Cyclops Integrated into LakeESP Monitoring Buoy

Parameters: In Vivo Chlorophyll

The Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), the largest limnological research institute in Germany, recently installed a LakeESP (Environmental Sensing Platform) in Lake Stechlin for monitoring various aquatic and meteorological parameters. The LakeESP is a complete monitoring buoy for long-term water quality monitoring and management. Water data include temperature, dissolved oxygen, Chlorophyll, PAR and pressure. Meteorological data include wind speed and direction, humidity, air temperature, barometric pressure, liquid precipitation and net long and short wave radiation. Data are collected every minute and telemetered via GSM cell phone to IGB headquarters every hour.

IGB’s mission is to understand the structures and processes within aquatic ecosystems and lay the foundations for improved management. The LakeESP serves as a reference station of IGB’s LakeLab, which is a new large enclosure facility in Lake Stechlin used for experiments to assess climate change impacts on lakes. The unique infrastructure was made possible through generous funding by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Lake Stechlin is an oligotrophic hardwater lake formed 12,000 years ago and one of the deepest and clearest lakes of the southern Baltic lake district.

LakeESP is manufactured by Precision Measurement Engineering, Inc., a company that has provided various sensors and systems to international researchers for over 25 years. The buoy includes an above surface data logger able to telemeter data via GSM cell phone, meteorology sensors, and a T-Chain temperature string able to house a variety of sensors such as the Turner Designs Cyclops.

Institution: The Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) Germany