Two of the BEACON buoys have resided in the Neponset River since July of 2009.  The buoys monitor atmospheric events such as wind direction and speed, temperature, humidity, PAR (photosynthetic light), and barometric pressure.  Just below the water surface the buoys monitor temperature, conductivity, CDOM (colored dissolved organic matter), and chlorophyll.  Using a telemetry package provided by Onset Computer Corp., the buoys can download the collected data to this website.

The CESN Lower Mills station is co-located with the USGS Neponset River stream gauge. Instruments at the station include a YSI 6600 Sonde that measures water quality, a Turner CDOM (colored dissolved organic matter) fluorometer, and a Sony web camera.