Sensor-Float 5 deployment at Heron Island as part of the Facility for the Automated Intelligent Monitoring of Marine Systems - FAIMMS

A round 1.4m yellow buoy has been deployed in the Heron Island lagoon as part of the sensor network infrastructure at Heron Island in the southern Great Barrier Reef off Gladstone, Australia.

The buoy is configured as a sensor-float with a Campbell Scientific logger, a spread-spectrum radio for communicating with the on-reef wireless network, a GPS and initially a surface mounted (30cm under the water surface) thermistor.

The float is moored in the lagoon of Heron Island in around 3m of water and will be used to monitor the flow of water through the lagoon. It will be fitted with surface salinity and bottom depth and temperature in late 2008.

The unit will be serviced every six months and will be used in the future for attaching new sets of sensors. The buoy is re-locatable and the GPS data should be used to find the current location.