NOAA Interpretive Buoy to be Deployed in the Severn

NOAA’s Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy System—the “smart buoys”—that track weather and water conditions and mark points along the John Smith Trail are in place throughout the Bay. Currently, six buoys have been deployed, from the mouth of the Susquehanna River south to the Elizabeth River off Norfolk.

But here’s the great news—it looks like the seventh buoy in the system will be deployed in our backyard at the mouth of the Severn River in just a few months (likely mid-November).

Lots of different people use data from the buoys—scientists use information about dissolved oxygen to track the health of the Bay, and educators can use the real-time observations to teach about the Bay in their classrooms.

One of the primary uses for the Annapolis area, we imagine, will be boaters using the suite of observations (including wind speed and direction, current speed and direction, wave height, and water temperature) to help them plan their day on the Bay.

Data is available to the general public at www.buoybay.org buoybay.org or toll-free 877-BUOY-BAY. At both places, there is also information about the Bay in John Smith’s time—how we might have seen the Bay had we been here 400 years ago.

The Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy System is a component of the Chesapeake Bay Observing System.