A Soviet-era buoy emerged off the coast of Florida this week after workers at a local state park brought it to shore.
The 1,200-pound Soviet buoy has baffled experts who have inspected it, uncertain as to where the Cold-War era object originated from or what it was used for.
The Sun Sentinel reported that employees at Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park pulled the object onto Dania Beach shortly after Hurricane Irma barreled through the area.
A 1,200 pound Soviet-era buoy emerged off the coast of Florida this week and retrieved by local officals
State Park employees brought it a shore after it had emerged close to the beach following Hurricane Irma
Meteorologist Robert Molleda said given the proximity, the buoy most likely originated from Cuba.
‘In Irma, the storm came from the south-southeast. And in a storm like that, something could get dislodged,’ he said. ‘It could go adrift and easily wind up in Florida.’
Bill Moore, the park’s maintenance mechanic, told The Sentinel that he spotted the object and wanted to bring it to shore before the Coast Guard got to it.
‘They came running down here…,’ Moore said. ‘They tried to confiscate it.’
The buoy, colored white with brownish-orange stripes, was discovered filled with foam and sand.
The words ‘Гидрометслужба СССР’ or Hydrometeorological Service of the USSR, was also painted in black on its side, The Sentinel reported.
Hydrometeorology is a branch of meteorology and hydrology that deals with water in the atmosphere especially as precipitation.
Normally, buoy’s are used for measuring weather variables like temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, or atmospheric pressure and wave height, according to Molleda.
Experts believe that the buoy originated from Cuba given its ties to the USSR but are still uncertain
Some believe that the buoy potentially has a dual purpose, acting as a clandestine spying device
But given the Soviet Union’s historical ties to Cuba and the Island’s proximity to the United States, some believe that the buoy could have been used for a more clandestine purpose.
‘My best guess is the buoy, and probably many others just like it or similar to it, were placed by the Soviets as an aid to navigation for Soviet vessels bringing materials to Cuba or returning back to the USSR,’ said Harold M. Leich, the Russian Area Specialist of the European Division of the Library of Congress.
‘In the chaos of the collapse of the USSR in 1991, the infrastructure placed by the Soviets simply remained in Cuba, including this buoy,’ he said.
Engineers with the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) in Washington have already inquired after the Soviet object.
So far, the buoy has remained with State Park employees, while officials still contemplate what the object was used for.
‘The mystery is what it was used for and whether it was active or not,’ Molleda said. ‘Those are the big unknowns.’