Manly Hydraulics Laboratory - Sydney Offshore Wave Data Buoy (WAVESYD)

This is a metadata record for the Sydney offshore wave data buoy (station code WAVESYD) operated by Manly Hydraulics Laboratory (MHL), NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH). The buoy is moored off Sydney at a water depth of approximately 85m.

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.

The Sydney buoy is a direction capable wave-rider buoy made by the Dutch company Datawell. 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.