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A new, high-tech wave buoy has been deployed in Cape Cod Bay, providing valuable ocean observing data to marine commerce and industry along the busy northeastern shipping routes and establishing a new Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System (PORTS) site. The deployment is the result of cooperation between The Northeastern Regional Association for Coastal Ocean Observing (NERACOOS), the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, the U.S. Geological Survey, and NOAA, the buoy measures wave height, wave period, wave direction and surface water temperature every 30 minutes.
Previously, no observing system was in place to effectively monitor conditions at the Cape Cod Canal, a busy commercial and recreational passage subject to currents reaching up to 6 knots. The new data is available in real-time to the National Weather Service, the U.S. Coast Guard, and establishes a new PORTS site for the Bay. In addition, the data is available to the general public through the NERACOOS site and the PORTS system.