Operating a research vessel was the last thing Katie Nickles and Dr. Kristofer Gomes expected to learn as they prepared to launch the Consortium’s Bay Observatory, a collection of marine instruments that will harmoniously collect data on the changing environments of Narragansett Bay.
“Trailering a truck seems like a trivial thing,” explains Gomes, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography. “But then you spend hours in the GSO parking lot learning how to just back up a trailer with everyone watching you.”
“Kris did it perfectly the first time,” notes Nickles, the Consortium’s marine technician for the Bay Observatory.
“That was beginner’s luck,” he says.
Over the past year, both Gomes and Nickles have worked alongside Dr. Andrew Davies, associate professor of biological sciences at URI, to construct new buoy platforms that will house instruments monitoring important physical and chemical conditions in the bay. Although such tools have been used in the past by marine investigators across the globe, they have been uniquely organized on these sensor buoys in order to gather data continuously and in real-time.
“What’s unique is these buoys give us the ability to co-locate all of our observations and samples,” says Davies. “We have mounted remotely accessed water and plankton samplers, for example, on the buoys, so we can trigger measurements on demand. These buoys are really fit for purpose.”
“What’s unique is these buoys give us the ability to co-locate all of our observations and samples. We have mounted remotely accessed water and plankton samplers, for example, on the buoys, so we can trigger measurements on demand. These buoys are really fit for purpose.”
Dr. Andrew Davies, URI
Images courtesy OSIL
Telecommunications and power supply units mounted on the buoys will also keep the instruments switched on and sending data back to researchers shore-side. The buoys even have GPS and a weather monitoring system attached, giving marine scientists the ability to compare ecological data with meteorological conditions at any given time.
Because putting together these buoys is an expensive and time-consuming venture, the Consortium has partnered with Ocean Scientific International Ltd (OSIL), a UK-based engineering firm with expertise in designing integrated equipment arrays for marine monitoring.
“This project has very much been an organic discussion about what is required of the system,” says Iain White of OSIL. “We are integrating instruments from four different manufacturers onto the buoys, so getting the sensors to sing at the same time is the biggest challenge. Having an open dialogue with Andy and his team on things like ease of operation, safety and maintenance has made the work a lot easier on our end.”
In December, all of the sensor equipment was sent to OSIL for integration into their buoy platforms. Meanwhile, the Bay Observatory team is establishing best practices for operating and maintaining entire the buoy package once deployed in Narragansett Bay. This past summer, they launched a test sensor buoy in order to troubleshoot any possible issues when facing the real deployment later in 2021.
“We have gotten a lot of practice on the boat to see what it would be like going out to the site on a regular basis, whether we should tie up to the buoy or float around it, for example,” says Nickles, who has been responsible for logistics and communications between team members during launches. “As a diver, it can be fun trying to work with the buoys when they are constantly moving up and down in the water, even on a calm day. A storm came through this fall and beat the heck out of it, but knowing how weather will impact the buoy is super useful.
“The buoys have to be very accessible for divers because we can’t lift them out of the water every time a sensor needs fixing,” adds Davies. “The bay is a difficult environment in which to deploy anything, and these platforms will have significant biofilm covering them within two to three weeks, so we have to do a lot of planning work on how to maintain operations.”
“As a diver, it can be fun trying to work with the buoys when they are constantly moving up and down in the water, even on a calm day. A storm came through this fall and beat the heck out of it, but knowing how that weather with impact the buoy is super useful."
Katie Nickles, URI
Images by Shaun Kirby
Gomes, after spending the summer testing they buoy's instruments to ensure functionality before shipment to OSIL, is now developing protocols for data management. The buoys will be capturing continuous data over long periods of time during the year, all of which will need to be cleaned and stored before release to interested marine investigators in Rhode Island and beyond.
"Data from the buoys will be automatically uploaded to our servers, and the struggle is how to manage a continuous dataset,” says Gomes. “There are industry-approved standards that we follow, and we have been able to look at data from existing platforms like the Narragansett Bay Long-Term Plankton Time Series, to test our own collection capabilities.”
Once Davies and his team have established a practical routine for operation and maintenance of the sensor buoy system, the doors will then be opened for marine investigators to utilize the Consortium’s Bay Observatory and seek out more nuanced explanations of ecological changes in Narragansett Bay.
“When people ask me what I’m working on, I say that we are creating the foundation for researchers to come in and ask questions,” says Nickles. “Do you want to test a novel sensor on our buoys? Sure, we will figure it out. Do you want raw data to analyze chlorophyll blooms over the summer? We can do it.
“I think our buoys and the Bay Observatory is a really cool way to allow people to get creative and explain their potential research questions.”
Rhode Island EPSCoR is funded by the National Science Foundation under Award #OIA-1655221. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation