PhOG, School of Marine Science, University of Maine NERACOOS Gulf of Maine Buoys Measurement Descriptions for Text Reports
Physical Oceanography Group
School of Marine Sciences
University of Maine



Measurement descriptions for GoMOOS Buoy Text Reports

There are 3 lines of header data at the beginning of each file which contain the type of measurement, units of measurement, and depth of the measurement (a negative depth refers to height above the surface). The first 5 variables on each data record are the year (yy), month (MM), day (DD), hour (hh), and minute (mm) of the observation (center of observation period). All times are in UTC.

Measurement interval ranges from every 10 minutes to hourly and are listed below. As of April 2008, most buoys have been converted to sample surface met data every 10 minutes; waves and 1m temperature/salinity are sampled every 30 minutes. Ocean currents and sub-surface temperature/salinity measurements are sampled hourly.

An additional note is that these data are assembled from both satellite and cellphone sources. The Goes data only include the hourly data - if a buoy is experiencing phone problems, the data may only be hourly. Buoys M01 and N01 are particularly affected since their primary communication method is Goes (irridium phone transfers nominally every 8 hours). When the buoy completes a phone call, the higher frequency data will be retroactively filled in.



Surface Data
MeasurementIntervalSample PeriodSample FrequencyDescription
WDIR10 or 30 min8 min1 hz Wind direction (the direction the wind is coming from in degrees clockwise from true north).
WSPD10 or 30 min8 min1 hz Wind speed.
GST10 or 30 min8 min0.2 hz Peak 5 second gust measured during the eight-minute period.
WVHT30 min17 min2 hzSignificant wave height is calculated as the average of the highest one-third of all the wave heights during the 17-minute sampling period.
DPD30 min17 min2 hzDominant wave period is the period with the maximum wave energy.
PRES10 or 30 min8 min1 hzBarometric pressure.
PTDY10 or 30 min--Pressure tendency is the direction (plus or minus) and the amount of pressure change for a three hour period ending at the time of observation.
ATMP10 or 30 min8 min0.125 hzAir temperature.
VIS10 or 30 min8 min1 hzVisibility (range 0-3 km).
WTMP30 or 60 min-1 sampleOcean temperature.
SAL30 or 60 min-1 sampleOcean salinity.
CSPD60 min1 min10 hzThe speed of the ocean current.
CDIR60 min1 min10 hzThe direction that the ocean current is flowing toward. 0-360 degrees, 360 is due north.


Ocean Data
MeasurementIntervalSample PeriodSample FrequencyDescription
WTMP30 or 60 min-1 sampleOcean temperature.
SAL30 or 60 min-1 sampleOcean salinity.
SIGT30 or 60 min-1 sampleOcean sigma-t.
O260 min-1 sampleOcean dissolved oxygen.
SAL60 min-1 sampleOcean oxygen percent saturation.
CLCON60 min1 min1 hzOcean chlorophyll.
TURB60 min1 min1 hzOcean turbidity.
CDOM60 min1 min1 hzOcean cdom fluorescence.


Current Data
MeasurementIntervalSample PeriodSample FrequencyDescription
CSPD (2m)60 min1 min10 hzOcean current speed.
CSPD ( > 4m)60 min8 min0.125 hzOcean current speed.
CDIR60 min(same as CSPD)(same as CSPD)The direction that the ocean current is flowing toward. 0-360 degrees. 360 is true north.


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