The Voluntary Observing Ships' program (VOS) is an international initiative by which ocean-going ships are recruited by National Meteorological services to record and transmit shipboard weather. Until recently VOS reports could only be manually compiled so observation bias and input error occurred regularly; hence 20% of the observed data in Canada's VOS program was being rejected in quality control tests.

In order to improve VOS data collection, AXYS Technologies Inc. and Environment Canada (PDF, 145 Kb) have jointly developed the Automatic Voluntary Observing Ships System (AVOS™). AVOS™ is an automated weather station that transmits VOS program reports. Errors and standard reporting biases are eliminated through the use of touch screen technology, intuitive software, and automated quality control protocols.

AVOS™ Features Include:

• Automatic data collection
• Proven WatchMan500™ based processor

Integrated system features include:

• AVOS™ controller processor
• Wind measurement
• Water temperature
• Temperature and relative humidity
• Fluxgate compass
• Digital barometer
• GPS receiver

Optional system features include:

• INMARSAT C telemetry
• Touchscreen user interface