The SmartBay Observatory in Galway Bay is an important contribution by Ireland to the growing global network of real-time data capture systems deployed within the ocean. Installed on the seafloor 1.5km off the coast of Spiddal, the observatory uses cameras, probes and sensors to permit continuous and remote live underwater monitoring. Data relating to the marine environment at the site is transferred in real-time from the SmartBay Observatory through a fibre optic telecommunications cable to the Marine Institute headquarters and then made publicly available on the internet.

A WetLabs ECO-FLNTU fluorometer 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.

This dataset comprises of measurements taken from the fluorometer, including the concentration of chlorophyll and the turbidity of the seawater.

Suggested Citation: Marine Institute. (2026) SmartBay Observatory Fluorometer Data (Processed) [Data set]. Marine Institute, Ireland. doi: https://doi.org/10.20393/508B6374-33AF-48A4-A6B0-F544911774F0