PNNL-13501 - Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

environmental monitoring, 2) portability for quick
response in varied coastal waters, 3) data accessibility in
near real-time, 4) varied data acquisition scenarios
programmable for up to a 4-month collection, and 5) a
multisensor platform capable of adding and changing
sensors quickly to accommodate client needs and
changing environmental scenarios. The buoy was
powered by four recombinant gel cells augmented with
solar charging. Data acquired from the buoy was
accessed remotely using cell phone technology.
Figure 1. Costal bio-optical monitoring buoy
Figure 2. Schematic of current configuration of monitoring
buoy
212 FY 2000 Laboratory Directed Research and Development Annual Report
The current suite of sensors incorporated into the buoy
collects the following data:
In-water (~ 1 m depth)
• chlorophyll concentration
• turbidity
• dissolved oxygen
• salinity
• solar irradiance at 1 m and 2 m depth
• light attenuation.
Atmospheric (~ 2 m above water surface)
• wind speed and direction
• global positioning.
Summary and Conclusions
All buoy components were successfully tested including
all software and sensor hardware, environmental sensors,
data logger and processing software, and
telecommunications package. We will next collect buoy
data in local coastal waters, including acquisition and
analysis of corresponding satellite imagery.
The advantages of this platform for satellite algorithm
development and environmental monitoring include
• reduced cost in data collection relative to ship-board
data acquisition
• near real-time acquisition of data
• multisensor platform capability with useprogrammable
data collection scenarios.