(this is the confusing version made for the scientists only. No kids want to read this)

The primary cluster of water quality sensors will measure temperature, specific conductivity, turbidity, pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), chlorophyll and fluorescence. YSI sondes were used for the primary reading measurements. The sondes were swapped every two weeks and calibrated while out of the buoy. Additional Turner Designs sensors were incorporated into the buoy setup. A Turner Design chlorophyll and phycocyanin sensor were deployed. The outputs of these sensors were from the 0-5 Volt range. The datalogger could only handle a 0 - 2.5 Volt range, therefore a voltage divider circuit was incorporated. These sensors were approximately 1 meter in depth below the buoy. A temperature string, Nexsens TS110, was used in order to collect the water temperature at 1 meter increments from the buoy to the bottom of the lake bed. The data was collected and stored in a remote database for future analysis and interpretation.

On the lake shore, a meteorological station was setup in order to gather weather data on the shore. The Viasala WXT510 was used at the lake. The station was located at a point close to the deployed buoy within the lake. The station gathered the following information; wind speed, wind direction, humidity, barometric pressure, relative humidity, air temperature, total rain and rain intensity. A light intensity meter, pyranometer, was used also at this location.

The communications scheme for the buoy was setup in order to utilize low cost equipment with easy setup and low maintenance. Nexsens dataloggers were used in order to collect and transmit all data from the buoy and weather station at Oneida Lake. A 4100-iSIC Spread Spectrum Radio Telemetry datalogger was used to transmit and receive data from the weather station and the buoy. The 4100 allowed for the end user to remotely configure the setup at either location. A 4200-iSIC Radio to Phone iSIC was used at a house on the lake in order to receive all of the data from the two 4100 dataloggers. A modem communication link was used in order to transmit/receive data between the 4200 and the remote computer at O'Brien and Gere. The remote computer would call for data on an hourly basis. The data would be uploaded into the iChart software suite and a database. The data would also be forwarded to an ftp server in order to allow external access to the data by SUNY ESF and O'Brien and Gere.