Riders on the Storm - CARICOOS Moored Oceanographic Data Buoys during the 2017 Hurricane Season

The active 2017 Atlantic hurricane season saw the passage of two powerful Category 5 storms, Hurricanes Irma and Maria, that caused widespread damage in the US Caribbean region. These storms passed across the Caribbean Coastal Ocean Observing System (CARICOOS), a network of observing assets, including data oceanographic buoys, coastal meteorological stations and high-frequency (HF) radar arrays capable of monitoring real-time oceanographic and meteorological conditions. However, due to storm damage on land and the loss of shoreside power and local communication network most of the land-based observing assets were unable to operate. The four real-time oceanographic data buoys, located in the coastal waters of Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands, were able to measure oceanographic data from these storms, providing real-time data via satellite of winds, surface waves, air and water temperature, salinity, and currents. The acquired data provides useful information to validate and fine-tune numerical forecasting models and provides the opportunity to assess the impact of the storms on coastal ocean processes in the region. Moreover, the buoys performance during the storms also confirms the adequacy of the mooring design. Key design features of the buoys that allowed continuous operation during the storms were (1) significant reserve buoyancy, allowing the buoys to avoid submergence, at the expense of increased risk of anchor motion during the storm, (2) robust construction of welded structural aluminum (3) dual real-time communication systems, (4) dual wind sensors, (5) site placement, (6) attention to details such as the use of stainless-steel hardware and Delrin isolators for dissimilar metals.