UKMO Gets More AXYS Watchman Systems

Planet Ocean has provided several more AXYS Watchman (WM-500) data acquisition and telemetry systems to the UK Met office (UKMO) this year.

The WM-500 can be configured to control a large variety of sensors providing data manipulation, logging and have the ability to interface with a variety of communication systems. The UK Met Office (UKMO) are using these systems in their range of inshore and offshore data buoy hulls provided by a growing range of manufacturers. The WM-500 modules can easily be accommodated in all but the smallest hulls and can be connected in such a way as to provide dual redundancy if required. The availability of the latest NEXT WAVE II directional wave sensor will allow future systems to carry two wave sensors as well as two sets of meteorological sensors.

The Met Office are in the process of upgrading their entire marine network which includes in-shore and open-ocean ODAS buoys, light vessel installations in the English channel for shipping forecast support and systems installed on remote Scottish Islands around Shetland to support shipping movements into Sella Ness, essentially for pollution mitigation.

Peter Fenna Marine Engineering & Development Manager at the Met Office commented: “The Watchman’s supplied by Planet Ocean & AXYS will be at the centre of these systems hand have been chosen for the reliability & dependability.”

In the recent collaboration between the UKMO and Plymouth marine Lab (PML) a new buoy system was deployed at site E1, which is a long term time series station within the Western Channel Observatory. As well as incorporating the WM-500 control modules and meteorological sensors the data buoys deployed off Plymouth also carry a comprehensive range of sub surface biogeochemistry sensors, including the recent addition of a Satlantic SeaFET pH sensor. These systems have been provided by Planet Ocean partners Sea-Bird, WET Labs and Satlantic.

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Press Release, November 29, 2013