Since 1991, shelf and slope waters of the Southern Bay of Biscay are regularly
sampled in a monthly hydrographical section north of Santander, and on June 2007,
an ocean meteorological buoy was moored at the end of Santander Section (www.
boya_agl.st.ieo.es). Both are part of IEOOS (IEO Observing System). Biscay AGL is
one observatory for the EU FixO3 project. Many sensor networks have been deployed
to monitor marine environment, and more will follow in the future. Due to
the large number of sensor technologies, integrating diverse sensors into observation
systems is not straightforward. By defining standardized service interfaces (like
those based on OGC standards) it is possible to enable access to sensor networks
and archived sensor data that can be discovered and accessed using standard protocols
and application programming interfaces, therefore complying with the requirements
of the INSPIRE directive. Future developments include the deployment of a
full sensor network as well as adding new devices to the Biscay AGL tool in order
to achieve a deeper knowledge of the ocean. Biscay AGL is more than the combination
of the AGL Buoy and the hydrographical samplings. This observatory produces
not only time series of several parameters at different time resolutions but also derived
products, both in real and in delayed time. Derived products from this buoy include
annual cycles as well as anomalies of physical and biogeochemical magnitudes
like air-sea heat fluxes, salinity and water temperatures, sub inertial currents, surface
chlorophyll. Different products are derived from in-situ measurements at the AGL
buoy like estimates of the mixed layer depth, wind and currents roses and wave intensity
diagrams
