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Buoy Riders

Service calls to buoys in the middle of the ocean are anything butroutine. In April 2006, research specialist Frank Bahr and senior engineering assistant Jeff Lord from the WHOI Upper Ocean Processes Group were dropped offfor several hours by the research vessel Oceanus to conduct at-searepairson the Air-Sea Interaction Meteorology (ASIMET) buoy in the GulfStream. ASIMET sensors measure heat, sunlight, winds, precipitation,humidity, barometric pressure, air and sea surface temperatures, andsalinity. The research crew had to inspect and repair the buoy after itwas damaged, probably by a passingship. (Photo by Patrick Rowe, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)