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

海洋中二氧化碳的储藏库是巨大的、动态的、空间可变的，对地球至关重要。气候、生物地球化学循环和海洋生态系统的健康。目前，整个海洋的二氧化碳分压（pCO2）的采样量严重不足。这是由于传统的采样方法主要依赖于从专门的研究巡航中收集的离散水样，从过境船只中进行的表面海洋特性测量，或从固定系泊处的原位传感器进行的时间序列测量。这种稀疏的采样覆盖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二氧化碳在海洋中的积累如何通过海洋酸化影响海洋生物的理解。研究人员将开发一种碳滑翔机，该滑翔机将首次能够在整个水柱上以高分辨率自动测量二氧化碳分压。一旦投入使用，碳滑翔机将促进对区域和全球碳循环、海洋生产力、海洋酸化和海洋生态系统的理解。美国在减缓气候变化方面的作用。碳滑翔机还可以用于对二氧化碳敏感生物的化学栖息地进行远程监测，从而改进对生态系统对海洋酸化反应的理解。加强对地下水域的监测对于推进贝类养殖场和渔民的预警系统也很重要。研究人员将开发一种自主碳滑翔机，将一个强大的、经过验证的、高精度的pCO2传感器（Kongsberg CONTROS HydroC CO2）集成到一个高性能的、最先进的自主沿海水下滑翔机（Kongsberg Seaglider C2）中。该项目的主要产品将是一个经过验证的，科学就绪的pco2传感滑翔机，可用于各种海洋观测任务。这种碳滑翔机将伴随所有软件包和操作文件，以确保用户友好的操作和高质量的数据产品。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pCO2测量的能力。该项目的成功完成将推进碳滑翔机系统的最终形态，并被证明在广泛的环境条件下有效可靠地工作。这包括将这些经过验证的组件最终集成到一个功能齐全的系统中，优化其性能和操作，并在科学任务期间进行严格的开发测试、评估和操作演示。拟议中的冰川融水科学任务影响了威廉王子湾，既挑战了二氧化碳分压感知能力（即动态和变化），也挑战了滑翔机平台。性能（即强电流和密度梯度）。如果这些演示实验成功，它将证明碳滑翔机可以用于各种其他科学和监测任务，其中大多数任务将涉及在不那么苛刻的环境中进行操作。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。

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.