Ocean Scientific International Ltd. (OSIL) supplied a 1.2-m data buoy platform to the Orion joint research and development center for use as a real-time monitoring station on an EU-funded project managing coastal erosion.

The Harmonized Coastal Corrosion Management Framework for Enhancing the Implementation of the Integrated Coastal Zone Management Protocol (HERMES) project required a platform with the ability to record a full profile of water column currents, tidal variations, wave parameters (significant wave height, wave period and propagation direction), as well as recording estimated suspended particular matter (SPM) concentrations, and transmitting data to a base station on land in real time, complete with software to analyze and process the data with a graphical display.

The OSIL 1.2-m Tern buoy offers a high-visibility platform with a GPRS communication system suited to the installation location given the proximity to the shore and a popular wreck diving site. The buoy is equipped with a seabed-mounted Nortek AWAC to provide three-dimensional current profiles in cells with thicknesses from 0.25─4 m. The ADCP is additionally furnished with a prolog board for internal wave processing, and it can also be used to estimate suspended sediment loads by correlating the acoustic back scatter intensity to a site specific suspended sediment calibration. —OSIL