A McLane ESP and MMP have been deployed at near-real time ocean observatory located 13 miles offshore from the town of La Push, Washington within the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary. The mooring site, the Northwest Enhanced Moored Observatory (NEMO), is owned and operated by the University of Washington (UW) and the Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observing Systems (NANOOS).
The NEMO system samples meteorology and ocean properties at depths from 1 to 85 meters. The ESP is contained within the NEMO-Subsurface float 18 m below the surface. Every two to three days, the ESP collects a water sample, concentrates particulate material, and runs molecular diagnostics to detect and/or measure the abundance of harmful algae and the concentration of the toxin domoic acid. The ESP can detect a suite of Pseudo-nitzschia species, Alexandrium species and Heterosigma akashiwo. The sensor sends the information in near-real time back to land where it is available to view at ESP Now. The MMP loaded with sensors (Oxygen, turbidity, fluorescence, velocity, SUNA nitrate) profiles below the ESP: see the project’s video of how the MMP is deployed on this mooring.
