M/V Bluefin arrives at Port of Gulfport

A vessel that sails around the world repairing and maintaining hurricane, tsunami, and weather buoys arrived for a quick stop at the Port of Gulfport today.
The M/V Bluefin, which is under contract with NOAA, is based out of Northlake Shipyard in Seattle, Washington. They left Seattle January 3rd and have sailed everywhere from San Diego all the way to the equator, Norfolk, Virginia, and more. Future stops include Japan, Alaska, and repairing tsunami buoys in Guam and Samoa. Technicians from Stennis Space Center stay on board to make sure the buoys stay in tip top shape.
John Seville, the captain of the vessel, tells News 25 they put three new buoys out in the Gulf and made sure the rest are working properly, just in time for the start of hurricane season in June. “They have all kinds of gear on top of them. They have instruments. They have a barometer. They have water temperature. They have the wind birds on them that tell you how big the swells are and the waves so they’re equipped with everything and they transpond all the time so you can actually get them on the web. You can look and anybody going out to go fishing can look up any of these weather buoys and know what the weather is at the buoy at any time.”
To take a look at some of the data transmitting from any of those buoys, visit ndbc.noaa.gov.