The nonprofit Friends of Casco Bay has added telemetry equipment and a rooftop weather station to its existing data-collection site in Cundy’s Harbor, with plans to offer the public online access to real-time ocean and weather data.
The organization, which monitors and advocates for the health of Casco Bay, installed the equipment in late August. It was still working to set up an online dashboard for the public on its website, cascobay.org, as of mid-September.
“Everything’s in place; all the hardware is installed and ready to go,” said Mike Doan, a staff scientist at Friends of Casco Bay. “Now we just need to figure out the best way to get that information to the public.”
The upgraded equipment can measure and transmit information such as water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, acidity and nutrient levels from the harbor, along with wind, air temperature, humidity, rainfall and other weather data from the rooftop sensors.
The water quality data it collects is sent to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Doan said. It also is shared with universities and other research institutions.
“But we also want to make sure that the public has every opportunity to (access) it, as well,” he said. “It may be of use to lobstermen, or whoever needs to know about oxygen levels in the bay.”
Peter Melroy, a Holbrook Community Foundation board member, said his group agreed to let Friends of Casco Bay place the equipment at Holbrook’s Wharf because both organizations share a common goal to help the working waterfront. The foundation owns the wharf.
“Their work directly benefits the fishing community — and everyone,” Melroy said.
The monitoring station consists of multiple parts: An oblong device called a data logger is placed inside a lobster trap and submerged in the harbor to collect water quality data. Telemetry and weather sensor equipment are mounted nearby, outside the Harborside Grille @ Holbrook’s, the restaurant on the wharf.
Heather Kenyon, a science and advocacy associate at Friends of Casco Bay, said the Cundy’s Harbor monitoring station has been up and running for a few years.
To collect the data, a staff member had to visit the site, pull up the data logger from the bay and then download its information. But that will no longer be necessary, she said.
“What this is going to do is let us see the data in real time,” Kenyon said. “It’s also going to have a weather station attached to it.”
Kenyon said Friends of Casco Bay purchased the new equipment with a grant from the Casco Bay Estuary Partnership and donations from its own members.
Friends of Casco Bay has year-round monitoring stations in Harpswell, Yarmouth and Portland and maintains dozens of seasonal sites across the bay from May through October.
The group also collects targeted samples to track problems such as algal blooms and emerging contaminants, including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.
Doan, the staff scientist, said sea farmers in Harpswell might also be interested in the new data, as it can provide useful information about current growing conditions.
“Hopefully, with the telemetry in place, they’ll be able to just go online and see that data,” he said.
Doan said those interested in real-time data should keep an eye on the Friends of Casco Bay and Holbrook Community Foundation websites for further updates on when and how it can be accessed. The group also plans to add a QR code at the monitoring station for visitors to scan.
