Scientists said Monday they had reached the halfway point in a project to set up buoys across the Indian Ocean, helping farmers predict the monsoon in some of the world’s poorest areas.
The buoys measure wind, rainfall, temperature and other figures around the Indian Ocean, which has lagged behind the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans in data collection.

The international project, which began in earnest in 2004, has moored 22 buoys so far, with plans to put down all 46 by 2012, said Michael McPhaden of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

McPhaden, who is based at the NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, said the data would provide a major boost to farmers who rely on monsoon rains.

“If you know it’s going to be a year of heavy rain or deficient rain, there are different seeds you can plant, different timings and types of fertilizer,” he told AFP. “There are all types of strategies you can implement.”

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People’s Daily Online — Nations progess on tsunami detection

Thailand launched the first of 22 US-made tsunami-detection buoys to be positioned around the Indian Ocean as part of a regional warning system against giant waves caused by earthquakes under the sea.

The satellite-linked deep-sea buoy, unveiled at a ceremony on the tsunami-hit island of Phuket, will float 1,000 kilometres offshore, roughly midway between Thailand and Sri Lanka.

“This will give us the capability to provide 1 hour warning to most of the countries in the northern part of the basin,” Curtis Barret of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

Washington donated the buoy, but Thailand will be responsible for its upkeep.

Under a similar arrangement, a second buoy will be installed in April 2007 off Sumatra in Indonesia, which bore the brunt of the Indian Ocean tsunami in December 2004 which left more than 230,000 people dead or missing.