thegomoosmooredbuoyarray.docVIP

The GoMOOS Moored Buoy Design John P. Wallinga University of Maine Orono, ME 04469 (207) 581-4321/(207) 581-4332 johnw@ Neal R. Pettirew University of Maine Orono, ME 04469 (207) 581-4384/(207) 581-4332 nealp@ James D. Irish Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Woods Hole, MA 02543 (508) 289-2732/(508) 457-2195 jirish@  Abstract- The Gulf of Maine Ocean Observing System (GoMOOS) was started in part as a prototype for sustained regional ocean observing systems in energetic environments. The central observational element of GoMOOS is the real-time buoy array deployed in a region with very little history of successful year-round scientific surface mooring deployments. In addition, a sustained observing system needed an electrical and mechanical buoy architecture that could accommodate additional payloads, and the emerging sensors and technologies expected to be available over the next 5-10 years. The GoMOOS Buoy system was designed with these general guidelines in mind, and is capable of accommodating on the order of 100 surface and subsurface sensors. The buoy is stable enough to perform with several hundred pounds of ice on its superstructure, and a technician can safely stand on the float to perform maintenance in light seas. The buoy is approximately 2 m in diameter and is deployable from relatively small research and fishing vessels. I. INTRODUCTION The Gulf of Maine is an economically vital, biologically rich, and physically diverse oceanographic and climatological environment. Spanning approximately 7,500 miles of coast line, 36,000 square miles of ocean, and surrounding approximately 5,000 islands from the Bay of Fundy to Cape Cod Bay, the Gulf of Maine’s high primary productivity has made this marginal sea one of the most productive fishing grounds on the Northeastern Seaboard. The Gulf’s complex array of banks and other submarine features range in depth from 4 to 500 meters. The basin’s geometry, near resonant response to the North