UBEST (Understanding the biogeochemical buffering capacity of estuaries relative to climate change and anthropogenic inputs) project aimed to improve the global understanding of the biogeochemical buffering capacity of estuaries and their susceptibility to future scenarios of anthropogenic inputs and climate change, by deploying “coastal observatories” in two Portuguese case studies: the Tagus estuary and the Ria Formosa, a coastal lagoon. As part of this project, a water quality online monitoring station was installed in the Ria Formosa - in the Cais do Combustível of the Port of Faro (37º00’9.92’’ N, 7º55’16.28’’ W, depth 2,75 m). The station was equipped with an YSI EXO 2 multiparameter probe, measuring water temperature, conductivity, salinity pH, dissolved oxygen, turbidity and chlorophyll a, and an OBSERMET OMC-045-III data logger, for data acquisition and transmission.