Evaluating the Sensor-Equipped Autonomous Surface Vehicle C-Worker 4 as a Tool for Identifying Coastal Ocean Acidification and Changes in Carbonate Chemistry
The interface between land and sea is a key environment for biogeochemical carbon cycling, yet these dynamic environments are traditionally under sampled. Logistical limitations have historically precluded a comprehensive understanding of coastal zone processes, including ocean acidification. Using...
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ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/2077-1312/8/11/939/ 2023-08-20T04:08:56+02:00 Evaluating the Sensor-Equipped Autonomous Surface Vehicle C-Worker 4 as a Tool for Identifying Coastal Ocean Acidification and Changes in Carbonate Chemistry Sarah Cryer Filipa Carvalho Terry Wood James Asa Strong Peter Brown Socratis Loucaides Arlene Young Richard Sanders Claire Evans agris 2020-11-19 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse8110939 EN eng Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Chemical Oceanography https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jmse8110939 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Journal of Marine Science and Engineering; Volume 8; Issue 11; Pages: 939 ocean acidification coastal autonomous ASV biogeochemistry sensors pCO 2 pH monitoring Text 2020 ftmdpi https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse8110939 2023-08-01T00:29:34Z The interface between land and sea is a key environment for biogeochemical carbon cycling, yet these dynamic environments are traditionally under sampled. Logistical limitations have historically precluded a comprehensive understanding of coastal zone processes, including ocean acidification. Using sensors on autonomous platforms is a promising approach to enhance data collection in these environments. Here, we evaluate the use of an autonomous surface vehicle (ASV), the C-Worker 4 (CW4), equipped with pH and pCO2 sensors and with the capacity to mount additional sensors for up to 10 other parameters, for the collection of high-resolution data in shallow coastal environments. We deployed the CW4 on two occasions in Belizean coastal waters for 2.5 and 4 days, demonstrating its capability for high-resolution spatial mapping of surface coastal biogeochemistry. This enabled the characterisation of small-scale variability and the identification of sources of low pH/high pCO2 waters as well as identifying potential controls on coastal pH. We demonstrated the capabilities of the CW4 in both pre-planned “autonomous” mission mode and remote “manually” operated mode. After documenting platform behaviour, we provide recommendations for further usage, such as the ideal mode of operation for better quality pH data, e.g., using constant speed. The CW4 has a high power supply capacity, which permits the deployment of multiple sensors sampling concurrently, a shallow draught, and is highly controllable and manoeuvrable. This makes it a highly suitable tool for observing and characterising the carbonate system alongside identifying potential drivers and controls in shallow coastal regions. Text Ocean acidification MDPI Open Access Publishing Journal of Marine Science and Engineering 8 11 939 |
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Open Polar |
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MDPI Open Access Publishing |
op_collection_id |
ftmdpi |
language |
English |
topic |
ocean acidification coastal autonomous ASV biogeochemistry sensors pCO 2 pH monitoring |
spellingShingle |
ocean acidification coastal autonomous ASV biogeochemistry sensors pCO 2 pH monitoring Sarah Cryer Filipa Carvalho Terry Wood James Asa Strong Peter Brown Socratis Loucaides Arlene Young Richard Sanders Claire Evans Evaluating the Sensor-Equipped Autonomous Surface Vehicle C-Worker 4 as a Tool for Identifying Coastal Ocean Acidification and Changes in Carbonate Chemistry |
topic_facet |
ocean acidification coastal autonomous ASV biogeochemistry sensors pCO 2 pH monitoring |
description |
The interface between land and sea is a key environment for biogeochemical carbon cycling, yet these dynamic environments are traditionally under sampled. Logistical limitations have historically precluded a comprehensive understanding of coastal zone processes, including ocean acidification. Using sensors on autonomous platforms is a promising approach to enhance data collection in these environments. Here, we evaluate the use of an autonomous surface vehicle (ASV), the C-Worker 4 (CW4), equipped with pH and pCO2 sensors and with the capacity to mount additional sensors for up to 10 other parameters, for the collection of high-resolution data in shallow coastal environments. We deployed the CW4 on two occasions in Belizean coastal waters for 2.5 and 4 days, demonstrating its capability for high-resolution spatial mapping of surface coastal biogeochemistry. This enabled the characterisation of small-scale variability and the identification of sources of low pH/high pCO2 waters as well as identifying potential controls on coastal pH. We demonstrated the capabilities of the CW4 in both pre-planned “autonomous” mission mode and remote “manually” operated mode. After documenting platform behaviour, we provide recommendations for further usage, such as the ideal mode of operation for better quality pH data, e.g., using constant speed. The CW4 has a high power supply capacity, which permits the deployment of multiple sensors sampling concurrently, a shallow draught, and is highly controllable and manoeuvrable. This makes it a highly suitable tool for observing and characterising the carbonate system alongside identifying potential drivers and controls in shallow coastal regions. |
format |
Text |
author |
Sarah Cryer Filipa Carvalho Terry Wood James Asa Strong Peter Brown Socratis Loucaides Arlene Young Richard Sanders Claire Evans |
author_facet |
Sarah Cryer Filipa Carvalho Terry Wood James Asa Strong Peter Brown Socratis Loucaides Arlene Young Richard Sanders Claire Evans |
author_sort |
Sarah Cryer |
title |
Evaluating the Sensor-Equipped Autonomous Surface Vehicle C-Worker 4 as a Tool for Identifying Coastal Ocean Acidification and Changes in Carbonate Chemistry |
title_short |
Evaluating the Sensor-Equipped Autonomous Surface Vehicle C-Worker 4 as a Tool for Identifying Coastal Ocean Acidification and Changes in Carbonate Chemistry |
title_full |
Evaluating the Sensor-Equipped Autonomous Surface Vehicle C-Worker 4 as a Tool for Identifying Coastal Ocean Acidification and Changes in Carbonate Chemistry |
title_fullStr |
Evaluating the Sensor-Equipped Autonomous Surface Vehicle C-Worker 4 as a Tool for Identifying Coastal Ocean Acidification and Changes in Carbonate Chemistry |
title_full_unstemmed |
Evaluating the Sensor-Equipped Autonomous Surface Vehicle C-Worker 4 as a Tool for Identifying Coastal Ocean Acidification and Changes in Carbonate Chemistry |
title_sort |
evaluating the sensor-equipped autonomous surface vehicle c-worker 4 as a tool for identifying coastal ocean acidification and changes in carbonate chemistry |
publisher |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse8110939 |
op_coverage |
agris |
genre |
Ocean acidification |
genre_facet |
Ocean acidification |
op_source |
Journal of Marine Science and Engineering; Volume 8; Issue 11; Pages: 939 |
op_relation |
Chemical Oceanography https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jmse8110939 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse8110939 |
container_title |
Journal of Marine Science and Engineering |
container_volume |
8 |
container_issue |
11 |
container_start_page |
939 |
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1774721526981984256 |