Buoy

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Buoy

A buoy is a float

Float

Float or floating may refer to the following:...
ing device that can have many different purposes. It can be anchored (stationary) or allowed to drift.

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A buoy is a float

Float

Float or floating may refer to the following:...
ing device that can have many different purposes. It can be anchored (stationary) or allowed to drift. The word, of Old French

Old French

Old French was the Romance languages dialect continuum spoken in territories which span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from around 1000 to 1300....
or Middle Dutch

Middle Dutch

Middle Dutch is a collective name for a number of closely related West Germanic dialects which were spoken and written between 1150 and 1500. There was at that time as yet no overarching standard language, but they were all mutually intelligible....
origin, is now most commonly (identical with boy

Boy

A boy is a young male , as contrasted to its female counterpart, girl; thus in the wide sense of both terms all mankind, and in the strictest sense youth, consists of 'boys and girls'....
, also as in buoyancy

Buoyancy

In physics, buoyancy is the upward force that keeps things afloat. The net upward buoyancy force is equal to the magnitude of the weight of fluid displaced by the body....
), although some orthoepists

Orthoepy

Orthoepy means the correct use of word , from the Greek orth- + -epos, correct + word, speech.The English meaning of orthoepy is correct pronunciation, or the study of pronunciation and how it is used in sentences....
have traditionally prescribed the pronunciation . The pronunciation , while chiefly American

American English

PhonologyIn many ways, compared to English language in England, North American English is conservative in its phonology. Some distinctive accents can be found on the East Coast of the United States , partly because these areas were in contact with England, and imitated prestigious varieties of English English at a time when those varieties we...
, more closely resembles the modern French bouée .

Types

Sea mark
Sea mark

A sea mark, also seamark and navigation mark, is a pilotage aid which identifies the approximate position of a Sea channel, hazard and administrative area to allow boats, ships and seaplanes to navigate safely....
- aids pilotage
Pilotage

Pilotage is the use of fixed visual references on the ground or sea by means of sight or radar to guide oneself to a destination, sometimes with the help of a map or nautical chart....
by marking a maritime
Shipping

Shipping is physical process of transporting product and cargo. Virtually every product ever made, bought, or sold has been affected by shipping....
channel, hazard and administrative area to allow boat
Boat

A boat is a watercraft of modest size designed to float or plane on water, and provide transport over it. Usually this water will be inland or in protected coastal areas....
s and ship
Ship

A ship is a large watercraft that floats on water. Ships are generally distinguished from boats based on size. Ships may be found on lakes, seas, and rivers and they allow for a variety of activities, such as the ferry or cargo ships, fishing, cruise ship, Coast guard, and warship....
s to navigate
Navigation

Navigation is the process of reading, and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another. It is also the term of art used for the specialized knowledge used by navigators to perform navigation tasks....
safely.
Lifebuoy
Lifebuoy

A lifebuoy, lifering or lifebelt, also known as a "kisby ring" or "perry buoy", is a life saving buoy designed to be thrown to a person in the water, to provide buoyancy, to prevent drowning....
- used as a life saving buoy designed to be thrown to a person in the water to provide buoyancy
Buoyancy

In physics, buoyancy is the upward force that keeps things afloat. The net upward buoyancy force is equal to the magnitude of the weight of fluid displaced by the body....
. Usually has a connecting line allowing the casualty to be pulled to the rescuer
Submarine
Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below water. It differs from a submersible, which has only limited underwater capability....
communication buoys - used for release in case of emergencies or for communication
Communication buoy for a bottom pressure sensor, for tsunami
Tsunami

A is a series of ocean surface wave that is created when a large volume of a body of water, such as an ocean, is rapidly displaced. The Japanese term is literally translated into " harbor wave."...
detection.
DAN buoy - has several meanings:

a large maritime navigation
Navigation

Navigation is the process of reading, and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another. It is also the term of art used for the specialized knowledge used by navigators to perform navigation tasks....
al aid providing a platform for light
Light

Light, or visible light, is electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength that is Visible spectrum to the human eye , or up to 380?750 nm. In the broader field of physics, light is sometimes used to refer to electromagnetic radiation of all wavelengths, whether visible or not....
and radio
Radio

Radio is the transmission of signals, by modulation of electromagnetic radiation with frequency below those of visible light.Electromagnetic radiation radio propagation by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space....
beacons
a lifebuoy with a flags used on yacht
Yacht

A yacht is a recreational boat. It designates two rather different classes of watercraft, sailing and power yachts. Yachts are differentiated from working ships mainly by their leisure purpose....
s and smaller pleasure craft
a temporary marker buoy used during Danish seine fishing to mark the anchor position of a net.
a temporary marker buoy set by danlayer
Danlayer

A danlayer was a type of vessel assigned to Minesweeper flotillas during and immediately after World War II. They were usually small Naval trawler, fitted for the purpose of laying dans....
s during minesweeping operations to indicate the boundaries of swept paths, swept areas, known hazards, and other locations or reference points.
a temporary marker buoy set to mark a man overboard position.

Sonobuoy
Sonobuoy

A sonobuoy is a relatively small expendable sonar system that is dropped/ejected from aircraft or ships conducting anti-submarine warfare or underwater acoustics research....
- used by anti-submarine warfare
Anti-submarine warfare

Anti-submarine warfare is a branch of naval warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, or other submarines to find, track and then damage or destroy enemy submarines....
aircraft to detect submarine
Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below water. It differs from a submersible, which has only limited underwater capability....
s by SONAR
Sonar

Sonar is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigation, communicate with or detect other vessels. There are two kinds of sonar: active and passive....
Surface Marker Buoy
Surface Marker Buoy

A Surface Marker Buoy, SMB or simply a blob is an inflatable buoy used by Scuba set diving equipment, with a distance line, to mark the diver's position to their surface, safety boat while the diver is underwater....
- taken on dives by scuba divers
Scuba diving

SCUBA diving is Underwater diving, or taking part in another activity, while using a scuba set. By carrying a source of breathing gas , the scuba diver is able to stay underwater longer than with the simple breath-holding techniques used in snorkeling and free-diving, and is not hindered by air lines to a remote air source....
to mark their position underwater
Decompression buoy - deployed by submerged scuba divers to mark their position underwater whilst doing decompression stops
shot buoy
Diving shot

A diving shot is an item of diving equipment consisting of a weight, a line and a buoy....
- used to mark dive sites for the boat safety cover of scuba divers so that the divers can descend to the dive site more easily in conditions of low visibility or tidal currents
Tide

Tides are the rising of Earth's ocean surface caused by the tidal forces of the Moon and the Sun acting on the oceans. Tides cause changes in the depth of the marine and estuary water bodies and produce oscillating currents known as tidal streams, making prediction of tides important for coastal navigation ....
and more safely do decompression stops on their ascent
Fairway Buoy is a navigational buoy which marks the entrance to a channel or a nearby landfall
Mooring buoys - used to keep one end of a mooring
Mooring

Mooring may refer to:* Mooring , any device used to hold secure an object by means of cables, anchors, or lines* Mooring spoken in Germany* Arthur Mooring, British Resident to the Sultan of Zanzibar...
cable or chain on the water's surface so that ship
Ship

A ship is a large watercraft that floats on water. Ships are generally distinguished from boats based on size. Ships may be found on lakes, seas, and rivers and they allow for a variety of activities, such as the ferry or cargo ships, fishing, cruise ship, Coast guard, and warship....
s or boats can tie on to it
Tripping buoys - used to keep one end of a 'tripping line' on the water's surface so that a stuck anchor
Anchor

An anchor is an object, often made out of metal, that is used to attach a ship to the bottom of a body of water at a specific point. There are two primary classes of anchors?temporary and permanent....
can more easily be freed
Weather buoy
Weather buoy

Weather buoys are instruments which collect weather and ocean data within the world's oceans. They measure parameters such as air temperature at the ocean surface, water temperature, wave height, dominant wave period, barometric pressure, wind speed , and wind direction....
s - equipped to measure weather parameters such as air temperature, barometric pressure, wind speed and direction and to report these data via satellite radio links such as the purpose-built Argos System
Argos System

Argos is a satellite-based system which collects, processes and disseminates environmental data from fixed and mobile platforms worldwide. What makes Argos unique is the ability to geographically locate the source of the data anywhere on the Earth utilizing the Doppler effect....
or commercial satellite phone
Satellite phone

A satellite telephone, satellite phone, or satphone is a type of mobile phone that connects to orbiting satellites instead of terrestrial cell sites....
networks to meteorological centres for use in forecasting and climate study. May be anchored (moored buoys) or allowed to drift (drifting buoys) in the open ocean currents. Position is calculated by the satellite.
Tsunami buoys
Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis

The Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis system is a component of an enhanced tsunami warning system.Each DART station consists of a seafloor bottom pressure recording package that detects pressure changes caused by tsunamis and a surface buoy....
- anchored buoys that can detect sudden changes in undersea water pressure are used as part of tsunami warning systems in the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center
Pacific Tsunami Warning Center

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center , operated by NOAA in Ewa Beach, Hawaii, USA, is one of two tsunami warning centers in the United States. PTWC is part of an international tsunami warning system program and serves as the operational center for TWS of the Pacific issuing bulletins and warnings to participating members and other nations in...
and Indian Oceans.
Spar buoy - a tall, thin buoy that floats upright in the water, e.g. R/P FLIP
R/P FLIP

The R/P FLIP is an open ocean research vessel. FLIP ship is a 355 feet long vessel designed to partially flood and flight dynamics backward 90 degrees, resulting in only the front 55 feet of the vessel pointing up out of the water, with bulkhead becoming floors....
.
Profiling buoy - specialized models which adjust buoyancy so that they will sink at a controlled rate to 2,000 metres below the surface while measuring sea temperatures and salinity. After at time, typically 10 days, the buoy returns to the surface, transmits its data via satellite, and then sinks again. See Argo (oceanography)
Argo (oceanography)

Argo is an observation system for the Earth's oceans that provides real-time data for use in climate, weather, oceanographic and fisheries research....
.
Ice marking buoys - used for marking ice holes in frozen lakes and rivers, so that snowmobiles do not drive over the holes.
Marker buoy
Marker buoy

Marker buoy may refer to:* Surface Marker Buoy used by divers* a light-emitting or smoke-emitting buoy used in naval warfare...
s - used in naval warfare
Naval warfare

Naval warfare is combat in and on seas, oceans, or any other major bodies of water such as large lakes and wide rivers....
, particularly anti-submarine warfare
Anti-submarine warfare

Anti-submarine warfare is a branch of naval warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, or other submarines to find, track and then damage or destroy enemy submarines....
, is a light-emitting or smoke-emitting, or both, marker using some kind of pyrotechnic to provide the flare
Flare (pyrotechnic)

A flare, also sometimes called a fusee, is a type of pyrotechnic that produces a brilliant light or intense heat without an explosion. Flares are used for signaling, illumination, or defensive countermeasures in civilian and military applications....
and smoke
Smoke

File:Bling-Bling Skywriting David Shankbone.jpgSmoke is the collection of airborne solid and liquid particulates and gases emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with the quantity of air that is entrainment or otherwise mixed into the mass....
. It is commonly a 3-inch (76 mm) diameter device about 20 inches (500 mm) long that is set off by contact with seawater and floats on the surface. Some markers extinguish after a set period and others are made to sink.
Lobster trap buoys - brightly colored buoys used for the marking of lobster trap locations so the person lobster fishing
Lobster fishing

Lobster fishing is the commercial or recreational harvesting of marine lobsters, spiny lobsters or crayfish.Lobster tools and technology...
can find their lobster traps. Each lobster fisherman has his or her own color markings or registration numbers so they know which ones are theirs. They are only allowed to haul their own traps and must display their buoy color or license number on their boat so law enforcement officials know what they should be hauling. The buoys are brightly colored with highly visible numbers so they can be seen under conditions when there is poor visibility like rain
Rain

Rain is liquid precipitation . On Earth, it is the condensation of atmospheric water vapor into droplet heavy enough to fall, often making it to the surface....
, fog
Fog

Fog is a cloud bank that is in contact with the ground. A cloud may be considered partly fog; for example, the part of a cloud that is suspended in the air above the ground is not considered fog, whereas the part of the cloud that comes in contact with higher ground is considered fog....
, sea smoke
Sea smoke

Sea smoke is a cloud over the sea, which could otherwise be called fog, and is usually formed when very cold air moves over warmer water. The physics are in principle similar to lake-effect snow....
, etc.
Waverider buoy - used to measure the movement of the water surface as a wave train. The wave train is analysed to determine statistics like the significant wave height
Significant wave height

In physical oceanography, significant wave height , or 'Hs', is the average wave height of the one-third largest ocean surface wave....
and period, and wave direction.
Target buoy - used to simulate target (like small boat) in live fire exercise by naval and coastal forces, usually targeted by weapons (medium size) like HMG's, rapid fire cannons (20 or so mm), autocannons (bigger ones up to 40 and 57mm) and also anti-tank rockets.
Wreck buoy - a buoy to mark a wrecked ship to warn other ships to keep away because of unseen hazards.
Self-Locating Datum Marker Buoy
Self-Locating Datum Marker Buoy

Self-Locating Datum Marker Buoys ? A 70% scale Coastal Ocean Dynamics Experiment /Davis-style oceanographic surface drifter with drogue vanes between 30 and 100 cm deep....
(SLDMB) - A 70% scale Coastal Ocean Dynamics Experiment (CODE)/Davis-style oceanographic surface drifter with drogue vanes between 30 and 100 cm deep. This particular surface drifter is designed specifically for deployment from a U.S. Coast Guard vessel or airframe for search and rescue. Since the SLDMB has a very small surface area above the ocean surface and a high underwater surface area, there is very little Leeway
Leeway

Leeway is the motion of an object that floating in the water to leeward due to the component of the wind vector perpendicular to the object?s. The National Search and Rescue Supplement to the International Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue Manual defines leeway as, "the movement of a search object through water caused by winds blow...
in response to the direct forcing of winds and waves.

Buoy Racing is the most prevalent form of yacht racing
Yacht racing

Yacht racing is the sport of competitive yachting. There is a broad variety of kinds of races and sailboats used for racing. Much racing is done around buoys or similar marks in protected waters, while some longer offshore races cross open water....

Other uses

The word "buoyed" can also be used figuratively. For example, a person can buoy ('lift up') someone's spirits by providing help and empathy.
George A. Stephen
George A. Stephen

George A. Stephen, Sr. was an United States inventor, entrepreneur, and the founder of Weber-Stephen Products Co., the company best known for the manufacturing of charcoal and Liquefied petroleum gas Grill ....
, founder of Weber-Stephen Products Co.
Weber-Stephen Products Co.

The Weber-Stephen Products Co. founded in 1893, headquartered in Palatine, Illinois, Illinois, is best known as a manufacturer of charcoal and Liquefied petroleum gas Grill , grilling Gas grill parts and other Wilderness room products....
, invented the kettle
Kettle

A kettle, sometimes called teakettle, tea kettle or the pot, is a small kitchen appliance used for boiling water in preparation for making tea or other beverages requiring hot water....
grill
Grill (cooking)

There are multiple varieties of grills, with most falling into one of two categories: gas-fueled and charcoal. There is a great debate over the merits of charcoal or gas for use as the cooking method between grillers....
by cutting a metal buoy in half and fashioning a dome
Dome

A dome is a structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. Dome structures made of various materials have a long architectural lineage extending into prehistory....
shaped grill with a rounded lid.

Buoy

Types

Other uses

Gallery

See also

External links