/>

Ocean buoy to provide real-time data on marine pollution

The system developed by Cusat deployed in Cochin estuary

Published - December 11, 2019 02:28 am IST - KOCHI

The ocean data buoy system will monitor water quality parameters like temperature, salinity, and pH value in the Cochin estuary.

The ocean data buoy system will monitor water quality parameters like temperature, salinity, and pH value in the Cochin estuary.

An ocean data buoy system deployed in the Cochin estuary by researchers at the Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) will now provide real-time data on marine pollution and a variety of other water-quality parameters every 10 minutes.

The real-time retrieval of data was inaugurated by Vice Chancellor K.N. Madhusoodanan here on Tuesday. The buoy was deployed by a team led by R. Sajeev and V. Vijith of the department of physical oceanography, at the estuary on December 7.

“It can monitor various water quality parameters like temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, and pH value in the Cochin estuary. The system uses state-of-the-art water quality sensors in a wide variety of natural environments such as estuaries and near-shore waters. It will transfer data in near real-time via mobile GPRS every 10 minutes to a receiving station located in our department,” said Dr. Sajeev.

The system was installed with support from the National Higher Education Mission and the seed money for new research projects initiated by the varsity. Dr. Sajeev and Dr. Vijith said the aim was to develop a permanent station at the Cochin estuary maintained by the department and to generate long-term data sets for scientific research.

“The very high resolution data will be useful in studying the physical and chemical variability of the estuary and can be used to validate models used for predictions. The targeted application of the system comprises different perspectives, which include marine pollution, bio-geochemical monitoring and modelling, impacts of climate change, ecosystem conservation and restoration, and public health,” they added.

The researchers said data accessibility played an important role in informing and educating the general public on the variability in water quality. “The end product [water quality forecast] will be available for the public at a later stage. Meanwhile, it requires a quality check-up and validation procedures. Till then, it will be available for the scientific community only,” said Dr. Sajeev.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.