Experimental near real-time environmental monitoring in support of Port Everglades dredging projects, Fort Lauderdale, FL (NCEI Accession 0303581)

An experimental system was deployed north of the Port Everglades channel in Fort Lauderdale, FL, to record in-situ water quality data at a depth of 26 feet, including temperature, salinity, turbidity, backscatter, PAR (Photosynthetically Active Radiation), and currents, among other parameters. Additionally, climate data, including wind, pressure, and PAR, was collected at the surface. This data was continuously gathered from a buoy covering both the sea surface and the seafloor.

The bottom-deployed sensor array was equipped with an Echologger ECT400 altimeter, Aqua TROLL 600 (In Situ), an acoustic modem, a NexSens data logger, a Nortek wave/current meter, an ECO-PAR sensor that measures photosynthetically active radiation–specifically the light levels crucial for photosynthesis—and an LISST-ABS acoustic sediment sensor to continuously monitor sediment dynamics.

All this preliminary data collected by the bottom array was logged by a NexSens logger, and then an acoustic modem transferred this preliminary information through the water column to the CB-950 buoy on the surface. The surface buoy was equipped with another NexSens logger, an Airmar multiparameter weather station, and a LI-COR PAR sensor to measure climate conditions.