Development and Testing of a Real-Time Ocean Data Transmitting Buoy for the Gulf of Alaska, 2008, Resurrection Bay, Weingartner, T.J.

This file documents data collected as part of NPRB project #702: Development and Testing of a Real-Time Ocean Data
Transmitting Buoy for the Gulf of Alaska. Data collected as part of this project was used for engineering evaluation of
the performance of a real-time buoy deployed in Resurrection Bay, Seward, AK. Approximate geographical coordinates are
60.0986N, 149.4422W. Data spans the period from March to October, 2008. Data was collected by Dr. Thomas Weingartner
of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, Institute of Marine Science; email
contact at [e-mail].
This project examined the feasibility of using a small, compact transmitting buoy for use in ice-free Alaskan seas. This was
accomplished by testing and adapting an existing transmitting buoy in Resurrection Bay offshore of the University of Alaska’s
Seward Marine Center (SMC). The buoy system contained two temperature-conductivity recorders (MicroCats) and a downward-looking
acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) that allowed bilateral communication via a Freewave radio-frequency system with a shore-based
computer. The buoy contained solar panels that recharged the buoy batteries that powered the ADCP and telemetering system.
A nine-month test deployment was conducted in 75 m of water offshore of the SMC between March and December 2008. Overall
the system performed well, maintaining a consistent communication and sampling communication schedule and providing sufficient
power to the system’s electronics throughout the deployment, although system voltage levels came close to sub-optimal levels
during prolonged periods of cloud cover. This can be easily corrected by use of a smaller solar power regulator that would
allow additional battery capacity. More importantly, the buoy’s buoyancy proved insufficient for use in wave environments
typical of the shelf and bay mouths of Alaska’s Gulf coast. This problem can be redressed by using a buoy with at least
3600 pounds of buoyancy. The buoy used in this study could however be used in well-protected areas such as the many inner
fjords and bays around Alaska’s south coast. In such applications, the system would be enormously valuable in understanding
freshwater dispersal mechanisms and upper ocean biological processes.
The data is split into four self-documented ASCII files in columnar data format. All files contain six columns describing the
GMT date and time (YYYY MM DD hh mm ss) of each observation. Files include: 1) ADCP data file (ADCP.txt), 2) 5m T/C data file
(SBE3701.txt) , 3) 10m T/C data file (SBE3702.txt), 4) Engineering data file (ANALOG.txt) and 5) one summary file (NPRB_702_FinalData.readme).
These datasets were archived as part of the North Pacific Research Board legacy project recovery effort undertaken by Axiom Data Science and NPRB in 2025. The goal of the recovery effort was to assess the NPRB-funded data projects from 2002 to 2014 and archive final data packages that were ready for publication to increase long-term accessibility and discoverability. Data packages were archived as is given limited funding and resources.