A multidisciplinary data buoy platform manufactured by Ocean Scientific International Ltd. (OSIL) has been installed in Dublin Bay as part of the PREDICT multidisciplinary project. This project will provide a coordinated program of coastal ocean observations that will be used to validate, calibrate, and extract as much information as possible from satellite earth observation data as an experimental proof of concept – the aim being the generation of AI models which can be used to predict environmental change in a range of environments.

The 1.9-m OSIL Fulmar buoy is recording and transmitting a variety of environmental parameters including salinity, temperature, pH, partial pressure of CO₂, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, and chlorophyll. This is in addition to a full suite of meteorological measurements.

Data from the buoy is relayed via GSM, with an Iridium satellite Short Burst Data back-up. The data is immediately available to the public via a web portal, and data from all sources will soon be publicly available on the easy-to-use PREDICT Data Portal. 

The environmental data is catalogued, mapped, and displayed in an interactive web environment, facilitating collaboration and partnership planning.

The intention is to predict and assess coastal vulnerability by systematic and sustained monitoring of physical, chemical, and biological processes occurring in coastal zones. This is attained by integrating mathematical modeling, remote and in-situ sensing, physical and chemical oceanography, and seabed mapping from various sources including the Dublin Bay buoy. These models will then contribute to future planning in a diversity of areas such as coastal mapping, flooding prediction, marine habitats and fisheries, climate change, environmental protection, and policy.

The scheme has been funded by Science Foundation of Ireland (SFI), the Geological Survey of Ireland, and the Marine Institute (MI). The project is coordinated in Dublin City University (DCU) with principal investigators (PI) in Maynooth University (MU), University College Cork (UCC), and the GSI.