SUNAPEE – The Lake Sunapee Protective Association this week launched the first buoy in the northeast United States to measure in-lake and surface temperatures every 10 minutes throughout the year.

As part of the Global Lakes Environmental Observatory Network, the buoy joins with lakes in Wisconsin, Taiwan, New Zealand and others in what is a global network of freshwater data gathering.

The Sunapee data will become part of a database enabling scientists to study trends in fresh water bodies.

The information is particularly important as concerns about climate change and human influences grow.

The LSPA buoy will measure dissolved oxygen, temperature throughout the water column, photo-synthetically active radiation, wind direction and speed, humidity and air temperature.

LSPA's volunteers, a small cadre of retired engineers, together with students from Dartmouth College's Thayer School of Engineering launched the buoy Monday.

"We absolutely could not have done this project without a unique set of skills available to us," said LSPA Executive Director June Fichter.

The project concept began as LSPA's scientist on sabbatical, Dr. Kak Weathers, became aware of the global observatory network through her academic colleagues. After investigating the potential benefits to Lake Sunapee and the Sunapee area, it was decided that it could be done here. The project was funded by the Frey Foundation, and Fichter and Robert Wood visited Trout Lake, Wis.

Members of the LSPA buoy team include John Merriman; Dean Stetson of GK Stetson Blacksmiths in Newport; Peter Fichter; Dartmouth graduate students Albert Kang, Terrence Irving and Ryan Wheeler; scientists Weathers and Kathy Cottingham; Wayne LaPorte of LaPorte Divers, Newbury; and LSPA staff Robert Wood and Ian Rogers..

"The New Hampshire Marine Patrol was also part of the team. We discussed the project early on with them, and they were very open to the idea. As we went along, we discussed where to deploy the buoy and the mooring details. They were a great help" Fichter commented.

The buoy has a bright yellow Surlyn base, with ballast, a three-point mooring system and a topside framework, also yellow. It lies within a navigational restricted zone, so as not to interfere with boat traffic.

It is identified with "LSPA Water Quality" on the base. The data will be available on LSPA's Web site this fall.