For long term monitoring of ecological and oceanographic processes in the northernmost part of the Adriatic Sea at border of Area Marina Protetta di Miramare.
MAMBO Buoy (Monitoraggio AMBientale Operativo == ENVironmental Operative Monitoring) - History of the time series. Mambo buoy was the first weather-marine coastal station installed in the northern Adriatic, able to detect the main meteorological and oceanographic parameters in near rela time.
Launched in September 1998, MAMBO has been operational since January 1999; it is anchored at a depth of about 17 m, at outer limit of the Marine Protected Area of Miramare, in the Gulf of Trieste, in the northernmost part of the Adriatic Sea (45° 41'95" N and 13° 42'99" E); it is part of the Adriatic Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) site, together with biological time-series C1.
The system was developed by OGS (at time Osservatorio Geofisico Sperimentale), at the request of WWF and of the Marine Protected Area of Miramamare, and took advantage of previous experiences of measurement and design in the Sicilian Channel and in the Gulf of Trieste.
Over the years, there have been several imodifications in the configuration of the acquisition system; they are summarized in the technical details.
It should be highlighted that, from 1999 to 2004, the sensors for the determination of the temperature, conductivity, pressure, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, pH, and chlorophyll have operated in profiliyng mode, by performing a vertical profile along the water column every three hours.
Since 2005, however, the sensors for the hydrological properties have acquired data at a constant depth, initially at 10 m, and later also at 2 and 15 m in depth.
The MAMBO-1 buoy of Miramare has also served as a testing laboratory for other buoys, variously configured, still working even for Civil Protection of Friuli Venezia Giulia.