Environment Bay of Plenty's wave buoy has returned to the water in time for the summer surfers and boaties.

The wave buoy used to be located 13km off Pukehina Beach, but was removed some months ago for its first overhaul since it began operation in 2003.
The buoy monitors and records information about wave heights, water temperature and wave frequency and publishes the data at www.envbop.govt.nz
'It's given us the opportunity to improve our communications with the buoy which means we can change some of the data that is being collected, depending on our needs,” says Environment BOP data manager Glenn Ellery.
'This includes changing the frequency of the information being collected, which is especially important in situations such as a tsunami warning or similar event.
'It's also great to see the data that we collect to do our business being used by the community in ways that were initially unimagined, thanks to the internet.”