Research Team Designs Technology to Measure Carbon Dioxide in Oceans

New technology developed by University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers and their industry partners would enable an unmanned underwater vehicle to measure carbon dioxide in the ocean, to help develop climate change adaptation plans.

The design is now available to the scientific community, researchers at UAF’s International Arctic Research Center said Nov. 26. The design was first published in the journal Ocean Science on Oct. 29.

Over the past six years, a team from the UAF International Arctic Research Center (IARC) and private companies developed a way to equip an autonomous underwater vehicle called a Seaglider, with a sensor that monitors carbon dioxide.

The sensor communicates with a satellite to provide high spatial and temporal resolution data for weeks at a time. This continuous flow of data gives scientists a clear picture of ocean chemistry, but took some ingenuity to bring the project together, researchers said.

Monitoring carbon dioxide levels in the ocean creates the information needed to develop climate change adaptation plans, Claudine Hauri, the team’s oceanographer and IARC’s deputy director, said.

One challenge the underwater vehicle’s team still faces is extreme conditions in waters around Alaska.

“The Seaglider we’re using isn’t really made for Alaska’s coastal oceans,” Hauri said. “We’re looking for an autonomous underwater vehicle that can withstand the elements. Then we’ll integrate it with the carbon dioxide and methane sensors to collect data from some of the most remote spots on Earth, furthering our understanding of chemical processes in the ocean.”

IARC’s industry partners — Advanced Offshore Operations and 4H JENA Engineering — made the Contros HydroC sensor lighter and more compact so it would fit the Seaglider.

The sensor is still larger and demands more power than those typically used on a Seaglider, so the team had to carefully account for its effects upon buoyancy and adjust by using weights and 3D-printed materials.

Carbon dioxide, released when humans burn coal, oil and gas, is called a greenhouse gas because it traps heat in the atmosphere and contributes to climate warming. The ocean has slowed the effects of climate change by absorbing about a third of carbon dioxide emissions since the industrial revolution began, but that has led to ocean acidification.

Hauri noted that when carbon dioxide from the atmosphere dissolves into the ocean that it decreases the pH, leading to ocean acidification and making it difficult for some marine organisms to maintain their shells. Fish may also be affected, she said.

“While I can’t speak specifically to this study, all work to improve our understanding of climate change impacts to the ocean and the fisheries managed by the (North Pacific Fishery Management) Council can help all of us (managers, communities, individuals) make more informed decisions,” Katie Latanich, climate project manager for the NPFMC in Anchorage said.

“From our vantage point in the management process,” she added, “our task is to work with our scientific partners to connect climate science with the decision-making process, and this is one focus of the Council’s current climate readiness planning.”

Source: https://fishermensnews.com/research-team-designs-technology-to-measure-carbon-dioxide-in-oceans/