Integrated Ocean Information and Forecast System

Integrated Ocean Information and Forecast System for Comoros

The Comoros is a sovereign archipelago island nation in the Indian Ocean located at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel off the eastern coast of Africa between northeastern Mozambique and northwestern Madagascar.

It has a coastline of around 340 km. The country consists of three major islands and numerous smaller islands, all in the volcanic Comoros archipelago. The major islands are commonly known by their French names: northwestern-most Grande Comore; Mohèli; and Anjouan.

To cater to the needs of the varied coastal activities such as fishing, mariculture, defence, tourism, ports and others, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India developed an integrated high resolution ocean forecasting system for Comoros through Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad and Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early-warning Systems (RIMES), Thailand. The forecast is available to the users three days in advance at 3-6 hour temporal resolution for the parameters - winds, waves (wind waves and swell waves), currents, sea surface temperature, Mixed Layer Depth (MLD) and Depth of 20 deg. centigrade isotherm (D20) in map and numerical data form for the region. These forecasts are updated daily on operational basis. In addition, location specific forecast products are available for a few prime locations; at 10, 20 and 50 km away from the shoreline.

Further, High Wave Alerts would be issued during situations when the waves are likely to be high, close to the shoreline. Development of Standard Operating Procedure for providing High Wave Alerts, tidal flooding and wave surge warning is in progress for the region.