Abstract:

          This paper presents a new ocean environment continuous monitoring system to solve marine biofouling problem and to increase the lifetime of oceanographic instrumentations. The system is embedded in a large ocean data buoy and pumps seawater into a container to measure data with seawater sampling method. The system then washes the container and sensors with disinfectant and fresh water. The monitoring data is transmitted to a onshore control center and compared with that of the common instrumentations. Experiments show that the system can extend the lifetime of a water quality  sensor  to at least one year and improve its long term accuracy and reliability.

Key words: ocean data buoy, water quality monitoring, marine biofouling