Real-Time Water Quality Monitoring for the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS)

This project established real time water quality monitoring stations in the form of four long-term water quality monitoring buoys which were deployed at Fowey Rocks, Molasses Reef, Sombrero Key, and Sand Key, along Florida’s Coral Reef in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The northern most buoy was deployed at North Patch Reef in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS) temporarily, while awaiting National Park Service approval for deployment at Fowey Rocks. The data buoys were custom designed by Xylem engineers to meet the needs of the FIU research team and consisted of a DB600 buoy fit with a Xylem Ai1 data logger, freely rotating inductive swivel, high-tensile strength wire rope, a subsurface buoy, and in-line sonde mounting system for rapid replacement and maintenance. Data sondes were configured with an array of sensors, including turbidity, pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, and depth. Surface air temperature is also recorded by the onboard computer at the surface. Data are telemetered via cellular connection to Hydrosphere (Xylem) every 15 minutes. Sites were revisited after one week, one month and 90 days for calibration and maintenance.