SBIR-STTR Award

This Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I project is directed towards developing a compact, unattended sensing module for shipboard or moored use, to measure the carbon dioxide concentration (pCO2) of the surface ocean. There remains large scientific uncertainty in the quantitative evaluation of the ocean as a sink for anthropogenically produced (excess) carbon dioxide emissions, a leading greenhouse gas (U.S. GCRP, 1999). At present, despite significant large scale programs such as the NSF and DOE supported JGOFS and WOCE studies of the past decade, the observational oceanographic database is limited in space and time. Current research ship based measurements obtained by discrete water sampling techniques are expensive, require highly skilled scientific personnel and are necessarily limited in their spatiotemporal resolution. The sensor system proposed here is needed to allow largely unattended deployment on a range of at-sea platforms, to greatly extend the global monitoring effort. Potential Commercial Applications of the Research. While the measurement of oceanic carbonate systems parameters has been regarded as a governmental agency or academic research concern, societal and socio-economic factors (e.g. the recent Kyoto Protocol) place great current value on their understanding by an increasing range of environmental agencies and oceanographic researchers both nationally and internationally. Demonstration of an accurate, compact pCO2 sensor will broaden the commercial market for this critical environmental measurement.

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase II project will develop and test an autonomous, low cost, robust, precise, and miniaturized partial and total carbon dioxide measurement system. This system will be able to characterize the carbon dioxide exchange between ocean surface waters and the atmosphere, thus helping to analyze the "greenhouse effect" and assess global warming on a worldwide basis. The partial and total carbon dioxide systems are miniaturized for deployment by the International SeaKeepers Society in ocean and atmospheric monitoring modules on cargo ships, cruise ships, and super yachts around the world as well as for use on piers, ocean buoys, and other platforms. The prototype partial carbon dioxide system, developed in Phase I, measures carbon dioxide in seawater that has been equilibrated with air using an infrared detector. It is sensitive to five parts per million and responds to rapid changes in carbon dioxide. The prototype miniaturized total carbon dioxide system has a precision of three parts per million. Phase II will miniaturize and test both systems in the laboratory and in the field. Based on these tests and any modifications required, final commercial partial and total carbon dioxide measurement systems will be produced. The International SeaKeepers Society is expected to deploy hundreds of these carbon dioxide sensor systems. Other purchasers would include government agencies worldwide performing research and monitoring on the global warming phenomenon.