The Honourable Prime Minister of Tuvalu, Enele Sopoaga, launched the new 2019 Vaitupu Annual Tide Predictions Calendar yesterday at the National Climate Outlook Forum in Tuvalu.
“These are very useful for planning and for Tuvaluans that go out fishing or for their daily lives,” said Hon. Enele Sopoaga. “We need more products like this.”
Tuvalu has received Tide Predictions Calendars for Funafuti for many years, but this is the first time a calendar has been available for Vaitupu.
“We have been receiving requests from our outer Islands for tide prediction calendars from their locations, other than Funafuti,” said Tuvalu Meteorological Services Director, Tauala Katea. “We hope to be able to receive tide predictions from other locations in the future”.
The Annual Tide Predictions Calendars are a popular product of the Australian-funded Climate and Ocean Support Program in the Pacific (COSPPac). The Pacific Community (SPC) has been designing and producing these tide prediction calendars over the past 3 years in partnership with the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. The new predictions for Vaitupu were calculated using tide gauge data collected by SPC in 2015 under the European Union-funded Climate and Abstraction Impact Assessment (CAIA) project.
“I am happy that our people will now be able to make good choices, and when go out to sea using the Vaitupu Tide Calendar,” reported Vaitupu Provincial Council Head, Kaleia Toomu.
The calendars also include a local map, a table of highest and lowest predicted tides of the year, phases of the moon, indicators of highest and lowest tides of the month, and fact sheets about tidal variability and extreme high tides (also known as King Tides in the region), with additional factsheets on Traditional Knowledge and Tides and Sea Level for Coastal Development and Sea Navigation.
“The tide prediction calendars are a good example of how SPC communicates science to inform daily decision-making in Pacific Island countries,” said SPC Director of the Geoscience, Energy and Maritime Division, Dr Andrew Jones.
The calendar predictions are calculated by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology’s Tidal Unit with information from the Pacific Sea Level and Geodetic Monitoring stations and a few additional tide gauges around the region.
SPC has produced more than 1800 copies of 2019 Annual Tide Predication Calendars for 23 locations around the region. These will be distributed by National Meteorological Services and other in-country partners over the next month.
Since its inception in 2012, COSPPac has worked to build the capacity of Pacific Island Meteorological Services and other relevant agencies to understand and apply climate, ocean and sea level information for the benefit of island governments and communities. The programme is implemented in partnership by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, Geoscience Australia, SPC, and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).
Media contact:
Evlyn Mani, SPC, Capacity Development & Communications Officer |E: evlynm
spc.int or T: +679 3249 222
Useful links:
COSPPac website
COSPPac Ocean Portal
About Us:
The Pacific Community (SPC) is an international development organisation gathering 26 Member Countries and Territories. Since 1947, SPC has proudly supported development in the Pacific as the principal scientific and technical organization for the region. Learn more at www.spc.int.