The W1-M3A observing system is one of the most important infrastructures of CNR and it is part of the network of deep ocean European observatories. The open sea laboratory is moored in the middle of the Ligurian Sea, inside the area known as the Cetaceans' Sanctuary on the route between Genoa and Cape Corse, about 80 Km off the coast of Liguria where the water depth is about 1200 m.

The W1-M3A observing system is composed by two sub-systems, a large spar buoy (known as Oceanographic Data Acquisition System - ODAS - Italia 1, is 51 meter long and weights 12 tons) and a sub-surface mooring acquiring data from the ocean interior under the buoy and communicating with the main buoy by means of an acoustic link. The ODAS Italia 1 buoy represents the only example in Europe and one of the few in the world of a spar meteo-oceanographic buoy. The payload of the W1M3A observing system provides:

near real-time atmospheric data and bio-geochemical measurements in the euphotic zone (0-100m)
physical data from the upper thermocline (0-500m) down to the sea bed.
To access the data obtained by W1M3A please click here.