Development, current state and future of the SmartBuoy programme

Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas)

Lowestoft

Weymouth

RV Cefas Endeavour

History of UK eutrophication monitoring (1990-2000)

• Report to OSPAR• Ship based observations• Good spatial coverage• Poor temporal resolution

Annual winter nutrient survey Occasional summer survey

• Limited biological data Chlorophyll, oxygen

• Labour intensive (expensive)

SmartBuoy Locations6 routine monitoring sites

• Fibreglass hull• 316 Stainless Steel Frame• Instruments

– ESM2 logger (CT, OBS, Flu, PAR, DO, etc…)

– NAS-3X Nutrient Analyser– WMS-2 Water sampler– ORBCOMM telemetry– GPSMML mooring locator– Echomax Radar Reflector– Navigation Light (5 yellow/20 seconds)

• Mooring – single point below buoy, wire/chain, 900kg sinker

1.8m

4.5m

Max. weight ca. 500kg

SmartBuoy Configuration - 1

SmartBuoy Configuration – 2

LiCor Arm

Guard Ring

Mooring wire

Mooringeye

LiCor

LiCor

WMS

NAS

ESM2 Optode

Side View

ESM2 + built in C, T, OBS, pressure

ESM2 + external sensors

• Chl Flu• PAR• Oxygen• CDOM

NAS-3 TOxN

WMS-2

SmartBuoy Data Management System – 1 Sensor configuration

SmartBuoy Data Management System – 2 Deployment configuration

SmartBuoy Data Management System – 3QA Level 2 (manual QA by expert user)

SmartBuoy Data Management System – 4QA Level 3 (applying field calibrations)

Location Start End

Thames (Warp) Nov 2000 Ongoing

Outer Thames (Gabbard)

Dec 2000 Ongoing

Dutch Coast

(Noordwijk)

Mar 2000 April 2002

Oyster Ground Mar 2006 Ongoing

Liverpool Bay Nov 2002 Ongoing

North Dogger Feb 2007 Sept 2008

Dowsing Oct 2008 Ongoing

Celtic Sea April 2009 Ongoing

Website: www.cefas.co.uk/monitoring

SmartBuoy deployment history

Website

High resolution temporal data

First deployment of Cefas mooring at ‘North Dogger’ study site

Sensor packs at surface, midwater (30 m) and seabed (85 m)

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

50 100 150 200 250 300 350

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

0

2

4

6

8

10

50 100 150 200 250 300 350

0

2

4

6

8

10

Physical conditions at ‘North Dogger’ study site during 2007

1 m

31 m

85 m

Day of year

Phytoplankton bloom development at North Dogger in 2007

0

1

2

3

50 60 70 80 90 100 110

Day number

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

0.00

0.10

0.20

0.30

0.40

50 60 70 80 90 100 110

Day number

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Time-series – Warp

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

01/01/2006 01/01/2007 01/01/2008 31/12/2008

Chlorophyll (mg m-3) or fluorescence

Fluorimeter

Waterbase chlorophyll a

MERIS chlorophyll a

MODIS OC5

Oyster Grounds methods calibration site

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0 2 4 6 8 10

Chlorophyll (mg m-3

) SmartBuoy

Mean growing season (March-October) surface chlorophyll – methods comparison

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0 2 4 6 8 10

Chlorophyll (mg m-3

) SmartBuoy

Warp Anchorage

Liverpool Bay

West Gabbard

North Dogger

Oyster Grounds

1:1

Series6

Data uptake – papers

• Foden, J., Devlin, M. J., Mills, D. K., and Malcolm, S. J. (accepted). Searching for undesirable disturbance: The OSPAR eutrophication assessment method applied to marine waters of England and Wales, Biogeochemistry.

OSPAR Comprehensive Procedure

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Nov-02

Mar-03 Jul-03 Nov-03

Mar-04 Jul-04 Nov-04

Apr-05 Aug-05

TOXN (

μ / )mol l

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

(Si

μ / )mol l

NAS TOXNWMS TOXNShip TOXNWMS Si

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Nov-02 Mar-03 Jul-03 Nov-03 Mar-04 Jul-04 Nov-04 Apr-05 Aug-05

chlorophyll (

μ / )g l

TO

xN

(μM

)C

hl (

mg

/m3

)

Over-winter - November to February

Growing season – March to October

Assessment level & scores – over-winter mean TOxN

Assessment level & scores – growing season peak & mean chlorophyll

Data uptake – papers• van der Molen, J., K. Bolding, et al. (2009). "A 1-D vertical

multiple grain size model of suspended particulate matter in combined currents and waves in shelf seas." J. Geophys. Res. 114.

SPM concentrations at 1 m below the surface in Liverpool Bay.

SPM concentrations at 1 m below the surface at West Gabbard.

• Weston, K., N. Greenwood, et al. (2008). "Environmental controls on phytoplankton community composition in the Thames plume, U.K." JOURNAL OF SEA RESEARCH 60(4): 246-254.

Greenwood et al. Detection of low bottom water oxygen concentrations in the North Sea; implications for monitoring and assessment of ecosystem

health. Biogeosciences Discuss., 6, 8411-8453, 2009

Oyster GroundsStorm surge

EMECO-NOOS Planning Meeting June 2-3 2009

Towed bodies

Ferries

Satellites

Research vessels

Gliders

Buoys

Summary

• SmartBuoy observations are a key element of an effective future UK eutrophication monitoring programme

• Observation strategies across different scales are required for a robust assessment of eutrophication