High Frequency Sensor Buoy Platforms

High Frequency Sensor Buoy Platforms

Bradford Beach Buoy

B3

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

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

GB 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 Buoy 2018

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