Marine Research Infrastructures

The Marine Research Infrastructures Team manages and operates a diverse range of monitoring platforms for ocean observations in a national and international context, providing vital data enabling research and monitoring of Ireland's seas. The Research Infrastructures are further detailed in each section here.

If you would like further information or if you would like to talk to a member of our team about how to gain access to these facilities, contact infrastructures@marine.ie.

To view and download data from our research infrastructures, you can:

Visualise the data at Digital Ocean.
See Real Time Observations.
Download Oceanographic Data Sets.

For regular updates, you can also follow us on Twitter: @MarineInst, @SmartBay_ie, @Eir_OOS and @ArgoIreland.

Photo Competition

Have you recently taken an inspiring seascape photo you’d like to share with everyone? We invite you to share it with us on Twitter (@Eir_OOS #2024MRIComp) for a chance to have a feature month in the Marine Research Infrastructure (MRI) 2024 calendar! For more information on how to enter please click here for details. Competition closes 25th September 2023.

The 2023 calendar is free to download for personal use and features seascapes and photos taken by Marine Institute staff which gives us a unique look at our collective work at sea.

SmartBay Observatory

Established in 2015, the SmartBay Observatory is Ireland's only underwater cabled Observatory supporting marine technology research.

SmartBay Test Site

Established in 2006, the SmartBay Test Site is Ireland’s national marine test and demonstration facility for the development of innovative products and services for the global maritime sector. The test site is located 4.5km east of Spiddal in County Galway approximately 1.5km offshore. The test site is suitable for developers wishing to undertake low-cost sea trials and validation of devices and components at various technology readiness levels.

International Projects (EU Funded Research)

European Research Infrastructure projects that the Marine Research Infrastructure Team participates in.

Irish Marine Data Buoy Observation Network (IMDBON)

Established in 2001 (previously known as the Irish Weather Buoy Network), a network of five offshore buoys providing hourly meteorological measurements of air temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind speed and direction and, sea surface temperature, wave height and wave period.

Irish National Tide Gauge Network

The Irish National Tide Gauge Network (INTGN) and The Global Sea Level Observing system (GLOSS) is a near-real-time data delivery network of over 20 water level monitoring tide gauges around the coastline of Ireland. The network includes 3 GLOSS standard gauges and associated cGPS capability.

Deep Sea Moorings

A network of deep water moorings and landers measuring ocean currents temperature and salinity on the shelf and shelf edge.

Argo Network

The Marine Infrastructure team manages Ireland contribution to the Argo Network - a global array of autonomous floats or profilers, deployed across the world's oceans, reporting subsurface ocean water properties to a wide range of users via satellite transmission links to data centres.

Irish Glider Network

Established 2009, a fleet of 3 Slocum S3 gliders offering cost-effective autonomous and adaptive observations of physical and biogeochemical ocean parameters.

Irish Wave Buoy Network

Established 2006, a near-realtime data delivery network of high frequency wave monitoring platforms around the Irish coast.

National Equipment Pool

The National Equipment Pool contains a wide range of specialist marine research equipment and facilities available to the research community to develop cutting edge scientific and technical research capacity in ocean observations.

EirOOS

EirOOS (the Irish Ocean Observing System) is a multi-platform Research Infrastructure to further develop scientific and technical research capacity in sea level science, ocean circulation, and carbon sequestration to understand the connection between Ireland, its coastal seas and the Atlantic.

Inventory of Marine Research Infrastructure

Ireland’s new Marine Research Infrastructure compendium has been compiled and designed by the Marine Institute Research Infrastructures team and the content populated with thanks for input from across our vibrant Irish marine research community. The compendium and interactive Power BI Report provides a comprehensive overview of Ireland’s marine research institutes, university departments and government bodies representing the marine research community across our country.