W1-M3A Observing System

The W1-M3A observing system continuously collects meteorological and near surface (from 0 down to 40 m water depth) oceanographic measurements in near real time integrated over an hourly basis. Data received ashore are quality checked and made available to the scientific community as well as public users on a graphical form on the observatory web site. Services provided by the W1-M3A observatory can be used for analysis in the field of air-sea interaction (i.e.,investigation of the atmospheric boundary layer, model evaluation, air pollution transfer model, etc.) and physical oceanography (i.e., water mass transport, biomass migration, wind-wave coupling, etc.). The service of the W1-M3A site includes graphical representations of the near surface water quality as well as heat budgets, updated on a weekly basis. The W1-M3A observatory is part of the FixO3 network of open ocean marine observing sites.