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Every wave off the coast, counted.

Pilots, harbour masters, fishers, surfers and coastal engineers all need to know the waves. Moored buoys measure wave height, period and direction with wind and sea temperature, report every half hour by satellite or cellular, and keep the records that coastal designs are built on.

Industry

Oceans

Measurements

4

Sources cited

3

1. Oceans · Waves and coastal buoys

   Everyone at sea needs the waves

   Pilots bringing ships into port, harbour masters, fishers, surfers and coastal engineers all need to know the waves. Forecasts need observations to check them, and coastal designs need decades of records. Moored buoys provide both, if they survive the storms they exist to measure.

2. What is measured

   Height, period and direction

   Motion sensors on the buoy measure wave height, period and direction, and wind, pressure and sea surface temperature sensors measure the conditions around it. A satellite position on every report shows the buoy is still on its mooring. Every instrument keeps its calibration and position with the site record.

   Instruments

   Wave motion sensor · Wind · Pressure · Sea temperature · Position

3. The base node

   Spectra at sea

   The node computes wave statistics and spectra on the buoy, applies the real-time quality checks for waves, watches its own position for signs of a mooring failure and sends compact reports, shedding non-essential sensors when power runs low in the darkest weeks.

4. Radio and links

   Cellular near port, satellite offshore

   Buoys near ports report over cellular, cheaply and often. Offshore buoys beyond coverage report through a satellite terminal. Reports reach forecasting systems, harbour systems and global marine data centres in their own formats. When one path fails, the other carries the data.

   Links

   Public cellular · Satellite

5. How it works

   From a swell to a closed bar

   A long swell from a distant storm arrives overnight. The buoy off the harbour entrance reports wave height and period rising above the pilots’ limits for the bar. The harbour master closes the entrance to small craft and pilots reschedule arrivals until the swell eases.

6. From order to operation · Order

   Scope the coast

   The scope reads the coast’s ports, navigation and design needs, existing buoys and the warnings that need wave data. Nexus Observatory Inc. returns the buoy plan, mooring designs, data and quality plan and a price per buoy and per year.

   Plan a deployment

7. From order to operation · Survey

   Survey the seabed

   Crews survey candidate positions for depth, seabed type for the anchor, exposure to the waves of interest, shipping lanes and fishing grounds, and coverage for reports. Mooring designs follow from depth and seabed. Findings shape the kit for each site before anything is built.

8. From order to operation · Permits

   Maritime consent and notices

   Buoys are approved by the maritime authority, marked and lit to the rules for their area, and published in notices to mariners. Fishing communities are told of positions. Every approval is kept with the buoy record. No crew goes to site before its approvals are in place.

9. From order to operation · Build

   Build and test on land

   Buoys are assembled with sensors, node, power and terminal, calibrated, enrolled with their identities and run on land for days. Moorings are built to the design for each position and inspected. Nothing ships until the whole kit has passed its tests together.

   Open the Station Builder

10. From order to operation · Install

    Deploy from a vessel

    Crews deploy each buoy and its mooring from a vessel at the surveyed position, record the anchor position, and watch the first reports arrive before leaving. Every step is photographed. Crews follow the site safety plan throughout the work. The site record is updated before the crew leaves.

11. From order to operation · Commission

    Commission against a reference

    Each node proves its identity. Waves are compared with a reference buoy or model over the first weeks, wind and temperature with nearby stations, and quality flags are checked. The buoy enters service when checks pass. Acceptance is recorded with the owner before handover.

12. From order to operation · Operate

    Report every half hour

    Pilots, harbour masters and forecasters see waves, wind and temperature every half hour. Coastal engineers receive the long record with its flags, and drift alerts send a vessel at once if a mooring fails. Every alert and action is kept on the record.

13. From order to operation · Maintain

    Swap and refurbish

    Buoys are swapped with refurbished ones on the agreed plan, sensors cleaned of fouling and recalibrated, moorings inspected and replaced, and software updated remotely. Every change is kept with the buoy record. Maintenance history stays with each site for its whole life.

    Book field services

14. Data products

    For pilots, engineers and coastguards

    Pilots, harbour masters and forecasters receive waves, wind and temperature; coastal engineers and designers receive long wave records; coastguards and beach services receive dangerous sea alerts; buoy operators receive drift alerts, each tied to buoy, position and time. Every product can be traced back to its readings.

    See the data products

15. Evidence

    Quality-controlled waves

    Wave data pass the real-time quality checks for in-situ surface waves, marine observations follow the WMO instrument guide, and sea state and sea surface temperature are reported as essential climate variables. Every report keeps its flags, position and calibration record.

    Drawn against

    Manual for Real-Time Quality Control of In-Situ Surface Wave Data · WMO-No. 8 · GCOS-244

16. What you get

    Ocean and coastal observing

    Moored buoys, profiling floats, tide and wave gauges, coastal radar and AIS reception with quality-controlled feeds. Delivered as managed service and data licence, for ports, coastal agencies, offshore energy, fisheries. Scale: Coastline to basin. Service levels are written as numbers you can measure on your own dashboard.

    Talk to sales

17. Next step

    Plan waves and coastal buoys with us

    Tell us the site, the measurements and the rules it answers to. We reply with a survey proposal, a design and a scope for waves and coastal buoys. An engineer replies with a survey proposal and a scope, and the plan grows from one site to the network you need, at your pace.

    Plan a deploymentOpen the Station BuilderOpen the Studio

01The place and its hazards

Where it runs, and what can go wrong.

Operating contextWave data are quality-controlled to the real-time manual for in-situ surface waves, marine observations follow the WMO instrument guide, and sea state and sea surface temperature are essential climate variables. Buoys must survive storms, fouling, vandalism and passing ships.

Hazards

• Buoys that break their moorings in storms
• Fouling that degrades sensors
• Collisions with vessels
• Data gaps in the storms that matter most
• Wave data without quality control

02What must be measured

What, where, how often, and under which rules.

Each measurement names where it is taken, how often, and the public standard or regulation behind it. Numbers in the sources column open the cited source below.

03The observation stack

From one base unit to a network.

The same blocks at every scale: instruments and a base node, a site with its radio, a fleet run as one, and a network federated on the open protocol.

1. 01

   Base unit

   A buoy: wave motion, wind, pressure and temperature sensors on a small node with its own power.

   Build a station →
2. 02

   Site

   A site: the moored buoy, its mooring and anchor, and the shore station receiving its reports.

   Plan a site →
3. 03

   Fleet

   A network of buoys along a coast run to one quality plan.

   Managed offers →
4. 04

   Network

   Buoy data are shared with weather services and global marine data centres through open standards.

   The open protocol →

• 01Moored buoy
• 02Compact weather station
• 03Water quality sonde
• 04Micro node (Nano)
• 053GPP NTN terminal
• 06Cellular modem/router
• 07Solar array

Radio and links

Public cellular

Buoys near ports report over cellular, cheaply and often.

Radio and links

Satellite

Offshore buoys beyond coverage report through a satellite terminal.

Edge computeThe node computes wave statistics and spectra on the buoy, applies the real-time quality checks, watches the buoy’s position for mooring failure and sends compact reports.

PowerSolar panels and batteries on the buoy, sized for the darkest weeks; the node sheds non-essential sensors when power is short.

04How it works

From the instrument to the product.

One observation’s path, tier by tier, with the interface on every link and a bill of materials below; then how the one node grows to a site, a fleet and federated networks.

05From order to operation

Every step, from the first call to a running site.

The same crew and the same record carry the work from scope to maintenance.

1. 01 Order

   Scope the coast

   The scope reads the coast’s ports, navigation and design needs, existing buoys and the warnings that need wave data. Nexus Observatory Inc. returns the buoy plan, mooring designs, data and quality plan and a price per buoy and per year. 1

2. 02 Survey

   Survey the seabed

   Crews survey candidate positions for depth, seabed type for the anchor, exposure to the waves of interest, shipping lanes and fishing grounds, and coverage for reports. Mooring designs follow from depth and seabed. Findings shape the kit for each site before anything is built.

3. 03 Permits

   Maritime consent and notices

   Buoys are approved by the maritime authority, marked and lit to the rules for their area, and published in notices to mariners. Fishing communities are told of positions. Every approval is kept with the buoy record. No crew goes to site before its approvals are in place.

4. 04 Build

   Build and test on land

   Buoys are assembled with sensors, node, power and terminal, calibrated, enrolled with their identities and run on land for days. Moorings are built to the design for each position and inspected. Nothing ships until the whole kit has passed its tests together.

5. 05 Install

   Deploy from a vessel

   Crews deploy each buoy and its mooring from a vessel at the surveyed position, record the anchor position, and watch the first reports arrive before leaving. Every step is photographed. Crews follow the site safety plan throughout the work. The site record is updated before the crew leaves.

6. 06 Commission

   Commission against a reference

   Each node proves its identity. Waves are compared with a reference buoy or model over the first weeks, wind and temperature with nearby stations, and quality flags are checked. The buoy enters service when checks pass. Acceptance is recorded with the owner before handover. 13

7. 07 Operate

   Report every half hour

   Pilots, harbour masters and forecasters see waves, wind and temperature every half hour. Coastal engineers receive the long record with its flags, and drift alerts send a vessel at once if a mooring fails. Every alert and action is kept on the record. 2

8. 08 Maintain

   Swap and refurbish

   Buoys are swapped with refurbished ones on the agreed plan, sensors cleaned of fouling and recalibrated, moorings inspected and replaced, and software updated remotely. Every change is kept with the buoy record. Maintenance history stays with each site for its whole life.

06Data products and integration

What it delivers, to whom, and into which systems.

Data products

• Waves, wind and temperaturePilots, harbour masters and forecasters
• Long wave recordsCoastal engineers and designers
• Dangerous sea alertsCoastguards and beach services
• Drift alertsBuoy operators

Integration

• Weather servicesReports reach forecasting systems in their formats.
• Harbour systemsWaves and wind feed pilotage and harbour planning.
• Global data centresRecords are shared with marine data centres.

Exchanged through WMO WIS 2.0, netCDF-CF, OGC SensorThings API.

07Questions buyers ask

Before you scope it.

How long does a buoy stay out?

Until its planned swap, typically a season or more.

What if it breaks free?

Drift alerts send a vessel at once.

Is the data quality controlled?

Yes, with the real-time wave checks.

Can it measure water quality?

Sensors can be added to the hull.

08Resources

The sources behind this page.

Public standards, regulations and guidance, cited where they apply. Each applies only where its jurisdiction or scope does.

1. 1Manual for Real-Time Quality Control of In-Situ Surface Wave Data (QARTOD)U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System
2. 2GCOS-244: The 2022 GCOS Implementation PlanGlobal Climate Observing System · 2022
3. 3WMO-No. 8: Guide to Instruments and Methods of ObservationWorld Meteorological Organization

09Related

Use cases and solutions.

10Oceans: specialized fields

Other fields of this industry.

Bring us the site.

Plan a deployment, configure a station, model it in the Studio or talk to sales. The form names who receives your details.