Abstract
In this work, a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) buoy that utilizes a Virtual Base Station (VBS) combined with the Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) positioning technology was developed to monitor water surface elevations in estuaries and coastal areas. The GNSS buoy includes a buoy hull, a RTK GNSS receiver, data-transmission devices, a data logger, and General Purpose Radio Service (GPRS) modems for transmitting data to the desired land locations. Laboratory and field tests were conducted to test the capability of the buoy and verify the accuracy of the monitored water surface elevations. For the field tests, the GNSS buoy was deployed in the waters of Suao (northeastern part of Taiwan). Tide data obtained from the GNSS buoy were consistent with those obtained from the neighboring tide station. Significant wave heights, zero-crossing periods, and peak wave directions obtained from the GNSS buoy were generally consistent with those obtained from an accelerometer-tilt-compass (ATC) sensor. The field tests demonstrate that the developed GNSS buoy can be used to obtain accurate real-time tide and wave data in estuaries and coastal areas.
Highlights
Real-time tide data for estuaries are usually employed as boundary conditions in simulations of river water levels to assess flood risks
A Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) buoy was established, and laboratory and field tests were conducted to verify the capability of the device and the accuracy of the monitored water surface elevations
The 1-D wave spectrum and the directional wave spectrum of the water surface elevation obtained from the GNSS buoy were compared with those obtained from the ATC sensor
Summary
Real-time tide data for estuaries are usually employed as boundary conditions in simulations of river water levels to assess flood risks. A pile can be set up and used as an observation platform, piles are expensive, and the piles in such areas are subject to bed scouring, which increases the difficulty of performing long-term monitoring of tides and waves. Floating data buoys have been verified to be reliable platforms for ocean monitoring and they have been deployed worldwide to provide long-term and real-time meteorological and oceanographic data, such as wind speed and direction, barometric pressure, air and water temperatures, wave height, period and direction, and current speed and direction [1]. Conventional data buoys do not measure tides or water surface elevations. Global Positioning System (GPS) buoys have been developed to measure tide or ocean surface wave data. Kato et al [2] developed a GPS buoy with a single-frequency Real-Time
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