Boaters asked not to touch delicate, yellow boat-shaped buoy

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KBSI) – The Missouri Department of Conservation asks boaters to not touch a yellow boat-shaped buoy near the mouth of the Headwater Diversion Channel south of Cape Girardeau.

“This buoy, which is one of several deployed in the Mississippi River basin by the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC), allows MDC to monitor the water for oxygen, temperature, nutrients, water clarity, and collects data on wind and sunlight,” said MDC’s Long Term Resource Monitoring (LTRM) Program Supervisor and Scientist Molly Sobotka. “This information helps MDC understand the water quality in the river, regional differences in river reaches, and how sediments flow through the system.”

Sobotka says the project is made possible by the department’s long-standing partnership with NGRREC.

“This location is one of several that comprise NGRREC’s Great Rivers Ecological Observatory Network (GREON),” she said. “The mission of the GREON project is to advance our understanding of large-floodplain river ecology by collecting and sharing high resolution data on key water quality parameters with scientists, managers, and the public.”

Sobotka says the work in Cape Girardeau is an important step in establishing this network.

Data from the buoy will help scientists understand how major events like floods impact the river in “near real-time.” It will measure hourly water quality and weather data. The data is collected during floods or storms when it would otherwise be difficult or dangerous to collect manually, according to Sobotka.

“I and the other scientists involved with the project request that boaters, anglers, and hunters avoid disturbing this equipment,” she said. “The buoy’s monitoring equipment is fragile and near impossible to replace.”