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 Teledyne RDI Workhorse Broadband 600KHz acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP ) is mounted on the observatory infrastructure. It is approximately two metres above the seabed, looking up towards the sea surface. Data are collected every minute for 1.0m depth bins from approx. 1 metre above the instrument to the surface.

Data are collected in RDI's PD0 binary format (more information is available from the link: http://spiddal.marine.ie/data.html#adcp). The .PD0 raw files are processed as they are collected and the real time values for the Near Surface and Mid Water Current Speeds and Directions are extracted. The extracted values are displayed in near-real-time on smartbay.marine.ie. The processed data is also provided via an ERDDAP data server allowing the data to be downloaded in a range of open formats.

Dataset properties include: Serial number, Time (UTC), Bin number, Beam Angle, Correlation values, Depth, Direction, Echo Intensity, Magnetic Compass Heading, Instrument Id, Latitude, Longitude, Percent good, Roll, Salinity (PSU), Sound Speed, Temperature, Velocity.