RUI: Experimental Seawater Laboratory at the Coastal Studies Center, Bowdoin College

鲍登学院海岸研究中心（http://www.bowdoin.edu/coastal-studies-center/）获得了一笔拨款，用于扩大现有流动海水系统的能力，以便在实验水族馆中独立操纵气候变量。海岸研究中心（CSC）位于缅因州中部海岸奥尔岛，是一个为鲍登学院和访问学生和研究人员服务的教育和研究实验室。CSC在缅因湾的南部边界有一个哨兵位置，这是一个随着地球气候变暖而向北移动的冷水边界。此外，曾经高产的缅因湾面临着其他协同影响，包括过度捕捞和入侵物种，它们正在改变海带森林、岩石潮间带、海草床和盐沼的结构和功能。虽然缅因湾周围有几个以研究为重点的海洋实验室，但CSC是一个独特的以RUI为重点的中心，致力于促进本科生参与快速变化的海洋问题。这个项目提高了鲍登学院的RUI能力，在过去的十年里，鲍登学院显著增加了女性和少数民族的入学率。新的海水实验能力也可能吸引新的访问学生和教师，扩大CSC的研究社区。最后，这些改进将允许增加对河口系统的实验和监测。河口支持高生物生产力，但由于淡水输入的缓冲能力降低和二氧化碳的高生物贡献，它们也比开放的海洋受到更强和更可变的海洋酸度的影响。一组新的传感器将在Harpswell Sound对关键的气候变化变量（包括关键的二氧化碳分压）进行采样，并将这些数据全年传输到互联网门户网站，为缅因湾提供一个急需的河口节点。该项目有两个主要元素：1。建造四个实验海水模块，将独立控制温度，氧气水平，pH值，并消毒出水；和2。搭建码头式仪器阵列，持续监测气候变化。元件1包括一个海水冷却系统，它结合了一个外部集中冷却装置和四个独立的冷冻水循环（模块），可以将400加仑的海水从夏季环境温度冷却到4摄氏度。此外，每个模块将配备管道、控制和传感器，分别通过添加氮和二氧化碳气体来操纵溶解氧水平和pH值。将增加一个内联紫外线过滤系统，用于培养非本地生物和需要出水消毒的实验应用。Element 2将安装一个基于码头的环境监测平台，该平台每年365天将温度、盐度、pH值和二氧化碳分压数据传输给全球研究机构。Harpswell Sound的新监测点将提供河口海洋系统如何应对气候变化的关键环境数据，并为参数化气候变化实验提供重要数据。

The Bowdoin College Coastal Studies Center (http://www.bowdoin.edu/coastal-studies-center/) is awarded a grant to expand the capabilities of an existing flowing seawater system so that climate variables can be independently manipulated in experimental aquaria. The Coastal Studies Center (CSC) on Orr's Island in mid-Coast Maine, is an educational and research laboratory serving Bowdoin College and visiting students and researchers. The CSC has a sentinel position at the southern boundary of the Gulf of Maine, a cold-water boundary that is moving northward as the Earth's climate warms. Further, the once highly productive Gulf of Maine faces other synergistic impacts including overfishing and invasive species that are changing the structure and function of kelp forests, the rocky intertidal, seagrass beds, and salt marshes. While several research-focused marine laboratories rim the Gulf of Maine, the CSC is a unique RUI focused center that is focused on facilitating undergraduate engagement on the problems of a rapidly changing ocean. This project improves the RUI capabilities of Bowdoin College, which has significantly increased female and minority enrollment over the last ten years. The new experimental seawater capabilities are also likely to attract new visiting students and faculty, expanding the CSC research community. Finally, the improvements will allow increased experimentation and monitoring of estuarine systems. Estuaries support high biological productivity, yet they also experience stronger and more variable impacts of ocean acidity than the open ocean due to the reduced buffering capacity of freshwater inputs and high biological contributions of carbon dioxide. A new cluster of sensors will sample key climate change variables (including crucial pCO2) in Harpswell Sound and stream this data to Internet portals year round, providing a much-needed estuarine node in the Gulf of Maine. The project has two major elements: 1. building four experimental seawater modules that will independently control temperature, oxygen levels, pH, and sterilize effluent; and 2. constructing a pier-mounted instrument array to continuously monitor climatic variables. Element 1 includes a seawater cooling system that combines an external centralized chilling unit with four independent chilled water loops (modules) that can cool 400 gallons of seawater from summer ambient temperatures to 4 degrees Celsius. Additionally, each module will be fitted with the plumbing, controls, and sensors to manipulate dissolved oxygen levels and pH via addition of nitrogen and carbon dioxide gasses respectively. An inline UV filter system will be added for experimental applications that culture non-native organisms and require effluent sterilization. Element 2 will install a pier-based environmental monitoring platform, that will stream temperature, salinity, pH, and pCO2 data to a global research community 365 days a year. This new monitoring location in Harpswell Sound will provide key environmental data on how estuarine marine systems are responding to climate change, and provide essential data for parameterizing climate change experiments.