Recovering the Smart Buoy’ systems

We recently recovered two ‘Smart Buoy’ systems operated by Cefas. Several such observing systems have been deployed at various stations around the Celtic Sea since March of 2014. These systems allow us to understand variation in the ocean in a way that is similar to weather monitoring. The sensors can record a variety of variable crossing physics to biogeochemical themes. These systems allow us to see how weather and climate affect surface ocean conditions and the growth of marine algae via primary production. It can measure changes in salinity, primary production nutrients, chlorophyll fluorescence, dissolved oxygen, and suspended particles. There is also a string of temperature sensors down to 60 m depth.

Recovering a 'Smart Buoy' system

We used the ship’s sensor and sampling systems to calibrate the buoy sensors, both when deployed and recovered to check that everything is working as expected and calibrate any sensor drift. Together with the sediment samples being take in the area, these long-term observatory observations allow us to better understand the variation in way that can be achieved when ships are not present. This helps bridge understanding between site visits over the change of seasons.