National Marine Monitoring buoy network
The SEPA Marine National Environmental Monitoring Buoy Network
provides real time, high frequency environmental data from
strategic locations around the coast, as part of SEPA obligations
to monitoring the marine environment.
What is being monitored?
Continuous monitoring equipment gathers dissolved oxygen, water
temperature, salinity and chlorophyll-a data at regular intervals.
The data is stored internally and downloaded at regular maintenance
intervals.
Why monitor?
The data is used to assess the state of the marine environment
at representative locations.
Salinity is used to indicate changes in water masses. Salinity
decreases as freshwater inputs increase and oxygen is more soluble
in freshwater than seawater.
Water temperature is closely linked to seasonal changes and
oxygen becomes less soluble as the water temperature increases.
Chlorophyll-a is an indicator of the biomass of
phytoplankton. Phytoplankton blooms are common occurrences at
the start and end of the growing season in spring and autumn
however excessive phytoplankton is indicated by enhanced
abundance throughout the growing season (90%ile concentration
>15 µg/l measured from April – September). Excessive
phytoplankton growth may cause an undesirable disturbance to the
ecosystem if the decaying algae remove oxygen from the water column
and sea bed as a result of microbial breakdown.
Dissolved oxygen is one of the most important indicators of the
health of a water body and high levels are needed to support a
variety of marine life. Dissolved oxygen concentrations are
affected by salinity, temperature and phytoplankton growth.
Dissolved oxygen produced by photosynthesis may result in
supersaturation (>100%) during the growing season. Dissolved
oxygen is removed by the microbial breakdown of organic matter.
For more information, please click on a buoy location below:
Data requests
If you require any further information regarding our monitoring
buoys please direct your enquiries via email.
Disclaimer
The monitoring buoy data is gathered by SEPA to help it fulfil
its statutory duties. We publish it online because we recognise
that this information may also be useful for others, but we cannot
guarantee its currency or availability. The majority of our buoys
do not have remote telemetry and so data availability is subject to
monthly downloads when the buoys undergo maintenance.
Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the
information provided, neither Scottish Environment Protection
Agency, nor its employees or agents can be held responsible for any
inaccuracies or omissions, whether caused by negligence or
otherwise. All data should be regarded as provisional and may be
subject to later revision.