The Makings of a High Resolution Coastal Monitoring Program

Typical ocean monitoring methods such as vessel transects, remote sensing, and single depth stationary platforms rarely provide the resolution required to characterize coastal ocean dynamics. Data collection at high temporal frequencies over multiple years, at high vertical and horizontal spatial resolution, is needed to capture changes at biologically relevant scales for aquaculture and other applications. The Centre for Marine Applied Research (CMAR) operates a Coastal Monitoring Program to fill this critical gap in ocean data for the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. This Program maintains a network of nearshore oceanographic stations that measure Water Quality variables (temperature, dissolved oxygen, salinity) several times per hour, with continuous time series up to 8 years in length. Coastal Current and Wave data measured by provincial partners are also integrated into the Program, with CMAR providing data processing services. CMAR has developed a suite of R packages to partially automate data processing, quality control, and visualization for all data branches. Clear and consistent Data Management procedures ensure production of high-quality data products. Summary reports with deployment details and data figures designed for “at-a-glance” assessment are available on the CMAR website, and complete datasets can be downloaded for free from online repositories. These data products have a diverse range of users and help support industry, governance, and research. Data collection is on-going, with efforts to continue building long-term datasets, increase spatial coverage, and monitor additional variables.