Observing Systems

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The Horn Point Laboratory Physical Oceanography group is currently involved with several research programs to expand our scientific understanding through environmental observation systems.

cbos buoy being prepared for deploymentChesapeake Bay Observing System

The Chesapeake Bay Observing System (CBOS) has pioneered the use of real-time data streams for the Chesapeake Bay. Under the direction of Dr. Bill Boicourt, the system is currently being expanded to integrate other institutions and observations.

Estuarine and coastal circulation

HPL investigators Dr. Bill Boicourt and Dr. Larry Sanford use CTD measurements as well as towed instrument platforms that can be flown from the surface at any depth in the water column to take rapid high resolution measurements of the physical and optical properties of the water. This section of oxygen shows mixing associated with the Chesapeake Bay hydraulic control point.

Sediment and turbulence

New technologies for simultaneous observations of turbulence, turbidity, particle size, and particle sinking velocity using an integrated water column profiler, which we call the DIFIK are being developed at HPL by Dr. Larry Sanford.

remote sensing satelliteRemote Sensing

Satellite and aircraft based remote sensing gives us information about the ocean surface on large spatial scales. Using Ocean color measurements, Drs. Victoria Coles and Larry Harding recently discovered an echo phytoplankton bloom which was using recycled nitrogen from nitrogen fixation for a nutrient source. Aircraft based measurements over the Chesapeake Bay have revealed trends in surface phytoplankton biomass.