New Buoy Deployed in Frying Pan Shoals

Photo courtesy of the National Data Buoy Center.

On November 11, The National Data Buoy Center launched a new buoy in Frying Pan Shoals about 0.5 nautical miles south of the Painted red to double as a Navigational Aid for the United States Coast Guard, the buoy is equipped with several important sensors to improve the data stream in this region.The buoy carries a wave direction sensor that provides the direction of the primary swell and primary wind waves,and uses a NOAA buoy hull to help provide more accurate wave information.The dew-point sensor helps to forecast sea fog, and the buoy carries redundant anemometers and barometers.

This station will provide the National Weather Service with important information much closer to the sea surface than the previous station (the Light Tower, some 44 meters up) and will also provide recreational and commercial boaters with near real-time information on an hourly basis.