SBIR-STTR Award

Robust instrumentation is needed to map the distribution of Delta p(CO2) for the ocean’s surface. Accuracies must be 2 ppm for water and 0.2ppm for the atmosphere. We are proposing to customize an AOS NonDispersive InfraRed analyzer to measure Delta p(CO2) autonomously from ships. Calibration will be referred to the WMO scale of dry mole fraction, and possible artifacts will be tracked by observational protocols. For Phase I, AOS will build and test the prototype analyzer with a commercial equilibrator in the laboratory. A full plan will be proposed for Phase II to include: (i) development of the full Delta p(CO2) system into a portable, compact product that is easy to install and maintain, (ii) observational protocols that merge diagnostics with the data stream to allow evaluation/reevaluation of the observations, and (iii) multiple deployments on ships to make certain that measurements of Delta p(CO2) are being measured properly with objective errors.

Potential Commercial Applications:
Precision monitoring instrumentation for p(CO2) of the ocean’s surface and atmosphere

During Phase I, AOS produced a prototype, equilibrator-based p(CO2) monitor and performed extensive research in the laboratory and in the field to verify its operation. It is compact, has minimal environmental loading and is suitable for autonomous deployments from research vessels and oceanic platforms of opportunity. We deployed it three times on day cruises from Monterey Bay, CA; agreement was acceptable between the AOS system and the platform’s working system constructed and maintained by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. Laboratory testing showed that the AOS analyzer operates with negligible systematic bias and system noise is 0.2 ppm/sec. We demonstrated that the same system provides good waterside and airside measurements. During Phase II, AOS proposes to deploy oceanic p(CO2) monitors in two different oceanic environments. The first will be repeated shipboard deployments with the goal of developing expert protocols to facilitate oceanic CO2 measurements, particularly in the dynamic coastal regions. The second will be a system running constantly at a fixed point to determine and solve problems involved with environmental loading on extended deployments. The information obtained from these platforms will be used to produce a robust, turn-key product that can be deployed by unskilled personnel on oceanic platforms worldwide.

Potential Commercial Applications:
1. Turn-key, equilibrator-based detection systems for autonomous observations of p(CO2) of the ocean’s surface from ships. 2. Verification of p(CO2) observations from a distributed observatory of floater buoys for global mapping of p(CO2) of the ocean’s surface. 3. Management of data streams from global monitoring of the ocean’s surface