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August
12, 2002
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an
online newsletter for and by NOAA employees
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in Marine Weather Forecasts NOAA's National Data Buoy Center and the US Coast Guard launched a new data buoy in early August off Florida's east coast. The buoy will give National Weather Service meteorologists in Jacksonville more information to develop better marine weather forecasts. It will further provide oceanographers and biologists with improved data on water movements below the surface. Data buoys collect real-time observations of wind speed, wave heights and air-and sea-surface temperatures. The newest buoy also reports the water's salt content, a first for NOAA's buoys. Long-term salinity measurements help scientists monitor changes in the underwater ecosystem, including fish and plant life. BREAK Using an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler, the buoy will also give a vertical profile of ocean current measurements. Operating much like Doppler weather radar, the profiler sends sound waves in different directions toward the ocean floor, helping to detect shifts in ocean currents. "Resource managers and local officials will benefit from data the sensors provide," said Jamison Hawkins, deputy director of NOAA's National Ocean Service. "Data will provide the best information available to make critical decisions about land and natural resource use in the coastal zone." Dr. Paul Moersdorf, director of the National Data Buoy Center, said, "The buoy fills a data gap in marine observations. It's what the marine community needs to ensure it has the latest observations to make safe decisions in the water." The National Data Buoy Center is located at Stennis Space Center, Mississippi. Funded through NOAA's Coastal Storms Initiative, the new buoy was deployed near the edge of the Gulf Stream, 42 miles east of St. Augustine. Identified as 41012, it joins two similar models off Florida's Atlantic Coast. The National Ocean Service administers the Coastal Storms Initiative. The buoy's real-time weather observations will be posted under the "Recent Data" section of the National Data Buoy Center's web site at http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov. The latest observations are also available through the Dial-a-Buoy system, (228) 688-1948.
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