CDIP: Maintaining a Robust and Reliable Ocean Observing Buoy Network

Abstract

The Coastal Data Information Program (CDIP) is an operational wave monitoring and prediction program based at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, part of the University of California, San Diego. CDIP maintains an array of Datawell™ Waverider directional wave buoys in US and territorial waters. Primary funding is provided by the US Army Corps of Engineers, with additional funding from the State of California, the U.S. Navy, various federal agencies, and the private sector. In recent years, collaborations with NOAA's regional Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) programs have further expanded the CDIP array, which presently includes stations along the Atlantic and Pacific mainland coasts, plus Alaska, Hawaii, the South Pacific, Lake Superior, the Gulf Coast of Florida, and Puerto Rico. Collecting reliable wave buoy data begins with using high quality instruments and maintaining them properly. Working closely with the buoy manufacturer, CDIP has been expanding and improving pre-and post-deployment sensor validation capabilities. Comprehensive and well-documented quality control measures are then applied to the real-time data. Advanced diagnostics and automated messaging have been developed to provide watch keepers with real time notice of any environmental conditions, vessel interference, or technical malfunctions that invalidate the data. Newly available sensors, providing surface current and air temperature data in addition to the waves and sea surface temperature, have been beta-tested and incorporated. The current data have been applied to better understand mooring response to strong currents and effects on wave data. Lessons have been learned and applied regarding the effects of biofouling and anti-fouling measures. As a result, reliable data continue to be collected that characterize long-term wave and sea surface temperature climate, as well as wave conditions generated by major storm events such as Hurricane Florence in 2018. The growing buoy array and evolution of computing resources prompted CDIP to overhaul its data processing, metadata handling, and web hosting infrastructure in order to improve on usability, scalability, reliability, portability and security. Cloud based services are now utilized, and a variety of technologies such as the THREDDS data server, Django™ Web Framework, Django™ Rest Framework, and Docker® containers have been adopted. These forward-looking upgrades will ensure the robustness of CDIP's data management capabilities, wave model output availability, and web presence for years to come.