In situ sensor technology for simultaneous spectrophotometric measurements of seawater total dissolved inorganic carbon and pH

Environ Sci Technol. 2015 Apr 7;49(7):4441-9. doi: 10.1021/es504893n. Epub 2015 Mar 10.

Abstract

A new, in situ sensing system, Channelized Optical System (CHANOS), was recently developed to make high-resolution, simultaneous measurements of total dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and pH in seawater. Measurements made by this single, compact sensor can fully characterize the marine carbonate system. The system has a modular design to accommodate two independent, but similar measurement channels for DIC and pH. Both are based on spectrophotometric detection of hydrogen ion concentrations. The pH channel uses a flow-through, sample-indicator mixing design to achieve near instantaneous measurements. The DIC channel adapts a recently developed spectrophotometric method to achieve flow-through CO2 equilibration between an acidified sample and an indicator solution with a response time of only ∼ 90 s. During laboratory and in situ testing, CHANOS achieved a precision of ±0.0010 and ± 2.5 μmol kg(-1) for pH and DIC, respectively. In situ comparison tests indicated that the accuracies of the pH and DIC channels over a three-week time-series deployment were ± 0.0024 and ± 4.1 μmol kg(-1), respectively. This study demonstrates that CHANOS can make in situ, climatology-quality measurements by measuring two desirable CO2 parameters, and is capable of resolving the CO2 system in dynamic marine environments.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Carbon / analysis*
  • Equipment Design
  • Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
  • Seawater / analysis*
  • Seawater / chemistry
  • Spectrophotometry / instrumentation
  • Spectrophotometry / methods*

Substances

  • Carbon