The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of National Marine Sanctuaries recently installed three wind/wave/water temperature buoys (Sofar Ocean Smart Moorings) in the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary off the ports of Two Rivers, Sheboygan, and Port Washington. Previous to these installs, there was no real-time, on-water data for this area.
The buoys provide water temperature data at four depths as well as wind speed, wind direction, wave height, and wave direction. You can find the buoy data via the Great Lakes Observing System (GLOS) buoy portal at glbuoys.glos.us and the view the Sheboygan buoy data at glbuoys.glos.us/SPOT-1416. From a sanctuary perspective, the aim is to give boaters, divers, surfers, sailors, and fishers real-time information to help them stay safe. The buoys were funded with a grant from the Great Lakes Observing System.
