Here are descriptions of the types of data we are collecting at Moorea Coral Reef LTER Gump Station:

Ocean

Temperature

Units: degrees Celcius or Fahrenheit
Instrument Range: -5 to 35 deg C (accuracy of +/- 0.005 deg C)
Description: Used here to denote the sea water temperature determined using the ITS-90 algorithm.

Units: db (a pressure change of 1 decibar equals about 1 meter of seawater)
Instrument Range: 0 to 20 m (accuracy of +/- 0.02 m)
Description: This is measured by a strain gauge sensor. The mounted pressure sensor records the distance between the sensor and the surface of the water in decibars. The sensor is mounted below of (nominally 2 m below mean lower low water), but near the surface of the ocean.
Notes: Eventually, this value will be displayed as a real-world value (e.g. "meters above mean lower low tide"), because as it is now it only really gives trends.

Units: Practical Salinity Units
Instrument Range: 31.5 to 37 PSU
Description: We can not directly measure this quantity, so it is calculated from the conductivity measurement using the UNESCO (1981) algorithm. Salinity quantifies the total amount of dissolved solids in seawater, so a salinity of 33 means that each kilogram of seawater contains 33 grams of total dissolved solids, mostly sodium chloride.
Notes: Sometimes after rain, you can see the salinity go down (because the sensor is near the surface, and the new fresh water is near the surface too since it's less dense).

Air

Units: meters/second (m/s) and degrees
Instrument Range: 0 to 60 m/s (accuracy +/- 0.3 m/s) and 0 to 355 deg (accuracy +/- 3 deg)
Description: This sensor uses a helicoid-shaped, four-blade propeller that produces an AC sine wave with frequency proportional to wind speed. Direction is measured with a 10K ohm potentiometer which has 5 degrees open, hence the 0-355 range.

Units: kW/m²
Instrument Range: Measurement accuracy of +/- 5%. Temperature Dependence 0.15 per °C. Spectrum 400 to 1100 nm.
Description: This sensor is measuring the incoming solar irradiance, and uses a silicon photovoltaic detector mounted in a cosine corrected head.

Units: mm
Instrument Range: 0 to 700 mm/hr (accuracy better than +2% @ 500mm/hr)
Description: This value is the amount of precipitation since the last report (nominally 4 minutes), and is measured using a tipping bucket mechanism with a Reed switch. The plots however show cumulative rainfall for their respective timespans.