Site notes The Middle Tampa Bay station is physically located in Tampa Bay at 27° 39.708' N (27.661 N) and 82° 35.669' W (82.594 W) on a platform. Mounted on the platform is an instrument tower which houses: Wind Speed/Direction and Barometric Pressure sensors. Marine instrumentation includes Water Temperature, Salinity and Wave gage sensors. Also deployed on the the platform is a Satlantic ISUS sensor to monitor the concentration of Nitrate. A particular attribute unique to this nitrate sensor is that no chemical manipulations are necessary. The nitrate concentration is determined by deconvoluting the ultraviolet absorption spectrum of the seawater. Data from the site is transmitted via the GOES satellite as well line-of-site radio. Site funding is via the Univeristy of South Florida Center for Excellence and Office of Naval Research. For more details on the ISUS sensor, please contact Kent A. Fanning (kaf@marine.usf.edu) and Rob Masserini (masserin@marine.usf.edu), Oceanic Nutrient Laboratory (http://www.marine.usf.edu/nutrients/), USF. The site became an operational coastal station on 04/09/2008.

NoteThe tower was run over by Tug-Barge on Aug 23, 2008. The data logger, meteorological sensors and communication equipment were damaged and no data available at this time. Please check back later.