Collaborative Research: An Autonomous Vertical Sampling Vehicle for Global Ocean Biogeochemical Mapping

PI要求提供资金，以开发具有地球化学采样能力的快速垂直剖面自动水下航行器。该系统将为GEOTRACES计划增加一个新的、急需的生物学维度，并很可能成为GENOTRACES微生物和酶研究计划的核心工具，最终实现微生物DNA、RNA和蛋白质（包括关键的生物地球化学酶）的全球海洋测绘。PI将开发一种无线水柱采样技术：一种6000米级自主垂直采样飞行器，具有高通量采样和传感有效载荷。快速垂直运输、6 000米深度范围以及需要在多个目标深度停留的结合，是一项新的重大工程挑战，本提案的目标是开发一种能够完成这一任务并具有基因组学采样所需采样能力的运载工具。 该项目将海洋样本收集带入未来，需要从各种自主平台收集。这是非常重要的社会意义，因为了解海洋，它的绝对规模，以及它在全球过程中的作用将需要更多的船舶和停泊，它将从海洋的许多地方取样，并通过许多技术对许多不同的分析物进行分析。该项目还将赞助史密斯学院皮卡工程方案的两个连续的本科女工程学生团队，在她们的高级工程设计课程期间。这被视为一个真实的优势和创新的外联努力。PI过去在这方面做得非常成功。

The PIs request funding to develop a rapid vertical profiling autonomous underwater vehicle with biogeochemical sampling capabilities. This system will add a new, and much needed, biological dimension to the GEOTRACES program, and would most likely become the central instrument for a GENOTRACES microbial and enzymes research initiative - ultimately enabling the global marine mapping of microbial DNA, RNA and proteins, including key biogeochemical enzymes. The PIs will develop a wireless water-column sampling technology: a 6000m rated autonomous vertical sampling vehicle with a high throughput sampling and sensing payload. The combinationof rapid vertical transport, the 6000 m depth range, and the need to stop at numerous target depths represents a novel and significant engineering challenge and developing a vehicle capable of this task with the sampling capacity needed for GENOTRACES "-omic" sampling is the objective of this proposal.Broader Impacts: This project leads oceanic sample collection into the future where they will need to be collected from a variety of autonomous platforms. This is of great societal importance because understanding the ocean, its sheer magnitude, and its role in global processes will require more than ships and moorings, it will take samples from many parts of the ocean and their analysis by many techniques for many different analytes. This project will also sponsor two consecutive teams of undergraduate female engineering students from Smith College's Picker Engineering Program during their senior engineering design course. This is seen as a real plus and an innovative outreach effort. The PI has very successfully done this in the past.