Modernizing CMOP's Plume Buoy
Ahead of its 2025 deployment, CRITFC’s CMOP Field Team completed a major refurbishment and modernization of the Columbia River Plume buoy (SATURN-02)—CMOP’s largest and most complex buoy, thanks in part to IIJA funds received from IOOS. This effort marked the first time the program’s new field staff fully rebuilt, upgraded, and deployed the buoy. Key improvements included integrating and coding a new microcontroller to manage buoy operations and real-time communications, as well as upgrading to improve safety and recovery operations. The buoy successfully collected and telemetered biogeochemical data during the 2025 coastal upwelling season. This effort strengthened the resilience of a critical observing asset and demonstrated CMOP’s growing in-house capacity to build, deploy, and operate advanced ocean observing systems.
More About CMOP
