A small buoy for flux measurement in air-sea boundary layer

As the promising flux measure area is within the air-sea boundary layer, a flux buoy is a better choice. Generally, large vessels have to be used in these flux monitoring tasks with buoys. This paper describes a small buoy which is supported by national ocean technology center for flux measurement in air-sea boundary layer, capable of rapidly deployment and accurately measuring atmospheric and sea surface variables. It can be easily dissembled, carried, deployed and acquire meteorological and hydrological data, such as pressure, temperature and wind speed. The algorithm, which is based on the Monin-Obukhov similarity theory, the structure, which has an anti-rotation character, sensors installed on the buoy which have high accuracy and good stability and the process of the buoy control system are introduced in details. The buoy has been deployed in a sea area as a field test, and has a promising result. Compared to the traditional flux buoy, the small flux buoy is not only small and light in weight, and also can be used for flexible, low-cost and effective flux measurement. Besides, its low cost makes measurement in wide range possible. The buoy provides a new solution for air-sea flux monitoring and data source for flux model algorithm research.