ST. IGNACE — The Safety in the Straits commissioning event will be from 1 to 2 p.m. on Friday at Bridge View Park in St. Ignace.

Hosted by Michigan Technological University and the Great Lakes Observing System — the regional node of NOAA’s Integrated Ocean Observing System program — Safety in the Straits will bring together elected officials, state agencies, community members, businesses and researchers to commission a high-frequency radar system installed in the Straits of Mackinac.

“We chose the Straits for its strategic importance,” said oceanographer Lorelle Meadows, a research associate professor in cognitive and learning sciences at Michigan Tech and founding dean of the Pavlis Honors College, in a news release. “It’s imperative for us to have the best technology available for environmental monitoring, search and rescue, shipping and other important applications that rely on a more complete understanding of the currents in this complicated area.”

To help put actionable, high-value water data into people’s hands, Michigan Tech — with funding from GLOS and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy — undertook the HFR’s multiyear installation.

The installation of the CODAR Ocean Sensors system is complete. As the ice melted this spring, data began to flow to the public through Upper Great Lakes Observing System web apps, MTU said in a news release. Live data will also be available in the near future on the GLOS Seagull platform.

The event will be livestreamed.