APPENDIX A: WAVERIDER BUOY MAINTENANCE AND CALIBRATION 
1. This appendix presents the 1982 maintenance and calibration required 
for the Waverider buoy gages. Datawell recommends the Waverider buoys be 
cleaned and new batteries installed at least once every 9 months. The buoys 
were replaced on a number of occasions during the year (Table A-1 lists the 
operational dates of each gage used at the Coastal Engineering Research 
Center's (CERC's) Field Research Facility (FRF)). Considerable biological 
growth occurs during the summer months when the water temperature is above 
10°C. Antifoulant paint and at least one cleaning and painting during the 
summer reduce the fouling problem. Details of the gage installation are pre- 
sented in Appendix B. 
Table Al 
Operational Dates for the Waverider Buoys Used at 
the Field Research Facility during 1982 
Serial Number Operational Dates Calibration Dates 
Offshore Waverider Buoy, CERC Gage 620 
66966 18 Sep 1981-30 Mar 1982 7 Apr 1982 
66967 30 Mar 1982-22 Nov 1982 23 Sep 1981 
1 Dee 1982 
66966 29 Nov 1982-29 Aug 1983 7 Apr 1982 
Nearshore Waverider Buoy, CERC Gage 610 
66968 1 Sep 1981-29 Aug 1982 26 Aug 1981 
31 Aug 1982 
2. The buoys were calibrated at the National Oceanographic and Atmos- 
pheric Administation (NOAA) Engineering Support Offices, Ocean Wave Instrument 
Facility (Ribe 1981).* Ribe presents the following three correction factors 
for increasing wave measurement accuracy: (a) The Datawell-specified decrease 
in electronic sensitivity as a function of oscillation period, (b) a differ- 
ence error based on deviations from (a) found during NOAA's calibrations, and 
(c) a temperature-dependent adjustment of the sensitivity due to an unknown 
* References cited in the Appendixes are included in the References at the 
end of the main text. 
Al 
