The SmartBay Observatory in Galway Bay is an underwater observatory which uses cameras, probes and sensors to permit continuous and remote live underwater monitoring. It was installed in 2015 on the seafloor 1.5km off the coast of Spiddal, Co. Galway, Ireland at a depth of 20-25m. Underwater observatories allow ocean researchers unique real-time access to monitor ongoing changes in the marine environment. The Galway Bay Observatory is an important contribution by Ireland to the growing global network of real-time data capture systems deployed in the ocean.

Data relating to the marine environment at the Galway Observatory site is transferred in real-time through a fibre optic telecommunications cable to the Marine Institute headquarters and then made publicly available on the internet. The data includes a live video stream, the depth of the observatory node, the water temperature and salinity, and estimates of the chlorophyll and turbidity levels in the water which give an indication of the volume of phytoplankton and other particles, such as sediment, in the water. Maintenance take place on the observatory every 18 to 24 months.

A WetLabs ECO-FLNTU is installed on the observatory infrastructure. It measures the fluorescence of the seawater to give an estimate of the volume of chlorophyll present (indicative of the amount of phytoplankton in the seawater) and it measures turbidity, or the ‘cloudiness’ of the seawater, caused by the presence of particles such as sediment from the seabed suspended in the water.

The following paramaters are available: - Timestamp & Instrument Code - Date-time (time stamp from a Global Positioning System receiver at the cable observatory shore station in the format YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss.sss) - Instrument-ID (unique identifier for the instrument based on its manufacturer, model number and serial number) - Instrument clock date in the format MM/DD/YYYY - Instrument clock time in the format hh:mm:ss - Wavelength of light used to make fluorescence measurements in nanometres - Chlorophyll fluorometer instrument output (counts) (no units) - Wavelength of light used to make turbidity measurements in nanometres - Optical scattering turbidity sensor instrument output (counts) (no units) - Thermistor