Pioneering meteorological buoy deployed in the Northern Barents sea by SAIL IORAS team

As part of the 96th expedition on the research vessel "Akademik Mstislav Keldysh," our team from the Sea-Air Interactions Laboratory of the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IO RAS) conducted a unique operation: the deployment of a moored meteorological buoy in the northern Barents Sea.

The meteorological buoy is equipped with an extensive array of measurement instruments. Among the standard equipment for such operations, it measures atmospheric pressure, air temperature and humidity, and wind characteristics with high precision. Additionally, it records incoming short- and long-wave radiation, CO2 concentration, and precipitation amounts. In the upper layer of the ocean, the buoy measures wave characteristics, temperature, salinity, acidity (pH), and CO2 concentration.

The moored buoy was installed at a depth of 170 meters at coordinates 78° 32.8646' N and 057° 41.4303' E. This deployment will provide information not only about the current weather and sea surface conditions but also about the dynamics of one of the most climatically active greenhouse gases, CO2. The measured data are transmitted to the IO RAS server in real-time.

The installation of a moored buoy, along with carbon polygons on land and in coastal marine areas, is a critical step in the implementation of the Most Important Innovative Project of National Importance on climate namely "Unified National Monitoring System for Climatically Active Substances" and the Federal scientific and technical program in the field of environmental development of the Russian Federation and climate change for 2021-2030.

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