Princess Cruises has been named ‘Weather Cruise Ship Of The Year’. Unbeknown to passengers sailing aboard Princess Cruises ships that their cruise holiday is also helping the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, to track global weather patterns.
Last year the Princess Cruise’s fleet made in excess of 20,000 weather observations, more than any other cruise line, which has won them this prestigious award. The 4 star luxurious Coral Princess, which carries over 2,500 passengers, led the fleet with over 5,000 weather observations.
The weather reporting system is voluntary and assists NOAA to track weather patterns in parts of the world where the organisation has no direct contact to local weather information. The ships measure, humidity, air pressure, wind speeds and directions, sea waves and swells. The information is sent a minimum of every six hours during their voyages to a database which is subsequently forwarded to NOAA.
Executive Vice President of Princess Cruises Jan Swartz said ‘As long-time participants in this important program, we’re happy that our fleet was able to provide so much data this year to help with worldwide weather forecasting. With Princess ships sailing around the globe to all seven continents, we’re in the unique position to be able to take weather readings in a multitude of destinations where NOAA might not otherwise be able to get information.’
Weather data is also gathered from all types of ships worldwide to help NOAA to track and forecast weather patterns globally.
