Scientists and engineers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) are developing sensor network technology to better understand anthropogenic ocean acidification. Burning of fossil fuels has produced cumulative CO2 emissions on the order of one trillion tons since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. While approximately half of this CO2 remains in the atmosphere today, the ocean is the main repository for the balance. Experiments and observations suggest that CO2 ocean enrichment and the resulting acidification will inhibit formation of calcium carbonate exoskeletons, and may have major impacts on marine ecosystems. To study these effects on marine ecosystems in situ, MBARI has developed the Free Ocean Carbon dioxide Enrichment (FOCE) system [1]. In contrast to laboratory experiments, FOCE directly measures effects in the ocean environment, and is designed for deployment in deep locations such as the Monterey submarine canyon.
O’Reilly, T., Headley, K., Herlien, B., Salamy, K. A., Tilak, S., Edgington, D., Fountain, T., Brewer, P., & Kirkwood, B., 2010, A sensor network platform to study impact of ocean acidification in deep water environments. IEEE International Conference on Distributed Computing in Sensor Systems (DCOSS) 2010. Article.
