Manly Hydraulics Laboratory - Byron Bay Offshore Wave Data Buoy (WAVEBYB)

This is a metadata record for the Byron Bay offshore wave data buoy (station code WAVEBYB) operated by Manly Hydraulics Laboratory (MHL), NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH). The buoy is moored off Byron Bay at a water depth of approximately 65m.

This metadata record includes a down-loadable .pdf summary document which includes a map with numbered deployment locations and a listing of deployment number, location, water depth and deployment period.

Data from October 1976 to October 1999 was gathered by the Waverider system developed by the Dutch company, Datawell. The Waverider system uses an accelerometer mounted in a loose tethered buoy (0.7 or 0.9m in diameter) to measure the vertical accelerations of the buoy as it moves with the water surface. The accelerations are integrated twice within the buoy and the displacement signal so obtained is then transmitted to a shore station where it is processed to provide wave data statistics.

In October 1999 the station was upgraded with a Datawell Directional Waverider buoy. The Directional Waverider buoy utilises a heave-pitch-roll sensor, two fixed X and Y accelerometers and a three axis fluxgate compass to measure both vertical and horizontal motion. An on-board processor converts the buoy motion to three orthogonal (vertical, north-south, east-west) translation signals that are transmitted to the shore station. The directional spectrum is also routinely transmitted to the receiving station for further processing. This buoy also collects sea surface temperature (SST) data from thermistors that are mounted inside the hull of the buoys, at the base of the buoy about 0.5m below the water surface. The wave and SST data are stored on the receiving station PC before routine transfer to Manly Hydraulics Laboratory via email.