KUALA NERUS: Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) is developing a sea conditions forecasting application that offers five days’ worth of current, wave and ocean temperature data for use in sectors such as recreation, tourism and fisheries.
UMT vice-chancellor Prof Dr Mazlan Abd Ghaffar said work first started on the Malaysia Marine Forecast System (MFast) three years ago, and it will be the first national marine operations system that can also be used in rescue efforts, shipping as well as the oil and gas industry.
He said the warning system was far more accurate compared with using satellites for weather predictions because the data or information gathered from the sea using buoys were more “in situ” or real-time.
“There are a lot of models of weather prediction systems in the world but most are made for global and large-scale use by developed countries such as the United States.
“Therefore, the accuracy for use in Malaysia is not as good as MFast, where real data comes from our own area.
“This will improve the accuracy of the prediction system,” he told Bernama recently.
For the development of the application, which is expected to be completed next year, UMT is working with information technology experts to develop visualisation and simulation features that are more interactive and user-friendly.