Hourly and daily marine water quality measurements from the Dowsing SmartBuoy, which started logging in November 2000 and is still operational. The dataset includes surface measurements of nitrate, silicate, phytoplankton biomass via chlorophyll fluorescence, conductivity, temperature, suspended sediment, and light penetration. Data are collected by instruments including a NAS-3X nutrient analyser and a WMS-2 water sampler, and are telemetered every two hours via ORBCOMM satellite.
Use Cases
- Monitoring nutrient pollution trends based on hourly nitrate and daily silicate measurements.
- Studying phytoplankton bloom dynamics based on chlorophyll fluorescence data collected twice per hour.
- Analyzing seasonal water quality changes based on concurrent measurements of temperature, conductivity, and suspended sediment.
- Validating satellite-derived ocean color data based on in-situ light penetration and chlorophyll measurements.
Strengths
- Provides long-term, continuous data collection since November 2000.
- Includes high-frequency measurements, with chlorophyll data collected twice per hour and nitrate hourly.
- Integrates multiple sensor types for a multi-parameter view of water quality.
Limitations
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
- Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the single buoy location at 53.5313 N, 1.0531 E.
Provenance
- Source
- Marine Environmental Data & Information Network
- Collection Method
- In-situ measurements from a SmartBuoy platform using NAS-3X nutrient analyser, fluorometer, WMS-2 water sampler, and ESM2 logger.
- Time Range
- November 2000 to present
- Freshness
- Last updated 2026-06-11 08:11:37.480436; freshness should be verified.
- Geography
- Single buoy location at 53.5313 N, 1.0531 E (Dowsing)