This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop a Deployable Voltammetric Analyzer (DVA), which would allow real time, profiling measurements of electroactive species in the water column. The DVA can be moored in position to take timed data, or used in the analysis of sediments in oceans, bays, or harbors. This instrument could be used to locate contaminated sediments in bays and harbors, including "hot spots" of copper, tin, lead paint from ships, and lead from discarded batteries off lighted buoys. A moored DVA instrument can be used to monitor discharge compliance from manufacturing and electrical power plants (for copper or other metal contamination) or in monitoring the natural effluent from hydrothermal vents. Commercial applications are expected in both oceanographic research and environmental monitoring.
