'Desk-top oceanography' is making waves - on the radio

Scientists at Cefas (The Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science) in Lowestoft have devised and recorded their own radio programme to introduce the WaveNet project to the public. Entitled Beneath the Waves, the hour-long programme will be broadcast on BBC Radio Suffolk this Sunday, 14 March 2004, at 1 pm, at the start of National Science Week.

WaveNet is a network of satellite-linked buoys that have been positioned near ‘at risk’ coastline in the waters around England and Wales. The buoys monitor wave characteristics and other environmental data to help improve understanding of flood and coastal erosion risks, and the health of our seas. Data is transmitted every 30 minutes to the WaveNet website (www.cefas.co.uk/wavenet) and is provided to the Met Office, Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and now even the public.

Cefas scientists received a crash course in taping interviews for the radio from Kate Hayward, a community liaison producer for BBC Radio Suffolk. Kate is based at Kirkley High School, Lowestoft two days a week. The scientists were given complete freedom to tell their story in their own way. Jon Rees, Oceanographer and WaveNet Manager, devised a rough storyline and encouraged his fellow scientists to fill in the details of their particular part in the WaveNet story.

Jon Rees says, ‘Describing precisely what happens when a WaveNet buoy is deployed in the sea took some effort. But my Cefas colleagues had a lot of fun doing their interviews inside the lab. They even had the chance to choose the music for the programme. We wanted to bring WaveNet to the attention of the wider public so it seemed a good idea to do this during National Science Week.’

Notes to editors

1. Cefas is an internationally renowned scientific research and advisory establishment, based at Lowestoft since 1902. It became an executive agency of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (formerly MAFF) in 1997 (www.defra.gov.uk).  
2. Cefas undertakes work on fisheries management, environmental protection and aquaculture. It offers a wide range of research, advisory, consultancy, monitoring and training activities to government departments (UK and foreign, central and local), international agencies, commercial companies and aid organisations. For more detail see the Cefas website: www.cefas.co.uk. 
3. Six near-shore buoys – called ‘SmartBuoys’ – designed by the Cefas scientists form the backbone of the WaveNet project. Other buoys and platforms in the chain are supplied or operated by the Met Office, the Irish Marine Institute and oil companies.  
4. The SmartBuoys are rigged up with monitoring equipment that measures wave height and currents, sea temperature, wind direction, and chemical, physical and biological changes in the sea and on the seabed. The project is part of a Defra-sponsored National Marine Monitoring Programme. Historic, long-term data sets provide an advanced, early warning system for local authority flood managers and the Environment Agency. In addition, civil engineers and those interested in coastal erosion and climate change have much better access to flood prediction and erosion risk models. Much more information can be found on the WaveNet website: www.cefas.co.uk/wavenet
5. BBC Radio Suffolk can be found on the radio at 95.5 (Lowestoft), 95.9 (Aldeburgh), 103.0 (Ipswich) or 104.6 (Bury St Edmunds). The Community page of the BBC website can be accessed via www.bbc.co.uk/suffolk. 
6. Information about other activities happening during National Science Week can be found at the British Association for the Advancement of Science’s (BA) website: www.the-ba.net.  
7. There are no photo opportunities. However, a jpg of a WaveNet SmartBuoy being launched is provided with this press release. The credit line for the picture is: Crown copyright 2004, provided by permission of Cefas, Lowestoft.

Press contact: Anne McClarnon 01502 524370 / a.mcclarnon@cefas.co.uk