About

About Spotter Platform

Spotter is a solar-powered ocean buoy that measures wave height, period and direction alongside wind, temperature, pressure and position. Satellite communications transmit observations to Sofar’s cloud platform, while onboard storage preserves measurements during temporary link interruptions.

Smart Mooring extensions add subsurface temperature, pressure, current and water-quality sensors at selected depths. Operators configure sampling, view live conditions and export data through the Spotter dashboard and API. The platform supports offshore energy, marine operations, forecasting and environmental monitoring.

Capabilities

Source-backed capabilities

Workflows: Ocean monitoring workflow
Environmental monitoring
Claimed - Sofar presents Spotter for real-time wave, weather and sea-surface observations with satellite connectivity.
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Timeline

Sofar Ocean upgrades Spotter Dashboard for fleet operations
2026-02-19 - Capability - The update improves responsiveness for large fleets and adds clearer charts, maps and historical observation breadcrumbs. New data products include wave spectra and second-resolution spectrograms alongside expanded oxygen, salinity and acoustics streams. Device sampling, logging, transmission formats and APIs remain unchanged for deployed Spotters.
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National Hurricane Center operationalises Sofar Spotter observations
2024-09-18 - Deployment - Forecasters use Spotter wave, wind, sea-surface-temperature and pressure observations in data-sparse ocean regions. The observations help validate models, verify current conditions and support short-term adjustments to wave forecasts. The operational feed includes Sofar's global drifting network and airdropped Spotters used around severe storms.
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Spotter matches ADCP current measurements in 24-day field comparison
2024-06-25 - Demonstration - Across a 24-day field comparison, Spotter observations of current speed and direction were nearly identical to the ADCP reference. The tested system combined a Spotter buoy, Smart Mooring and integrated Aanderaa 4830 ZPulse Doppler Current Sensor. Sofar reported that the lighter system was easier to deploy and recover and provided simpler access to collected data.
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Sofar Ocean signs five-year research agreement with Naval Oceanography
2023-08-03 - Partnership - The agreement covers hardware for ocean data collection, data assimilation and data-as-a-service workflows. Sofar contributes its Spotter network, Smart Mooring devices, Bristlemouth connectivity work and operational forecasts. The collaboration builds on a Coast Guard deployment of five Spotter buoys during an Arctic patrol to the North Pole.
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Sofar Ocean releases Spotter Power Save Mode
2023-05-12 - Product Launch - Power Save Mode turns off Spotter's GPS sensor during sampling dwell periods to reduce energy use. Sofar measured battery-life gains of at least 25% and as much as 69%, depending on operating mode. The savings enable year-round deployments at higher latitudes and extend winter operating limits by as much as ten degrees of latitude.
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Ocean Exploration Trust deploys Spotter buoys across Pacific expeditions
2023-03-15 - Deployment - The partnership began with three Spotter buoys deployed from E/V Nautilus during a 2019 voyage to American Samoa. By the dated report, Spotters had been deployed on multiple expeditions to collect wave and meteorological observations. The observations expanded Sofar's global sensor network and were made accessible for ocean-weather and climate forecasting.
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