Bradford Beach Buoy
The Bradford Beach Buoy ("The B3") was built for the purpose of monitoring water quality at Bradford Beach (Lake Michigan at Milwaukee, WI) providing beach goers with real- time updates on beach conditions. The buoy sensor data is being used to drive mathematical models predicting changes in concentrations of the indicator bacterium Escherichia coli in beach water. In addition to common off the shelf electronics, this buoy features the SAIL ("Smith Aquatic Interface Logger), a prototype low cost energy efficient cellular modem and data logger in one used to record data and send it to a web server for updating live interactive charts online. The SAIL was developed by Matthew Smith at the School of Freshwater Sciences in collaboration with the Miller Lab.
Buoy Platform: Mooring Systems Guardian, G-500
Sensors and Parameters Measured by the Bradford Beach Buoy
Parameter | Depths (meters) | Sensor |
Dissolved Oxygen | 6 | In-Situ RDO Pro |
Chlorophyll | 0.5 | Turner C7 |
Phycocyanin | 0.5 | Turner C7 |
Photosynthetic Active Radiation | 0.5 | Licor LI-192 |
Weather (Wind, Air Temp, Humidity) | -1 | Lufft WS-601 |
Water Temperature Profile | 0 to 10 m every 1 m | Custom Made |
Lake Winnebago Buoy
Lake Winnebago ("stinky lake") is the largest lake within Wisconsin and a major connecting waterbody in the Lake Michigan watershed. It is a major recreational destination in the midwest and a source of drinking water for a quarter million residents in four cities around the lake. Nutrient runoff from the agriculturally dominated Fox-Wolf Watershed fuels large algal blooms in the lake. The Fox River drains the lake funneling almost 1/3 of all the phosphorus that enters all of Lake Michigan. The Lake Winnebago Buoy was built to study toxic cyanobacterial blooms in Lake Winnebago at high frequency over a drinking water intake. In addition to in situ sensors for measuring water quality, the buoy was outfitted with an auto-sampler to take preserved water samples multiple times per day for cyanotoxin measurements. Read about it here. The Lake Winnebago Data Portal (coming soon!)
Buoy Platform: Mooring Systems Guardian, G-500
Sensors and Parameters Measured by the Lake Winnebago Buoy
Parameter | Depths (meters) | Sensor |
Dissolved Oxygen | 0.5 | In-Situ RDO Pro |
Chlorophyll | 0.5 and 2 | Turner C7 |
Phycocyanin | 0.5 and 2 | Turner C7 |
Photosynthetic Active Radiation | 0.5 | Licor LI-192 |
Wind Speed/ Direction | -1 | R.M. Young |
Green Bay Buoys
Green Bay is the largest freshwater estuary in the world and as such is an important water resource to the Great Lakes region. It is the major transition zone between nutrient rich, agriculturally impacted inland waters and the blue waters of Lake Michigan. Lower Green bay is an EPA 303d listed area of concern (AOC) due, in part, to excess nutrient input and the presence of toxic algal blooms. The toxicity of these blooms combined with temporal- spatial dynamics of bloom formation have not been well described in Green Bay. Two buoys were built for lower Green Bay to help study the temporal nature of toxic algal blooms. The Green Bay East (GBE) buoy is deployed near Bay Beach in the southeastern bay. The Green Bay West (GBW) buoy is deployed in the southwestern bay near the Cat Island chain. These buoys measure a wide range of water quality parameters aimed at characterizing the formation of algal blooms in the lower Green Bay AOC.
The Green Bay East Buoy Data Portal
The Green Bay West Buoy Data Portal
Buoy Platform: YSI Buoys, model unknown, built originally circa 1990. Heavily modified by us!
Sensors and Parameters Measured by the Green Bay Buoys
Parameter | Depths (meters) | Sensor |
Conductivity | 0.5 | YSI EXO2 |
Turbidity | 0.5 | YSI EXO2 |
Total Dissolved Solids | 0.5 | YSI EXO2 |
Photosynthetic Active Radiation | 0.5 | Licor LI-192 |
pH | 0.5 | USI EXO2 |
Chlorophyll | 0.5 | Turner 7F |
Phycocyanin | 0.5 | Turner 7F |
Dissolved Oxygen | 0.5 | YSI EXO2 |
Colored Dissolved Organic Material | 0.5 | Turner 7F |
Wind Speed/Direction | -1 | RM Young |
Water Temperature Profile | 0 - 2 m every 0.5 m |
Custom Made |
Tug Lake Buoy
Tug Lake is an acidic tannin stained lake in the Northern Highlands of Wisconsin (Irma, WI). Within the past few years this lake has experienced intense, highly toxic blooms of cyanobacteria, mainly Microcystis. This is somewhat unusual given that most lakes with heavy blooms of Microcystis are buffered above pH neutrality. The Miller Laboratory is working with the Tug Lake Task Force to study causes and consequences of cyanobacterial blooms in this lake.
Buoy Platform: Fondriest CB-450
Sensors and Parameters Measured by the Green Bay Buoys
Parameter | Depths (meters) | Sensor |
Photosynthetic Active Radiation | 0.5 | Licor LI-192 |
Chlorophyll | 0.5 | Turner 7F |
Phycocyanin | 0.5 | Turner 7F |
Dissolved Oxygen | 0.5 and 4 | In-Situ RDO Pro |
Wind Speed | -1 | RM Young 5106 |
Water Temperature Profile | 0 - 6, every 1 m | Custom Made |
Water Color | 0.5 | Custom Made |