Texas deploys buoys along coast for data collection

TEXAS — The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) is deploying 11 coastal monitoring buoys along the Texas coast, from Sabine Lake to the lower Laguna Madre, to improve data collection for environmental models.

Mark Lopez, a hydrologist with the TWDB, said the buoys are strategically placed to fill existing data gaps and will help calibrate and validate hydrodynamic and hydrologic models.

"We chose the specific areas for deployment based on whether or not there were data gaps, either in our data or in other data that we use. The data that we collect from these buoys helps to calibrate and validate the hydrodynamic and hydrologic models that we either develop in-house or help to develop with other universities and agencies," Lopez said.

The data collected is crucial for applications such as calculating freshwater inflows and predicting oil spill trajectories.

The enhanced models will aid in a variety of environmental and safety applications, providing critical information for managing Texas's coastal resources.

Anyone interested in reviewing the data can visit Water Data for Texas and meteorological data at TexMesonet.

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