PORTLAND - A network of weather buoys that gives weather forecasters, scientists and mariners detailed information about conditions from Cape Cod to Nova Scotia is in jeopardy because of a funding shortfall.

The Gulf Of Maine Ocean Observing System, known as GoMoos, is an arrangement of 11 buoys that serve as floating research stations collecting information such as wind speed and direction, ocean currents, temperature, salinity, oxygen levels and even water clarity.

With a $450,000 funding shortfall, up to five of those buoys will probably have to be removed this fall, said Tom Shyka, chief operating officer for GoMoos. Each fall and spring, the buoys are removed to be cleaned, repaired and calibrated and replaced with other buoys.

"The risk is very real," said Shyka. "Right now the team that deploys the buoys isn't even preparing some of the buoys because the funding isn't there."