Photograph courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Central Library.

Designed by MBARI—Enhanced by NOAA—Manufactured by Battelle

Ocean acidification and global climate change are very real issues affecting multiple industries today. From the oil and gas industry and academia to industrial fisheries and wildlife sanctuaries, scientists and technical experts are charged with monitoring the level of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the ocean to understand the impact of changing chemistry on aquatic life.

In response to this need, Battelle is launching a cooperative effort with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) to manufacture and commercialize an analytical instrument that will help scientists understand and predict climate change.

This autonomous pCO₂ Monitoring System provides air and aqueous partial pressure carbon dioxide (pCO₂) measurements for remote ocean environments. Originally designed by MBARI, this approach of measuring the partial pressure of CO₂ gives scientists an idea of whether the ocean is acting as a source or sink of CO₂ (relative to the atmosphere) at a given place and time. Such fluxes of CO₂ vary dramatically from place to place and over time.

NOAA enhanced the device by adding a reference calibration gas and two-way satellite data transmission capabilities to control the system and receive data in near real-time. Currently, NOAA has more than a dozen pCO₂ Monitoring Systems deployed on a variety of buoys around the world. NOAA is using this analytical instrument to develop a global array of moored observation systems to determine air-sea flux in support of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS).

To view this information in a brochure format, click here.