NOAA’s Recent Development and Test for Sea Level and Waves Measurement Systems

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) manages the National Water Level Observation Network (NWLON), a system of 210 long-term stations that provide critical water level data for marine navigation, coastal hazards monitoring, and habitat preservation across the nation. One of CO-OPs' long-term goals is to address spatial gaps in NWLON to provide coastal communities with the most local, real-time data possible to improve preparedness and response to coastal hazard events. This project supports this goal by evaluating two low-cost, small size water level and wave sensors (Vegapuls C22 and RBR Duet 3), and development of related quick deployable measurement systems that could potentially be applied to efficiently increase observation coverage. The Vegapuls C22 is a radar sensor, which measures range from above the water's surface and has applications in real-time water level and wave monitoring. The RBR Duet 3 is an internal logging, pressure and temperature sensor, which has applications in post-event analysis of the physical processes that result in coastal hazards. Results from an initial field test site focuses on quantitatively comparing both test sensors' water level observations to a NOAA tide gauge at an enclosed tributary location with low wave energy. Results from a second field test site focus on evaluating the Vegapuls C22 performance along an open ocean coast that experiences relatively high wave energy. Both water level and wave observations are compared to nearby reference sensors available at the site. . The RBR Duet 3 was also demonstrated at a third field location with limited vertical referencing and water level measuring infrastructure to simulate a realistic coastal hazard application. Results from this third site focused on utilizing a webcam for impact graphics and relying on a short term Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) survey to vertically reference water level data. Sensor performance from the three field sites will be presented, along with recommendations for future NOAA applications.