BUOY SENSORS, EQUIPMENT AND  SOFTWARE THAT RUN CBOS Monitoring the Chesapeake: the Tools of CBOS The CBOS monitoring system uses mooring buoys of two size classes. Larger long-term buoys remain on-station along the main axis of the Chesapeake Bay for most of the year. Smaller, portable rover buoys can be deployed at various sites in the Bay and tributaries that warrant closer study for more limited time periods, ranging from several days to several months. Both types of buoys share many of the same remote sensing capabilities. The Sensors and Equipment of CBOS     The Mooring Array has three components by which it collects     and transmits information about the Chesapeake Bay:     Electronics     Weather Sensors     Underwater Sensors

The Electronics consist of an antenna, a navigation light, solar panels and an electronics well.

Antenna- Receives and sends the data collected from the buoy's instruments back to a tower at Horn Point Environmental Lab where the data is gathered, stored and displayed on the net.
The antenna transmits information back to the lab and it is stored in our computers and can be accessed on the net in 15 minute intervals.
After that it can be recalled as part of the Looking Back feature which will eventually include historical data reach back to the 80's.

Navigation Light- Alerts craft of an obstacle in the water during the night.
Usually navigational lights in the Bay are designated red or green.
Our light is orange because the United States Coast Guard dictates that it must by orange in color.

Solar Panels- Designed so that the buoy's batteries can be recharged by the panels, therefore making the buoy self sufficient. It is important to our researchers that the buoy require as little assistance in staying functional because it takes several man hours to check on the buoy. These panels enable the buoy to stay afloat with a regular check ups scheduled once a month during the spring, summer, and fall seasons. Due to the significant ice flow, the buoy in the Northern Bay is taken out around October and the Mid-Bay buoy is taken out in January.

Electronics Well- Where all the electrical devices are hooked into the buoy. It is where the electronic devices are housed to prevent the water from destroying them.

The Weather Sensors consist of a B&G anemometer, a RMY anemometer, a temperature sensor and a humidity sensor.

B&G Anemometer- Also measures wind speed and is used along with the RMY anemometer to ensure accurate readings. You can see slight variations in their readings when you plot them together. This difference is due to friction. The B&G sensor has more friction than the RMY sensor, so at very low wind speeds, it tends to read 0.

RMY Anemometer- Designed to measure wind speed. It calculates the wind speed by measuring the amount of electricity generated by the wind. Most accurate of the two anemometers on the buoy. Can calculate much lower wind speeds than the B&G anemometer. The RMY anemometer is designed to read speed from 0-130 mph.

Both of these anemometers are propeller types and the speed is calculated as to how fast the propeller spins to generate electricity in the device. This is recorded as miles per hour (mph) or meters per second (mps).

Air Temperature Sensor- Measures the temperature of the air. On the web the calculations can be read in Fahrenheit or Celsius. The temperature sensor can read between -40deg - 60deg Celsius or -40deg - 140deg Fahrenheit.

Relative Humidity Sensor- Calculates the humidity by taking the amount of water vapor in the air and dividing it by the amount of water vapor the air can hold. The sensor can read from 0-100% humidityi (above 100% implies that its raining!).

The Underwater Sensors consist of a current/speed indicator, a conductivity indicator, a temperature indicator and a transmitter. The swivel allows the sensor to turn with the currents.

Current Direction/Speed Indicator- This is where the water's speed and current direction is recorded. This device looks similar to a fan; the faster the fan spins, the more electricity is generated in the indicator, and the speed of the water is recorded. The indicator can detect speeds of up to 10 knots or 11.5 mph. This device also records the current direction of the water. The current direction is detected with a built in compass and the device records which way it is being rotated in the water.

Conductivity Indicator- This is the device with what looks like a brown spot on it in the picture. That spot is actually a hole where the water's conductivity is being recorded. It sends its results through the black wire to the transmitter,where it in turn gets sent to the buoy.

Water Temperature Indicator- The silver device in the picture is the temperature indicator. It records and sends the present water temperature readings to the transmitter through the black wire to the buoy.

Transmitter- This device is one end of an acoustic modem. It uses sound to communicate to the buoy. Water, in this case, is the 'telephone line.' that the modem communicates through. When there is a lot of wind and the Bay waters are turbulent, then the modem may have difficulty communicating to the buoy. The data isn't lost though, since it is also stored inside the sensor and retrieved when the sensors are retrieved.

The Software That Runs CBOS: AutoMATE

AutoMATE Brings the Chesapeake Bay in Real-Time to the World Wide Web

AutoMATE, the new software developed by Brian Guarraci for CBOS, provides several tools necessary to bring the real-time conditions of the Chesapeake Bay to the World Wide Web. These tools process CBOS' millions of data samples and dynamically render Bay snapshots, displaying trends and scientific views on our Web home page (http://www.cbos.org).

The real-time feature of CBOS' home page enables anyone to monitor the Bay and watch storms and fronts as they happen. As CBOS and our scientific views expand, the AutoMATE engine is powerful enough that it will even be able to generate real-time Virtual Reality representations.

AutoMATE integrates the information from all the CBOS monitoring stations on and around the Bay and generates Trends, another feature of our home page. These views focus on a specific group of sensors and show how their values change from place to place throughout the Bay. An example would be surface water temperature across the Chesapeake.

Anyone interested in exploring the scientific history of the Bay can do it using the interactive Looking Back feature of AutoMATE. Users are enabled to compare sensors over periods of time, (days, months or years), and build their custom view of the Bay.

CBOS and AutoMATE provides a visualization systems for scientists, students, policy makers, users of the Bay's resources, and the general public to learn more about the current and future health of the Chesapeake Bay.

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