Development and Application of Fiber Optic Sensors for Improved Measurement of pCO2 in Sea Water

这个海洋科学仪器开发项目将设计和建造光纤传感器，用于海水中二氧化碳分压的连续灵敏测量。二氧化碳在生物地球化学循环中起着重要作用。研究这些复杂的过程需要对二氧化碳的微小变化进行精确的定量测量，以便了解海洋对全球二氧化碳循环的贡献程度。在过去的十年里，光纤的出现对化学传感器技术产生了影响。光学传感器由附着在光纤远端末端的试剂组成，该试剂在暴露于特定分析物时改变其光学特性。这些传感器很小（约200微米），不需要样品和传感器之间的直接电连接，并且不受电磁干扰。这些特性使光学传感器成为海上测量的理想选择。该项目旨在开发基于光学传感器的可部署仪器，用于海水中连续敏感的二氧化碳分压测量。本项目分为三个部分。1)传感器/指示器开发将在塔夫茨大学进行。将研究具有增强灵敏度和内部校准能力的新型指示方案。2)将使用研究和现场便携式仪器进行实验室测量，以验证这些指示方案在海水二氧化碳分压测量中的使用情况。这方面的工作将是与塔夫茨大学和伍兹霍尔海洋研究所的合作项目。3)现场验证传感器的船上测量将由伍兹霍尔/蒙特利湾水族馆研究所的人员进行。

This ocean sciences instrumentation development project will design and build fiber optic sensors for continuous sensitive measurements of pCO2 in sea water. CO2 plays a major role in the biogeochemical cycle. Studying these complicated processes require precise quantitative measurements of small changes in CO2 in order to understand the extent of the ocean's contribution to the global CO2 cycle. The advent of optical fibers within the past decade is producing an impact on chemical sensor technology. Optical sensors consist of reagents attached to the distal tip of an optical fiber that change their optical properties upon exposure to a specific analyte. These sensors are small (approximately 200 microns), require no direct electrical connection between the sample and sensor, and are free from electromagnetic interference. These characteristics make optical sensors ideal for measurements at sea. This project aims to develop deployable instrumentation based on optical sensors for continuous sensitive pCO2 measurements in seawater. The project is divided into three parts. 1) Sensor/indicator development will be conducted at Tufts. Novel indicating schemes with enhanced sensitivity and internal calibration capability will be examined. 2) Laboratory-based measurements will be conducted using both research and field portable instruments to verify the use of these indicating schemes for seawater pCO2 measurements. This aspect of the work will be a collaborative project with Tufts and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. 3) Shipboard measurements of sensors for field proofing will be conducted by Woods Hole/Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institution personnel.