Virtual buoy system (VBS) to monitor coastal water quality
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What is VBS?

Estuaries and coastal zones are under influence of both climate variability and human impacts, and it is desirable to assess their water quality state and anomaly events to facilitate coastal management. The virtual buoy system (VBS) is established here to meet such needs through satellite measurements, algorithm development, data product customization, and data sharing.

The VBS is based on our Virtual Antenna System (VAS) that obtains low-level satellite data and generates higher-level data products using both NASA standard algorithms and regionally customized algorithms in near real-time.

The VB stations are predefined and carefully chosen to cover water quality gradients in estuaries and coastal waters. The VBS is operated in two ways:

●   It monitors, extracts, and integrates near real-time data into multi-year time series of a variety of water quality parameters which are displayed graphically at weekly and monthly intervals.

●   It checks diffences between weekly and monthly data and compares them with long term climatology allowing it to determine and display varying degrees of positive (reds) and negative (blues) anomalies. These anomalies can be seen on the summary tab of each virtual buoy station, a sample of which is shown below.

Click the "How VBS Works" tab above to see how it works. Further details can also be found in Hu et al. (2014)

VBS Station Summary Tab Layout
VBS Station Summary Tab Layout
Note the Moderate Positve and Negative Anomaies in the above example
VBS Sample Clickable Map
VBS Sample Clickable Map
Each VBS station page has a button to click that opens a
clickable map. Note that each clickable dot has letter identifiers
in from of the station number. This tells the user
which sub-area the dot is in. This is just a sample and
does not function to open a station, but does open this image.

How VBS Works

Three basic steps are used to implement the VBS.

The first is to prepare satellite data products from individual satellite passes. This is through the VAS. Low-level data are downloaded from U.S. NASA every day in near real-time, and then processed using SeaDAS software and software or algorithm written in house. The data products are stored in HDF files.

The second is to design the VBS locations. These are based on user needs, the processing capacity at our Optical Oceanography Laboratory (OOL), and water quality gradients in a specific region. Typically, for a region of interest, there are several to several 10s of VBS station locations. These locations are displayed on a “clickable” map (shown to the right), where a user can click on any of these pre-defined locations to visualize water quality data.

The third is to query the HDF files (step 1) for each of the locations (step 2) to extract and plot the water quality data, with results saved in ASCII data file and png image file. This step is performed once every week and every month to update all the time series data and check for anomalies.

Finally, depending on the region, the water quality data may include some or all the following parameters: sea surface temperature (SST, Co), chlorophyll-a concentration (Chla, mg m-3), turbidity (NTU), diffuse light attenuation at 490 nm (Kd(490), m-1) or secchi disk depth (SDD, m), absorption coefficient of colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM), and bottom available light (BAL, %). The description of each parameter can be found under its corresponding tab on each station's web page.

Example

Go to “Access and Download VBS Data” tab above and select one of the predefined regions. This tab has each of the regions and sub-areas represented as clickable buttons. They highlight when you hover over them. When you click on a button you will be presented with a pop-up clickable map which has all the stations on it. You may click any one of the stations on the map and be taken to the data for that station.

You will first be presented the summary tab that you saw in the previous tab on this page. However, you may click on any other tab on the station page to see the water quality time series data displayed in graph format, with an brief explaination of the data as well. You may also click the links to see the data in ASCII format. Or, you may click on the “clickable map” button found next to each station name. From this clickable map, you can get to (at least) any other station within the sub-area.

In the example below, you see the Kd(488) tab contents of West Florida Shelf Station 04. You can click on the image to see a larger one.

Kd(488) Tab of Station 04 of West Florida Shelf
Station 04 of West Florida Shelf
Note the the two graphs in the above example

Access and Download VBS Data

Currently, VBS covers selected regions in the Gulf of Mexico, Cape Code, and Persian Gulf. In the future other regions may be added, depending on user needs and processing capacity. Each region may contain sub-areas as seen in the clickable links below. Note in each case an image map will open that contains the sub-area (some image maps have more than one sub-areas). The selections below may also be found in the menu to the left under "Virtual Buoy Products", however, these are sorted by the satellite data regions from which they were derived. The current regions include:

Cape Cod

 Cape Cod Bay (COD) Clickable Map

Click On Any Station
cape_cod_bay_image COD Station 01 COD Station 02 COD Station 03 COD Station 04 COD Station 05 COD Station 06 COD Station 07 COS Station 08 COS Station 09 COD Station 10 COD Station 11 COD Station 12 COD Station 13 COD Station 14
You will be redirected to the data for that station.

Central West Florida

 Charlotte Harbor (CHH) Clickable Map

Click On Any Station
TBY Station 01 TBY Station 02 TBY Station 03 TBY Station 04 TBY Station 05 TBY Station 06 WFS Station 01 WFS Station 02 WFS Station 03 WFS Station 04 WFS Station 05 WFS Station 06 WFS Station 07 WFS Station 08 WFS Station 09 WFS Station 10 WFS Station 11 WFS Station 12 WFS Station 13 SBY Station 01 CHH Station 01 CHH Station 02 CHH Station 03
You will be redirected to the data for that station.

 Sarasota Bay (SBY) Clickable Map

Click On Any Station
TBY Station 01 TBY Station 02 TBY Station 03 TBY Station 04 TBY Station 05 TBY Station 06 WFS Station 01 WFS Station 02 WFS Station 03 WFS Station 04 WFS Station 05 WFS Station 06 WFS Station 07 WFS Station 08 WFS Station 09 WFS Station 10 WFS Station 11 WFS Station 12 WFS Station 13 SBY Station 01 CHH Station 01 CHH Station 02 CHH Station 03
You will be redirected to the data for that station.

 Tampa Bay (TBY) Clickable Map

Click On Any Station
TBY Station 01 TBY Station 02 TBY Station 03 TBY Station 04 TBY Station 05 TBY Station 06 WFS Station 01 WFS Station 02 WFS Station 03 WFS Station 04 WFS Station 05 WFS Station 06 WFS Station 07 WFS Station 08 WFS Station 09 WFS Station 10 WFS Station 11 WFS Station 12 WFS Station 13 SBY Station 01 CHH Station 01 CHH Station 02 CHH Station 03
You will be redirected to the data for that station.

 West Florida (WFS) Clickable Map

Click On Any Station
TBY Station 01 TBY Station 02 TBY Station 03 TBY Station 04 TBY Station 05 TBY Station 06 WFS Station 01 WFS Station 02 WFS Station 03 WFS Station 04 WFS Station 05 WFS Station 06 WFS Station 07 WFS Station 08 WFS Station 09 WFS Station 10 WFS Station 11 WFS Station 12 WFS Station 13 SBY Station 01 CHH Station 01 CHH Station 02 CHH Station 03
You will be redirected to the data for that station.

Florida Big Bend

 Apalachee Bay (AEB) Clickable Map

Click On Any Station
Apalachee Bay Image AEB Station 01 AEB Station 02 AEB Station 03 AEB Station 04 AEB Station 05 AEB Station 06 AEB Station 07 OAE Station 01 OAE Station 02 OAE Station 03 OAE Station 04 OAE Station 05 OAE Station 06
You will be redirected to the data for that station.

 Offshore Apalachee Bay (OAE) Clickable Map

Click On Any Station
Apalachee Bay Image AEB Station 01 AEB Station 02 AEB Station 03 AEB Station 04 AEB Station 05 AEB Station 06 AEB Station 07 OAE Station 01 OAE Station 02 OAE Station 03 OAE Station 04 OAE Station 05 OAE Station 06
You will be redirected to the data for that station.

 Steinhatchee River (STE) Clickable Map

Click On Any Station
steinhatchee_map_image STE Station 01 STE Station 02 STE Station 03 STE Station 04 STE Station 05 STE Station 06 STE Station 07 STE Station 08 STE Station 09 STE Station 10 STE Station 11 STE Station 12 STE Station 13 STE Station 14 STE Station 15 STE Station 16 STE Station 17 STE Station 18 STE Station 19 STE Station 20 STE Station 21 STE Station 22 STE Station 23
You will be redirected to the data for that station.

 Suwannee River Estuary (SUW) Clickable Map

Click On Any Station
suwannee_river_image SUW Station 01 SUW Station 02 SUW Station 03 SUW Station 04 SUW Station 05 SUW Station 06 SUW Station 07 SUW Station 08 SUW Station 09 SUW Station 10 SUW Station 11 SUW Station 12 SUW Station 13 SUW Station 14 SUW Station 15 SUW Station 16 SUW Station 17 SUW Station 18 SUW Station 19 SUW Station 20 SUW Station 21 SUW Station 22 SUW Station 23 SUW Station 24 SUW Station 25 SUW Station 26 SUW Station 27 SUW Station 28
You will be redirected to the data for that station.

Florida Keys

 Florida Reef Tract (FLK) Clickable Map

Click On Any Station
Florida_Keys_image FBY Station 01 FBY Station 02 FBY Station 03 FBY Station 04 FBY Station 05 FBY Station 06 FBY Station 07 FBY Station 08 FBY Station 09 FBY Station 10 FBY Station 11 FLK Station 01 FLK Station 02 FLK Station 03 FLK Station 04 FLK Station 05 FLK Station 06 FLK Station 07 FLK Station 08 FLK Station 09 FLK Station 10 FLK Station 11 SFL Station 01 SFL Station 02 SFL Station 03 SFL Station 04 SFL Station 05 SFL Station 06 SFL Station 07 SFL Station 08 SFL Station 09 SFL Station 10 SFL Station 11
You will be redirected to the data for that station.

 Straits of Florida (SFL) Clickable Map

Click On Any Station
Florida_Keys_image FBY Station 01 FBY Station 02 FBY Station 03 FBY Station 04 FBY Station 05 FBY Station 06 FBY Station 07 FBY Station 08 FBY Station 09 FBY Station 10 FBY Station 11 FLK Station 01 FLK Station 02 FLK Station 03 FLK Station 04 FLK Station 05 FLK Station 06 FLK Station 07 FLK Station 08 FLK Station 09 FLK Station 10 FLK Station 11 SFL Station 01 SFL Station 02 SFL Station 03 SFL Station 04 SFL Station 05 SFL Station 06 SFL Station 07 SFL Station 08 SFL Station 09 SFL Station 10 SFL Station 11
You will be redirected to the data for that station.

 Southwest Florida Bight (FBY) Clickable Map

Click On Any Station
Florida_Keys_image FBY Station 01 FBY Station 02 FBY Station 03 FBY Station 04 FBY Station 05 FBY Station 06 FBY Station 07 FBY Station 08 FBY Station 09 FBY Station 10 FBY Station 11 FLK Station 01 FLK Station 02 FLK Station 03 FLK Station 04 FLK Station 05 FLK Station 06 FLK Station 07 FLK Station 08 FLK Station 09 FLK Station 10 FLK Station 11 SFL Station 01 SFL Station 02 SFL Station 03 SFL Station 04 SFL Station 05 SFL Station 06 SFL Station 07 SFL Station 08 SFL Station 09 SFL Station 10 SFL Station 11
You will be redirected to the data for that station.

Florida Panhandle

 Apalachicola Bay (APB) Clickable Map

Click On Any Station
Apalachicola Bay Image SJB Station 01 SJB Station 02 SJB Station 03 APB Station 01 APB Station 02 APB Station 03 APB Station 04 APB Station 05 SGS Station 01 OSG Station 01 OSG Station 02 OSG Station 03 OAP Station 01 OAP Station 02 OAP Station 03 OSJ Station 01 OSJ Station 02 OSJ station 03
You will be redirected to the data for that station.

 Offshore Apalachicola Bay (OAP) Clickable Map

Click On Any Station
Apalachicola Bay Image SJB Station 01 SJB Station 02 SJB Station 03 APB Station 01 APB Station 02 APB Station 03 APB Station 04 APB Station 05 SGS Station 01 OSG Station 01 OSG Station 02 OSG Station 03 OAP Station 01 OAP Station 02 OAP Station 03 OSJ Station 01 OSJ Station 02 OSJ station 03
You will be redirected to the data for that station.

 Saint George Sound (SGS) Clickable Map

Click On Any Station
Apalachicola Bay Image SJB Station 01 SJB Station 02 SJB Station 03 APB Station 01 APB Station 02 APB Station 03 APB Station 04 APB Station 05 SGS Station 01 OSG Station 01 OSG Station 02 OSG Station 03 OAP Station 01 OAP Station 02 OAP Station 03 OSJ Station 01 OSJ Station 02 OSJ station 03
You will be redirected to the data for that station.

 Offshore Saint George Sound (OSG) Clickable Map

Click On Any Station
Apalachicola Bay Image SJB Station 01 SJB Station 02 SJB Station 03 APB Station 01 APB Station 02 APB Station 03 APB Station 04 APB Station 05 SGS Station 01 OSG Station 01 OSG Station 02 OSG Station 03 OAP Station 01 OAP Station 02 OAP Station 03 OSJ Station 01 OSJ Station 02 OSJ station 03
You will be redirected to the data for that station.

 Saint Joseph Bay (SJB) Clickable Map

Click On Any Station
Apalachicola Bay Image SJB Station 01 SJB Station 02 SJB Station 03 APB Station 01 APB Station 02 APB Station 03 APB Station 04 APB Station 05 SGS Station 01 OSG Station 01 OSG Station 02 OSG Station 03 OAP Station 01 OAP Station 02 OAP Station 03 OSJ Station 01 OSJ Station 02 OSJ station 03
You will be redirected to the data for that station.

 Offshore Saint Joseph Bay (OSJ) Clickable Map

Click On Any Station
Apalachicola Bay Image SJB Station 01 SJB Station 02 SJB Station 03 APB Station 01 APB Station 02 APB Station 03 APB Station 04 APB Station 05 SGS Station 01 OSG Station 01 OSG Station 02 OSG Station 03 OAP Station 01 OAP Station 02 OAP Station 03 OSJ Station 01 OSJ Station 02 OSJ station 03
You will be redirected to the data for that station.

 Saint Andrew Bay (SAB) Clickable Map

Click On Any Station
Saint Andrew Bay Image SAB Station 01 SAB Station 02 SAB Station 03 SAB Station 04 SAB Station 05 SAB Station 06 OSA Station 01 OSA Station 02 OSA Station 02 OSA Station 04 OSA Station 05 OSA Station 06 OSA station 07
You will be redirected to the data for that station.

 Offshore Saint Andrew Bay (OSA) Clickable Map

Click On Any Station
Saint Andrew Bay Image SAB Station 01 SAB Station 02 SAB Station 03 SAB Station 04 SAB Station 05 SAB Station 06 OSA Station 01 OSA Station 02 OSA Station 02 OSA Station 04 OSA Station 05 OSA Station 06 OSA station 07
You will be redirected to the data for that station.

 Perdido Bay (PDB) Clickable Map

Click On Any Station
Pensacola Bay Image PCB Station 01 PCB Station 02 PCB Station 03 PCB Station 04 PCB Station 05 OPC Station 01 OPC Station 02 OPC Station 03 OPC Station 04 OPC Station 05 PDB Station 01 PDB Station 02
You will be redirected to the data for that station.

 Pensacola Bay (PCB) Clickable Map

Click On Any Station
Pensacola Bay Image PCB Station 01 PCB Station 02 PCB Station 03 PCB Station 04 PCB Station 05 OPC Station 01 OPC Station 02 OPC Station 03 OPC Station 04 OPC Station 05 PDB Station 01 PDB Station 02
You will be redirected to the data for that station.

 Offshore Pensacola Bay (OPC) Clickable Map

Click On Any Station
Pensacola Bay Image PCB Station 01 PCB Station 02 PCB Station 03 PCB Station 04 PCB Station 05 OPC Station 01 OPC Station 02 OPC Station 03 OPC Station 04 OPC Station 05 PDB Station 01 PDB Station 02
You will be redirected to the data for that station.

 Choctawhatchee Bay (CWB) Clickable Map

Click On Any Station
Choctawhatchee Bay Image CWB Station 01 CWB Station 02 CWB Station 03 CWB Station 04 CWB Station 05 OCW Station 01 OCW Station 02 OCW Station 03 OCW Station 04 OCW Station 05
You will be redirected to the data for that station.

 Offshore Choctawhatchee Bay (OCW) Clickable Map

Click On Any Station
Choctawhatchee Bay Image CWB Station 01 CWB Station 02 CWB Station 03 CWB Station 04 CWB Station 05 OCW Station 01 OCW Station 02 OCW Station 03 OCW Station 04 OCW Station 05
You will be redirected to the data for that station.

Great Lakes

W. Great Lakes (WGL) Clickable Map

Click On Any Station
west_great_lakes_image GLS Station 01 GLM Station 01 GLM Station 02 GLM Station 03 GLM Station 04 GLM Station 05 GLM Station 06 GLM Station 07 GLM Station 08
You will be redirected to the data for that station.

E. Great Lakes (EGL) Clickable Map

Click On Any Station
east_great_lakes_image GLH Station 01 GLH Station 02 GLE Station 01 GLE Station 02 GLO Station 01 GLO Station 02
You will be redirected to the data for that station.

Northern Persian Gulf

N. Persian Gulf (PER) Clickable Map

Click On Any Station
north_persian_gulf_image PER Station 01 PER Station 02 PER Station 03 PER Station 04 PER Station 05 PER Station 06 PER Station 07 PER Station 08 PER Station 09 PER Station 10 PER Station 11 PER Station 12
You will be redirected to the data for that station.

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico (WPR, EPR) Clickable Map

Click On Any Station
prico_image MON Station 01 WPR Station 01 WPR Station 02 WPR Station 03 WPR Station 04 WPR Station 05 WPR Station 06 WPR Station 07 WPR Station 08 WPR Station 09 WPR Station 10 EPR Station 01 EPR Station 02 EPR Station 03 VIE Station 01 VIE Station 02 CUL Station 01 VIR Station 01 VIR Station 02 VIR Station 03
You will be redirected to the data for that station.