NCCOOS has purchased two new research buoys from the Gulf of Maine Ocean Observing System (GOMOOS,www.gomoos.org) group. For the past several years the GOMOOS group has successfully maintained more than 10 of these buoys in the waters of the Gulf of Maine. The buoys were delivered to the UNC Institute of Marine Sciences, in Morehead City, NC, on 23 June 2004 and are presently being outfitted with the following instrumentation and communications packages:

Iridium satellite and cell phone communications meteorological sensors including wind speed and direction, air temperature, and solar radiation water temperature and salinity near the surface, mid-depth and bottom of the water column water speed and direction throughout the water column wave height, period and direction an Argos, satellite-based tracking system batteries and solar charging system 5 nm LED light, radar reflector

As indicated in the buoy deployment schematic, some of the instruments will hang in the water column below the buoy and some will be mounted on a frame deployed on the bottom beneath the buoy. The bottom mounted sensors will communicate with the buoy via acoustic telemetry through the water column. When completed, the buoy will relay data from all of the sensors to shore every hour and this data will be checked for quality control and posted for public access shortly thereafter.



The buoy will be secured using a two point mooring with each end anchored by a stack of three diesel locomotive wheels (weight of each stack in air 2500 - 3000 lbs). This system will be used to reduce the buoy travel circle and therefore keep it within the acoustic telemetry cone of the bottom sensors.

It is proposed that the buoy be deployed in approximately 100 ft of water 18.5 nautical miles SSE of the tip of Cape Lookout near the position of the "14 buoy", which is a US Coast Guard maintained navigational aid at approximately longitude 76.4 W and latitude 34.3 N. The final buoy location is pending approval of the US Coast Guard.