This project is to provide an affordable, easy-to-use, hyperspectral water properties measuring instrument that is designed for universal marine use. It is an instrument that combines, in a single package, capabilities to accurately measure the apparent, inherent, fluorescent and the CTD properties of water. The sensor captures a complete record of all of the waters properties in a single cast. It is a self-calibrating instrument with near real time output signals that are processed as tabular data or as graphical images. A complete system consists of a sensor unit, a connecting cable and a laptop computer programmed with the operating software. The system has deployment applications from a dock, a ship or from a mooring. Summary of
Anticipated Results: The expected result is that the proposed Water Properties Sensor will become an essential and widely used component for the accurate measurement of the oceans optical properties.
Potential Commercial Applications: First applications are expected to be in support of specific projects to acquire wide area scientific water quality data, second applications are discriminations between sediments, COM, biota and contaminants, and third applications to identify and track short-term variability and long-term changes in the integrity and biodiversity of estuarine
