As of late April, six CBIBS buoys are in the water, reporting conditions from the Chesapeake Bay.
At the Annapolis buoy (AN), wind, current, and location information are not functioning. Due to social distancing and other safety limitations, the buoy team is not able to get out to the buoy to diagnose or repair the equipment for these observations. While the team is working to be best prepared to tackle these outages when it is safe to do so, we do not anticipate that happening any time soon. For wind information near the Annapolis buoy, consider using observations from Thomas Point Lighthouse, roughly five miles south of the Annapolis CBIBS location until we can remedy the CBIBS station.
The other buoys currently deployed in Maryland waters are at Gooses Reef (GR) and at the mouth of the Potomac River (PL). While we are not able to actively maintain these buoys, they are sending a full suite of data back to shore that is available via CBIBS website and mobile apps. If sensors or communications from these buoys malfunction, we will not be able access them safely for some time to repair it.
In Virginia, buoys are deployed and reporting at York Spit (YS), Stingray Point (SR), and First Landing (FL). Our partners from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science are able to get out to the buoys to perform routine servicing of the water-quality sensors. These sensors, which track chlorophyll, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, salinity, and water temperature require periodic cleaning to ensure high-quality data. However, they are not able to make trips as frequently as usual, so data may manifest some quality issues from time to time.
Similar to the Maryland buoys, if sensors fail or malfunction, the buoy team will not be able to get out to the buoys to make repairs for some time, given social distancing and other protocol.
Thanks for your patience as we work given current health and safety constraints.