13. DEVELOPMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF BUOY SYSTEMS 



Dr. William S. Richardson 



Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 

 Woods Hole, Massachusetts 



Yesterday, nine of the speakers mentioned buoys as systems 

 for oceanographic data collection; this morning, two of the pre- 

 ceding speakers mentioned they have an immediate need of buoys. 

 Mr. John J. Schule, Jr. 's picture of ocean buoys is what we look 

 for within the very near future, but I will discuss buoy systems in 

 the light of existing systems. Part of my intention in so doing is 

 to demonstrate that the efforts in this direction have not been very 

 extensive and progress has not been very remarkable. 



Anyone who has worked in oceanography and wanted data for 

 his work very soon realizes that there are practically no long time 

 series of measurements in existence, neither physical measure- 

 ments nor biological measurements. About the only exceptions are 

 some of the light vessel measurements and the Coast Guard Ocean 

 Station measurements, and these, in general, are not in deep 

 water nor are they, properly speaking, continuous. The other 

 thing that is missing in oceanographic data is synoptic data over 

 large areas. The reason for this lack is perfectly obvious. 

 Oceanographer s work primarily with the ships and ships are not 

 well suited to taking long-ternn, time-series measvirements at sea 

 nor are they capable of covering large areas synoptically. 



I will restrict my discussion of buoy systems to anchored 

 buoys. This is not to imply there are not good uses for drifting 

 buoys (in current measurements, etc.), but I do not think that the 

 full potential of buoy systems is realized until reliable -- there is 

 that word again -- anchoring systems exist. I will also restrict 

 nny attention to deep moored stations. By this, I (arbitrarily) 

 mean anchored in water greater than 500 meters deep. There is, 

 of course, much interest in shallow water areas, but the buoys 

 for shallow water can be handled by brute force techniques. I will 

 also restrict my attention to buoys which are to be worked for 

 long periods of time. By this, I mean 1 or 2 months or longer; 

 long enough so a ship cannot be kept alongside to watch thenn. 

 Such buoys are, of course, all-weather systems. In the case of 



153 



