be a challenge to replicate last year’s work in two more places.”
Hence, the team continues to progress in this challenging project, contributing to the country’s operational oceanography development and providing data for ports to make better decisions when facing weather conditions.
Last modified: 30 de enero de 2025
