Power
About MARS
The MARS observatory (and other cabled ocean observatories) provide oceanographic instruments with a full-time power and data connection to shore. Such observatories allow instruments to operate indefinitely, and to perform more power-hungry measurements than would be possible under battery power.
Wave-Power Buoy
The power buoy has been in development for since 2009, and has been deployed and recovered six times over the past four years. Modifications after each deployment have increased the power buoy’s efficiency and the amount of time it can spend out in the ocean.
Experimental wave-power buoy survives winter in Monterey Bay
Feb 4, 2015 – In early January 2015, a team of MBARI engineers, led by Andy Hamilton, set out to sea to recover an experimental buoy that creates electrical energy from ocean waves. This power buoy had been deployed six miles southwest of Moss Landing Harbor for 131 days, while engineers tested the system’s ability to handle storms.
About MBARI
Research programs at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) encompass the entire ocean, from the surface waters to the deep seafloor, and from the coastal zone to the open sea. The need to understand the ocean in all its complexity and variability drives MBARI's research and development efforts.