Solar Buoy

The data is being transmitted to a computer server located at Northwestern Michigan College's Great Lakes Campus and are being verified by researchers at the University of Michigan Marine Hydrodynamics Laboratory. Buoy data is now available live, every 10 minutes, to anyone with an Internet connection.

Guy Meadows, a professor of atmospheric, oceanic and space sciences, and researchers from the U-M Marine Hydrodynamics Lab have been monitoring and verifying the data from the buoy, which was launched July 15. The lab will continue to manage the buoy data, which can be accessed online at: http://www.engin.umich.edu/dept/name/facilities/mhl/current_proj.html .

"We will now have accurate 'over the water' measurements of wind speed, wind direction, current speed, current direction, wave height, wave period, air temperature and surface water temperature. This data will be archived and made available to the public," said Meadows, who is the lab's director.

The buoy will assist scientists in gathering data over the next 5 years or more, during the months of April to November. Information from this buoy can be used by students, educators, commercial and recreational fishing and boating businesses, the NOAA-National Weather Service, local meteorologists and others.

"Real-time data present some great opportunities to engage students and the public in learning about the Great Lakes online," said Mark Breederland, Michigan Sea Grant Extension educator for Northwest Michigan. The Great Lakes Children's Museum in Traverse City is now streaming real-time information from the buoy to an exhibit in the museum. "It's an exciting opportunity for people to learn more about weather and its impact on the
Great Lakes," Breederland said.

The new Northwest Michigan buoy has been added to an existing system of buoys that are online, part of a developing Great Lakes observing system that is modeled after the Integrated Ocean Observing System, being deployed across the world's oceans. Data from the Traverse Bay buoy will also be available through the National Weather Service's National Data Buoy Center, which currently manages two additional buoys in Lake Michigan.

The Grand Traverse Bay buoy program was made possible by the University of Michigan Marine Hydrodynamics Laboratory, the Great Lakes Maritime Academy of Northwestern Michigan College, the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-funded Alliance for Coastal Technologies, and the NOAA-Michigan Sea Grant College Program. In addition, numerous Traverse City community groups have participated in this collaborative effort, including Inland Seas Education Association, Great Lakes Children's' Museum, The Watershed Center—Grand Traverse Bay, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa & Chippewa Indians, and Grand Traverse Michigan State University Extension.

Michigan Sea Grant, a collaborative program of the University of Michigan and Michigan State University, conducts Great Lakes research, education and outreach. It is one of 30 Sea Grant programs supported by the National Sea Grant College Program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.