NOAA Supports Trail & Voyage
THe NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office (NCBO) has been working
since early 2006 to develop and deploy a prototype buoy system
in support of the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National
Historic Trail. To develop the system, the NCBO has
collaborated with the National Park Service, National
Geographic Society, The Conservation Fund, the Chesapeake Bay
Foundation, Sultana, Verizon, and others to determine the
requirements for the interpretive buoy system. These
requirements demonstrated the need for a new type of buoy,
capable of collecting environmental data (winds, waves, and
currents) for trail users; water quality data for monitoring
the health of the Bay; and a system for communicating
historical and cultural information through cell phone
technology and shore- based computer networks to the public
and into the classroom.
In addition, NCBO will support the voyages of the
Sultana shallop on their 4 month re-creation of Smith's
exploration by providing specialized equipment on the vessel
to continuously track the boat's position, measure the
surrounding water quality properties, and report the data in
real-time on a web-based map. The first buoy will go into the
water off the Jamestown ssettlement around the first of May in
order to be tested and on-line by the May 11-13 Jamestown
celebration. Two more will follow over the next two months,
timed to be in place for the shallop's passing. These will be
located near the mouths of the Potomac and Patapsco
Rivers.
