The Cayo Enrique CO2 buoy, one of only eleven in the entire world, is back on station after being recovered for annual maintenance on January 11th, 2017. Personnel from the University of New Hampshire, the Department of Marine Sciences UPR-RUM, and CARICOOS reconditioned the buoy and re-calibrated the instruments in order to provide another year of data related to ocean acidification monitoring. This marked the eighth year of measuring CO2 in air and seawater, along with seawater temperature and salinity in the coral reef area of La Parguera, Lajas, Puerto Rico. The data provided by the buoy serves to identify seasonal and annual variations in seawater chemistry at the regional and local levels. This year the science team hopes to answer key questions regarding carbonate chemistry and its relationship with increased ocean acidity caused by CO2 emissions to the atmosphere. Stay tuned for the results! 

Buoy data and further info can be found at CARICOOS/OceanAcidification and PMEL/LaParguera.