CoPe: EAGER: Collaborative Research: Development of A Novel, Mobile Coastal Observatory for Quantifying Coastal Carbon Cycling by Professional and Citizen Scientists

海岸带提供了大量的生态系统服务，包括隔离人类活动产生的二氧化碳。迄今为止，沿海碳固存（例如“蓝碳”）和排放的量化由于无法充分解决碳浓度和通量的时空格局而受到限制。该项目采用了一种部署、收集和分析数据的新方法，旨在提高我们对沿海碳循环时空动态的理解，同时减少获取新技术的障碍，并使一系列利益相关者能够收集和共享数据。该项目将通过开发用于共享现场传感器的本地/区域HUB来解决更广泛访问的挑战。该项目利用“共享经济”的人与技术关系作为一种模式（例如Zipcar、Airbnb），可以适应通过科学数据收集、仪器和知识传播活动重新定义的“商品”和“服务”。该模型的成功对我们如何开发和使用其他传感器和技术来理解地球运行的核心过程具有广泛的影响。该项目不仅有助于加深对沿海碳循环的了解，而且还将为传感器共享提供一个新模型，该模型将广泛适用于其他生态系统和数据收集需求。该项目的成果将通过出版物、会议发言、新闻稿和向公众宣传等方式广泛传播。例如，该项目将通过在相关会议上举办的传感器开发研讨会吸引各种用户，并将通过在哈佛自然历史博物馆（HMNH）举办的免费公共系列讲座“ZipScience：使广大社区能够获得新兴技术的21世纪方法”吸引公众。该项目旨在量化沿海生态系统中碳浓度和通量的时空格局，并与各种各样的最终用户分享这种能力。为此，该项目将开发利用最先进的、现成的、商业探测器和通信技术的新型“传感器系统”。在此过程中，该项目还需要明确招募和参与利益相关者（以及专门从事在线数据管理/演示的计算机科学家），以评估“传感器共享”计划的价值和可持续性，该计划将允许利益相关者检查、部署并将这些系统返回到本地/区域中心。具体而言，该项目将开发易于携带的无线传感器网络：1)使用工业传感器技术量化沿海环境中的原位无机碳浓度和通量以及pH值、温度、氧气和其他因素；2)收集和保存水，使从微生物学到微塑料量化的各种实验室研究成为可能；3)使用广泛的蜂窝通信将数据传递到基于云的网络平台，该平台将完成首次在线数据处理，以实现快速、在线和开放访问的可视化。该项目还包括一个强大的基于需求的评估，以规划沿海原位传感器网络的下一阶段。作为评估的一部分，这些传感器将被许多不同的利益相关者用于广泛的数据收集和处理。然后，该项目将评估“租赁和/或贷款模式”是否是满足更广泛社区需求的实际解决方案。通过相关科学会议的研讨会和个人利益相关者访谈，该项目将评估广泛采用这些核心传感器套件的机遇和挑战，并制定长期战略，包括其他传感器以及超出本项目覆盖范围的传感器需求。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Coastal zones provide a host of ecosystem services, including sequestering carbon dioxide produced by human activities. To date, quantification of coastal carbon sequestration (e.g., "Blue Carbon") and emissions are limited by an inability to adequately resolve spatial and temporal patterns of carbon concentrations and fluxes. This project embraces a new approach for the deployment, collection, and analysis of data for the goals of increasing our understanding of the spatial and temporal dynamics of coastal carbon cycling while simultaneously reducing barriers to accessing new technologies and empowering a range of stakeholders to collect and share data. This project will address the challenge of broader access by developing a local/regional HUB for sharing in situ sensors. This project leverages the "Share-Economy" human-technology relationship as a model (e.g., Zipcar, Airbnb) that may be adapted with "goods" and "services" re-defined by the activities of scientific data collection, instruments, and knowledge dissemination. The success of this model has wide ranging implications for how we develop and use other sensors and technology for understanding central processes in the functioning of our planet. This project will contribute not only an increased understanding of coastal carbon cycling, but also a new model for sensor sharing that will be widely applicable to other ecosystems and data collection needs. The results of this project will be disseminated widely through publications, conference presentations, press releases, and outreach to the public. For example, this project will engage a variety of users through sensor development workshops held at relevant conferences, and will engage the public through a free public lecture series at the Harvard Museum of Natural History (HMNH) on "ZipScience: A 21st century approach to enabling the broad community to access emerging technologies." This project aims to quantify spatial and temporal patterns of carbon concentrations and fluxes in coastal ecosystems and to share this ability with a wide variety of end users. To do so, this project will develop novel "sensor systems" that leverage state-of-the-art, off-the shelf, commercial detectors and communication technologies. During this effort, this project will also entail the explicit recruitment and engagement of stakeholders (as well as computer scientists who specialize in online data management / presentation) to assess the value and sustainability of a "sensor-sharing" program that would allow stakeholders to check out, deploy, and return these systems to the local/regional hubs. Specifically, this project will develop wireless, easily portable sensor networks that: 1) quantify in situ inorganic carbon concentrations and fluxes as well as pH, temperature, oxygen, and other factors in coastal environments using industrial sensor technologies; 2) collect and preserve water, enabling a variety of lab-based investigations from microbiology to microplastic quantification; 3) use widespread cellular communications to pass data to a cloud-based web platform that will complete first-pass online data processing for rapid, online, and open-access visualizations. This project also includes a robust needs-based assessment to plan the next phase of coastal in situ sensor networks. As part of this assessment, these sensors will be employed by many different stakeholders for widespread data collection and processing. This project will then assess if a "rental and/or loan model" is a practical solution to meet broader community needs. Through workshops at relevant scientific meetings, and individual stakeholder interviews, this project will assess opportunities and challenges to widespread adoption of these core sensor packages, and develop a long-term strategy for inclusion of other sensors as well as sensor needs beyond what this project covers.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.