SBIR Phase I: An Integrated Sensor System for Autonomous Monitoring of Carbon Dioxide Exchange and Transport at the Air-Sea Interface

*9660049戈斯瓦米二氧化碳是化石燃料燃烧和许多其他与能源有关的陆地活动的主要最终产物。它也是一种重要的污染物。陆地和海洋生态系统如何吸收和转化二氧化碳尚不清楚，但众所周知，海洋是大气二氧化碳的单一最大汇。监测与二氧化碳有关的过程和参数非常重要，因为这种监测的结果对化学海洋学、大气科学、海洋生物学和未来能源政策的方向至关重要。物理光学公司(POC)提出了一种完全集成的传感器系统，用于长期(至少一年)基于自主浮标监测海-气界面的二氧化碳传输和交换。这种固定/流动的光纤化学传感器(F30CS)系统采用了连接到双光纤电极的微型缓冲流。二氧化碳是使用酸碱度敏感的指示剂，如甲酚紫来检测的。二氧化碳的溶解导致缓冲液pH的可逆调节。PH指示剂被永久地包裹在多孔聚合物球体中。可补充的缓冲解决方案消除了以前阻碍实现长寿命二氧化碳光极的不可逆转的变化。该传感器系统对科学和国家减少污染和补救的关键技术领域具有特别重要的意义。它将极大地推动化学海洋学、海洋生物学、大气科学和生态系统科学的发展。除了基于海洋的监测外，该仪器还可用于湖泊、河流和水库等陆地水生态系统，以及水质和一般环境应用。其他应用包括在严重/废水排放点、污水处理厂和鱼类孵化场进行监测。***

*** 9660049 Goswami Carbon dioxide is a major end product of fossil fuel combustion and many other energy-related terrestrial activities. It is also an important pollutant. How CO2 is assimilated and transformed by terrestrial and marine ecosystems is unclear, but it is known that the world's oceans are the single largest sink for atmospheric CO2. It is very important to monitor CO2-related processes and parameters, because the results of such monitoring are critical to chemical oceanography, to atmospheric science, to marine biology, and to the direction of future energy policies. Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes a completely integrated sensor system for long term (at least a year) autonomous buoy-based monitoring of CO2 transport and exchange at the air-sea interface. This fixed/flowing fiber optic chemical sensor (F30CS) system employs a miniaturized buffer flow coupled to a dual fiber optic optrode. CO2 is sensed using a pH sensitive indicator such as mete cresol purple. Dissolution of CO2 leads to reversible modulation of the buffer pH. The pH indicator is permanently entrapped in porous polymer spheres. A replenishable buffer solution eliminates the irreversible changes that have previously prevented the realization of long lived CO2 optrodes. This sensor system is an instrument of particular importance to science and to the national critical technology area of pollution minimization and remediation. It will significantly advance chemical oceanography, marine biology, atmospheric science, and ecosystem science. In addition to marine-based monitoring, the instrument could be used in such terrestrial aquatic ecosystems as lakes, rivers, and reservoirs, and in water quality and general environmental applications. Other applications include monitoring at severe/waste water discharge points, sewage treatment plants, and fish hatcheries. ***