Minderoo Foundation’s smart buoys deployed along WA coast to gain real-time marine heatwave data

New high-tech smart buoys are being launched along the WA coast to monitor the impacts of a marine heatwave caused by La Niña conditions. Eight buoys will be placed along the coast from the North West to Perth to provide real-time monitoring allowing scientists to build predictive models and inform the public about the impacts of ocean warming. They can measure temperature, wind and waves and connect to a global monitoring network via satellite where the data would be displayed and accessible to the public. The project is a collaboration between Minderoo Foundation, Aqualink, The University of Western Australia, Integrated Marine Observing System and State and Federal researchers. It comes as WA experiences high sea temperatures which researchers expect could rise over the next few months to the highest level in nearly a decade, which may trigger coral bleaching and other devastating impacts on marine life. Minderoo Foundation’s Flourishing Oceans chief executive Dr Tony Worby said the new buoys would measure real time impacts of La Niña. “Whilst we are excited about the new technology and the ability it gives us to measure this event, if the water temperatures reach the levels expected, it will be akin to watching a tragedy unfold in real time, in high definition,” he said. UWA Oceans Graduate School Professor Ryan Lowe said researchers could not access real time data during the last La Niña event from 2010 to 2012. “During the last La Niña, high sea temperatures damaged many of Western Australia’s iconic coastal ecosystems, causing mass coral bleaching and mortality of seagrasses and kelp forests — many of which have still not recovered,” he said.