The Development of a Wind Direction Measurement System for the Tiros Meteorological Drifting Buoy

This paper describes the efforts of the NOAA Data Buoy Center (NDBC) in the design, development, and test and evaluation of a wind direction system for the TIROS Meteorological Drifting Buoy. Upon satisfactory completion of concept feasibility tests in early 1981, NDBC then developed a numerical model to compute buoy dynamic responses and performed controlled laboratory tests of various system configurations. Three prototype systems were then developed and were tested at sea. The result was the creation of an efficient, effective, and operationally suitable wind direction measurement system for a small drifting buoy.