Collaborative Research: Development of a Carbon Seaglider for ocean acidification monitoring and inorganic carbon process studies

海洋中的二氧化碳储量巨大、动态、空间可变，对地球气候、生物地球化学循环和海洋生态系统的健康至关重要。目前，整个海洋的二氧化碳分压(PCO2)严重不足。这是因为传统的采样方法主要依赖于从专门的研究游轮收集的离散水样、过境船只对表层海洋性质的在航测量或固定系泊上的现场传感器的时间序列测量。这种稀疏的采样范围极大地限制了对二氧化碳的时空变异性、控制其循环的过程以及其在海洋中的积累如何通过海洋酸化影响海洋生物的了解。研究人员将开发一种碳海滑器，它将首次能够在整个水柱中以高分辨率自主测量二氧化碳。一旦可供社区使用，碳海滑翔机将促进对区域和全球碳循环、海洋生产力、海洋酸化和海洋在减缓气候变化中的作用的理解。碳海洋滑翔机还可用于远程监测对二氧化碳敏感的生物体的化学生境，从而加深对生态系统对海洋酸化反应的了解。加强对地下水的监测对推进贝类孵化场和渔民的早期预警系统也很重要。研究人员将通过将坚固、成熟和高精度的二氧化碳传感器(Kongsberg CONTROS HELC CO2)集成到高性能、最先进的沿海自主水下滑翔机(Kongsberg Seaglider C2)中，开发一种自主碳海滑器。该项目的主要产品将是一种经过验证的、科学上可用的二氧化碳传感海滑器，可用于各种海洋观测任务。该Carbon Seaglider将附带确保用户友好操作和高质量数据产品所需的所有软件包和操作文档。新的Carbon Seaglider将首次提供在整个水柱和大范围的空间和时间尺度上自主进行高分辨率和自适应采样的二氧化碳测量的能力。该项目的成功完成将推动碳海滑器系统的最终形成，并证明该系统在各种环境条件下都能有效和可靠地工作。这包括将这些经过验证的部件最终集成到一个功能齐全的系统中，优化其性能和操作，以及在科学任务期间进行严格的开发测试、评估和操作演示。拟议的冰川融水科学任务影响了威廉王子湾，这对二氧化碳传感能力(即动力学和变化)以及滑翔机平台都构成了挑战？能力(即强电流和密度梯度)。如果这些演示实验成功，它将证明碳海滑器可以用于各种其他科学和监测任务，其中大多数将涉及在要求较低的环境中进行操作。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The oceanic reservoir of carbon dioxide is large, dynamic, spatially variable, and of critical importance to Earth?s climate, biogeochemical cycles, and the health of marine ecosystems. At present, the partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) is vastly undersampled throughout the oceans. This is due to conventional sampling approaches that rely primarily on discrete water sample collections from dedicated research cruises, underway measurements of surface ocean properties from transiting vessels, or time series measurements from in situ sensors on fixed moorings. This sparse sampling coverage greatly limits the understanding of the spatial and temporal variability of carbon dioxide, the processes that control its cycling, and how its accumulation in the ocean impacts marine life via ocean acidification. The researchers will develop a Carbon Seaglider that will, for the first time, be capable of autonomously measuring pCO2 at high resolution throughout the water column. Once available to the community, the Carbon Seaglider will advance the understanding of regional and global carbon cycling, ocean productivity, ocean acidification, and the ocean?s role in mitigating climate change. The Carbon Seaglider could also be applied to remote monitoring of the chemical habitat of CO2-sensitive organisms and thereby refine the understanding of ecosystem responses to ocean acidification. Enhanced monitoring of subsurface waters is also important to advance the early warning system for shellfish hatcheries and fishermen.The researchers will develop an autonomous Carbon Seaglider by integrating a robust, proven and highly accurate pCO2 sensor (Kongsberg CONTROS HydroC CO2) into a highly capable, state-of-the-art autonomous coastal underwater glider (Kongsberg Seaglider C2). The primary products of this project will be a proven, science-ready pCO2-sensing Seaglider that is commercially available for a variety of ocean observing missions. This Carbon Seaglider will be accompanied by all of the software packages and operational documentation necessary to ensure user-friendly operation and high-quality data products. The new Carbon Seaglider will for the first time provide the ability to autonomously conduct high-resolution and adaptively sampled pCO2 measurements throughout the water column and across large range of spatial and temporal scales. Successful completion of this project will advance the Carbon Seaglider system to its final form and one that is proven to work effectively and reliably under a wide range of environmental conditions. This involves the final integration of these proven components into a fully functional system, optimization of its performance and operation, and rigorous developmental testing, evaluation, and operational demonstration during scientific mission. The proposed science mission in glacial meltwater affected Prince William Sound challenges both the pCO2 sensing capabilities (i.e. dynamics and variations) as well as the glider platform? capability (i.e. strong currents and density gradients). If these demonstration experiments are successful, it would prove that the Carbon Seaglider can be used for a variety of other scientific and monitoring missions, most of which would involve operations in much less demanding environments.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.