Smart Sensors for In Situ Monitoring of Hydrothermal Vent Systems

摘要用于热液喷口系统现场监测的智能传感器。建议：0119999日期：2001.6.27 PI：Booksh研究所：亚利桑那州立大学该项目由环境中的生物复杂性计划，环境活动仪器开发(BE-IDEA)子计划支持。该项目的目标是开发一套五个传感器，用于对深海热液喷口及其周围的生态系统进行现场分析。这个生态系统可能是地球上最古老的生态系统之一，并对全球地球化学循环产生了长期影响，但它却是最不为人所知的生态系统之一。热液喷口生态系统处于热能和化学能的大梯度不平衡的湍流状态。沿着这种温度/化学梯度，管状蠕虫、嗜热微生物、特殊适应的甲壳类动物和鱼类组成的复杂生态系统存活下来，选择了最能监测喷口生态系统的物理、化学和生物环境的传感器，以更好地了解这种独特环境与其支持的生命之间的相互关系。现场化学传感器的发展将大大提高热液喷口监测的技术水平。我们将使用基于光纤表面等离子体共振(SPR)的传感器，结合热电偶和电导率传感器，以更好地测量喷口周围的密度、热液喷口流体和海水的盐度。光纤SPR传感器可以制造得足够小和灵敏，以探测许多嗜热微生物居住的喷口流体/海水梯度。光纤耦合栅光反射光谱(GLRS)传感器将用于监测喷口流体与海水混合过程中形成的矿物沉淀物的粒度分布和相对丰度。这种沉淀物形成了通风口的烟囱壁，大多数微生物都居住在那里。光纤拉曼光谱探测器将被测试以检测可能在喷口液体中生物或非生物形成的痕量有机分子。还将测试拉曼光谱，以调查通风口壁上的矿物和微生物分布。将开发一种常压驱动液相色谱-拉曼光谱系统，以提高拉曼光谱对简单有机分子的选择性和灵敏度，这些分子可能是喷口生态系统中微生物的食物或废物。灵敏度的提高将来自新的波导技术，该技术已被证明可以将简单醇的拉曼检测下限提高到低ppb。最后，光纤单次测量激发发射矩阵(EEM)荧光仪将用于检测和表征较大的生物分子，如氨基酸、蛋白质和DNA片段，这些生物分子可能被证明是喷口生态系统中的生物活性的指示器每个所建议的传感器都已开发通过环境或工业过程监测的概念验证阶段。该项目将对传感器进行调整和测试，以适应更具挑战性的深海喷口监测应用。传感器代表了一种很有前途的技术，可以满足海洋学/极端环境中的生命社区的大量需求。如果拟议中的海王星深海研究节点网络得以建立，这些传感器将是长期现场部署的理想选择。这些传感器的成功开发将导致该技术的扩展，用于其他生物和环境过程监测应用。

AbstractSmart Sensors for In Situ Monitoring of Hydrothermal Vent Systems.Proposal: 0119999 Date: June 27, 2001PI: Booksh Institution: Arizona State UniversityThis project is supported by the program Biocomplexity in the Environment, subprogram Instrumentation Development for Environmental Activities (BE-IDEA). The objective of this project is to develop a suite of five sensors designed for in situ analysis of the ecosystem in and around hydrothermal deep-sea vents. This ecosystem may be one of the most ancient of Earth and have had a long-term effect on global geochemical cycles, yet it is one of the least well understood. Hydrothermal vent ecosystems are in a turbulent state of disequilibrium with large gradients of thermal and chemical energy. Along this thermal/chemical gradient a complex ecosystem of tube worms, thermophilic microbes, and specially adapted crustaceans and fish survive The sensors are chosen that best monitor the physical, chemical, and biological environment of the vent ecosystem to better understand the inter-relationship between this unique environment and the life that it supports. The development of in situ chemical sensors will provide a significant advancement in the state of the art of hydrothermal vent monitoring. We will employ a fiber optic surface plasmon resonance (SPR) based sensor integrated with a thermocouple and conductivity sensor to better measure the density hydrothermal vent fluid and salinity of the seawater surrounding the vent. Fiber optic SPR sensors can be made sufficiently small and sensitive to probe the vent fluid/sea water gradient where many thermophilic microbes reside. A fiber optic coupled grating light reflectance spectroscopy (GLRS) sensor will be employed to monitor the size distribution and relative abundance of mineral precipitates that form during the mixing of vent fluid and sea water. This precipitate forms the vent chimney walls where most microbes reside. Fiber optic Raman spectroscopy probes will be tested to detect trace organic molecules that may be forming biotically or abiotically in the vent fluid. Raman spectroscopy will also be tested to survey the mineral and microbial distribution on the vent walls. An ambient pressure driven liquid chromatography-Raman spectroscopy system will be developed to enhance the selectivity and sensitivity of Raman spectroscopy to simple organic molecules that may serve as food for or originate as waste from microbes in the vent ecosystem. Sensitivity enhancement will come from novel waveguide technology that has been demonstrated to push Raman detection limits to low ppb for simple alcohols. Finally, a fiber optic, single measurement excitation-emission matrix (EEM) fluorometer will be adapted to detect and characterize larger biomolecules such as amino acids, proteins, and DNA fragments that may prove indicative of biological activity in the vent ecosystem Each of the proposed sensors has been previously developed past the proof of concept stage for environmental or industrial process monitoring. The project will adapt and test the sensors for the more challenging application of deep sea vent monitoring. The sensors represent a promising technology that fills a large need in the oceanographic/ life in extreme environments community. If the proposed NEPTUNE network of deep-sea research nodes were built, these sensors would be ideal for long-term field deployment. Successful development of these sensors would lead to expansion of the technology for other biological and environmental process monitoring applications.