A team that included researchers from the University of Michigan Marine Hydrodynamics Lab (MHL) and UMBS staff successfully launched a sensor buoy in Douglas Lake at the end of August.  It is transmitting data, available on the MHL website, every ten minutes.

The buoy is a joint project between UMBS and the MHL funded by the Office of the Vice President for Research. It currently measures wind, air temp, barometric pressure, RH, solar radiation and surface water temp. It also carries a thermistor string to measure water temperature profiles at 8 depths.

Next year a YSI water quality sonde and an experimental port will be added. The YSI will measure conductivity, pH, DO, chlorophyll, turbidity and blue green algae. The experimental port will be available for sensor researchers to test developing sensors (the data will be logged and transmitted real-time).

In addition to live-streaming the data to the MHL website, the buoy also transmits data to the Great Lakes Observing System.