An Irish marine weather buoy has been found on a beach in Devon three weeks after it went missing.
The M3 Weather buoy was torn from its mooring off the south west coast of Ireland during severe weather conditions on December 10th and ceased transmitting.
Following efforts to re-establish communication with the buoy and identify its location, a radio navigational warning was issued to warn that the buoy may be adrift.
The RV Celtic Voyager searched the immediate area, but nothing was found until yesterday, when the Argos system on the buoy began reporting positional information from Woolacombe Beach, North Devon.
The Marine Institute of Ireland is currently working with the Swansea Coastguard and Parkin Estates, the company that runs Woolacombe beach in Devon to recover the buoy.
A weather buoy technician is travelling from Galway to Devon to assess the damage and the Marine Institute will make every effort to ensure a buoy is restored to the M3 location as soon as possible.
The M3 is part of a network of five weather boys which measure a range of meteorological and oceanographic parameters to provide vital real time data for weather forecasts shipping bulletins, gale and swell warnings.
The weather buoy network was established in 2000 and is run as a collaboration between the Marine Institute, the UK Met office, Met Éireann and the Department of Transport.