Camera Buoy

Versions of the camera buoys, designed to measure growth in the open ocean from visual imagery and provide a power and data-transfer platform for additional bolt-on sensors, evolved as macroalgae buoy designs changed.

The first camera buoys were designed around a "long-line" system architecture. These were used to capture early macroalgae growth imagery in the North Atlantic, demonstrating important early proof-points.

After we shifted our development focus to a seeded buoy design, we changed the form-factor of the camera buoy to accommodate capturing imagery of a material sample in a netting enclosure. We improved upon these initial "cage buoys," ultimately deploying "Cam-Lite" buoys which were dematerialized with decreased power requirements and aluminum enclosures (just like the Trajectory Buoys).

All camera buoys used a UV anti-biofouling system, which proved highly effective. Lenses were kept clear, even in coastal tests, allowing for the effective collection of visual imagery data over extended periods of time.

Cam-Lite buoys had 7x smaller solar, 4x smaller battery, and 2x lower overall weight (with 5x less plastic) than the original Cage Buoys.

Camera buoy design ideas. Ultimately, we built the version depicted in the lower right.

The first buoys developed to capture imagery of the "carbon buoy" intervention design

A "Cam-Lite" buoy, the result of a major effort to meet ecological impact goals by reducing plastics and power consumption

Camera buoys generally performed well in the open ocean, capturing critical data during the deployment of terrestrial biomass to understand wood chip float time distribution. They also captured growth imagery from the Open Ocean Growth Experiments (OOGEs) which we compared to lab data from the ORCA project.