Three buoys in the coastal waters of North Carolina and South Carolina will soon be replaced.
Figure 1. Pictured are the UNCW Coastal Ocean Research and Monitoring Program (CORMP) buoys on the SECOORA Data portal. Scheduled for deployment in the first week of the November, the updated buoys will replace the currently deployed FRP2, ILM2 and ILM3 stations (highlighted). FRP2 buoy stopped transmitting data on October 7 during Hurricane Matthew.
Over the past months the UNCW CORMP team restored old buoys, designed and tested the data collection, sensor and telemetry packages, and upgraded the solar power systems.
Figure 2. Chris LaClair of UNCW CORMP is welding on new solar panel frames. The buoys rely on photovoltaic panels to provide power for sensors, data loggers and communications. Image Credit: Brett Bolton, UNCW CORMP
The CORMP team replaces the buoys with new systems approximately every year. Due to last minute changes and failures at other stations, the current ILM2 buoy has been in the water since 2014. Upgrades to the systems being deployed include a more robust power system as well as secondary meteorological sensors. Increased power on the buoy will allow for more data transmission and having a secondary sensor onboard insures continuity in data collection.
Figure 3. Buoys are on the truck ready to travel to the UGA’s Skidaway Institute of Oceanography where they will be loaded onto the Research Vessel Savannah. The research cruise will head out to sea in the first week of November. Image Credit: Brett Bolton, UNCW CORMP
The buoys are maintained by Coastal Ocean Research and Monitoring Program at the University of North Carolina Wilmington Center for Marine Science with funding from the NOAA led U.S. IOOS and SECOORA. Access UNCW CORMP buoy data here.
Related news
Funding Cuts to NOAA IOOS Will Hurt the Southeast
Proposed federal funding cuts would eliminate the IOOS Regional Observations budget for next year. Contrary to the budget Congress has already approved for this year, the Executive Branch wants these proposed cuts to go into effect in 2025.
SECOORA Webinar on the Rapid Intensification of Hurricane Ian: Warm Subsurface Water on the Wide Continental Shelf
Join us Thursday, April 24th at 12 PM ET for the April installment of the SECOORA Coastal Observing in Your Community Webinar Series! This month, we will hear from Dr. Yonggang Liu from the University of South Florida. He will discuss his research on the rapid intensification of Hurricane Ian in relation to anomalously warm subsurface water on the wide...
Webinar: SECOORA Data Portal Demo
Join us on Thursday, February 20, 2025 at 1:00 PM ET to learn more about the SECOORA Data Portal and how to navigate it. Axiom Data Science will be providing an overview of the portal, including how to search the Catalog and make a custom data view.