Bottom Water Quality

Bottom water quality is monitored only at the Gooses Reef buoy using a YSI6600. The data is transmitted real-time using acoustic modems hourly. The YSI records bottom water temperature, conductivity/salinity, pressure/depth, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll, turbidity and pH and sits at about 35 ft depth.

The only water quality sensor that records real-time bottom data (vs. near surface) is deployed as part of the Gooses Reef buoy (located approximately at 38.55, -76.41).

The data is all available free to the public in real-time on the following website: http://buoybay.noaa.gov. The files with custom date ranges are available to download in .csv file format. The data can also be accessed at other sites, including http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/ .

There are no data access constraints. All data is free and available to the public on the website provided.

Currently, the CBIBS data is quality controlled in the CBIBS middleware system acting on incoming data. The data gets associated with a QC flag based on threshold values set for each parameter and the buoy status. The various flags include: -1 = Unknown(NaN), 0 = Good Data, 1 = Buoy Offline, 2 = Hard Limit Test Failed, 3 = Filled Value. The data will continue to be quality controlled in this way until QARTOD (Quality Assurance of Real-Time Ocean Data) standards are implemented or if the QARTOD standards are not used for a particular parameter.

QARTOD QC Tests will be applied in a module of the CBIBS middleware, acting on incoming data at 60 minute intervals and returning resultant flag values, which are stored with the data. Parameters for the tests, which can vary by Buoy, Sensor, Measurement Parameter, and Test Type, are stored in a dynamically accessible and editable QC Test matrix. There are Primary and Secondary Flags; Primary flags represent overall Data Quality, based on QARTOD Tests; Secondary flags complement the first level by providing the justification for the quality flags, based on quality control tests or data processing history.

N/A

All data operations and storage take place on secure FISMA-compliant servers.

The YSI 6600 records bottom water quality observations that is transmitted via acoustic modems to the Watchman500 in the buoy. The Watchman500 transmits ASCII strings with the data via a cellular antenna hourly to a shoreside server. The data is processed (including administering Qa/Qc flags) and then updated on the website in real-time.