Smart buoys are deployed at all Mission: Iconic Reefs sites, using instruments that measure and transmit real time data on wind speed, ocean temperature and other conditions. These data provide a picture of reef conditions to help managers make fieldwork decisions when the forecast is borderline, and restoration practitioners determine if reef temperatures have exceeded the threshold for coral outplanting.

Data is available to the public at this page.

There are several components to the device, including a basketball-sized, solar powered buoy branded as The Spotter. The yellow mothership is connected to a red buoy that suspends a measurement instrument approximately three feet below the ocean surface, connected to a seafloor anchor where a second instrument collects data.