Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy affected the Chesapeake Bay area October 28-30, and CBIBS buoys tracked conditions on the water throughout the storm. Continuous data was in high demand during as Sandy passed near the Chesapeake:
- While a rough average of 6,000 visitors a month (more in summer, fewer in winter) access the CBIBS website, during October 28-30, 14,067 visited the site—a total of 1,199,671 hits.
- Monday, October 29, was the website’s biggest day ever, with 8,310 visits and 777,297 hits.
- Interest among smartphone users grew—over the three days, there were 274 downloads of the Android app.
- The toll-free 877-BUOY-BAY (877-286-9229) phone number usually gets about 1,400 calls each month, but received 1,027 in only three days during Sandy.
Because data from the buoys is relayed to and stored at an offsite facility with multiple power sources and ways to access the internet, even if the power supply to the CBIBS home office had been interrupted, constituents would still have had access to continuous data.