COAST-HF (Coastal OceAn observing SysTem - High Frequency) is a national observation service belonging to the ILICO Research Infrastructure. This network, accredited by the CNRS, aims to federate and coordinate a set of fixed instrumented platforms for high-frequency in situ measurements of key coastal water parameters throughout the French coastline. The aim is to analyze and understand currents, hydrological structure, exchanges and the evolution of the trophic chain in the coastal environment. This network works closely with the SOMLIT network, which provides low-frequency sampling and calibration of sensor measurements.

 The SOLA station (buoy) is one of the pioneers of this network. It constitutes the historic observation station of the Banyuls sur Mer Observatory and is managed today by the BOSS (Banyuls Observation Sea Service). The buoy is located in Banyuls Bay at a distance of 0.5 nautical miles offshore from the marine station. It serves as a sampling site for low-frequency monitoring of SOMLIT and PHYTOBS networks and is equipped with an AIRMAR 200WX meteorological station and a YSI EXO3 multiparameter CTD probe placed 1.5m below the surface. The data averaged over 1 min (SR=1s) are sent to a server on land and integrated into a local database, allowing it to be distributed to national and international databases. The data can be viewed on the website: https://data.coriolis-cotier.org/ (platform/6100188).