NOAA Chooses Argonaut-MD for Buoy Measurements

San Diego, CA, September, 2006 -- In response to the nation's need for reliable and accurate real-time current data from across the world's oceans, NOAA's National Data Buoy Center (NDBC) has recently invested in 77 Real-Time Argonaut-MD (Mooring Deployment) systems designed and built by SonTek/YSI.

NDBC took delivery of the 77 units earlier this year and some are already collecting real-time data from the equatorial and northern regions of the Atlantic ocean. This real-time version of the MD was built specially for NBDC (although it is now a standard product offering) and will used on their 3, 6, and 10/12-meter buoys.

The MD is a small, light, 3-D, vector-averaging current meter capable of measuring water motion almost anywhere in the ocean. This revolutionary platform, the world's first single-point Doppler current meter, is used by research institutions and national oceanographic agencies around the globe.

In addition to using real-time MDs on individual buoys, dozens of MDs are also used on NOAA's Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO) Array now being maintained and operated by NDBC.

For more information, contact:
Christina Delfin
+1-858-546-8327
cdelfin@sontek.com

• Argonaut-MD