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theses

The processes driving coastal acidification are highly dynamic, especially in productive and economically valuable coastal marine ecosystems. Therefore, coastal acidification monitoring efforts require robust data collection and high-quality assurance and control. Observations of carbonate chemistry for detection of ocean and coastal acidification have traditionally been monitored through fixed moorings with sensors that measure pH and/or pCO2 (the concentration of CO2 in seawater) and ship surveys that utilize flow-through pH and pCO2 sensors and collect discrete water samples to measure pH, total alkalinity, and dissolved inorganic carbon. However, the ongoing advancement of sensors integrated into underwater autonomous vehicles, such as gliders, provides the capability to detect fine spatial and temporal changes in the water column at a higher resolution. A recently developed glider sensor, the deep ISFET glider-based pH sensor, is currently demonstrating its ability to provide scalable ocean and coastal acidification monitoring networks with the capability of serving a wide range of users. This sensor was developed through a coordinated effort between Rutgers University, the University of Delaware, Sea-Bird Scientific, and Teledyne Webb Research. Here, I present a best practices document for using a glider-integrated deep ISFET-based pH sensor on a Slocum Webb glider to collect high-quality pH data.This thesis details aspects of sensor design and function as well as pre-deployment, deployment, and post-deployment procedures to be carried out during missions. The pre-deployment procedures include pH sensor calibration techniques recommendations for sensor conditioning prior to deployment, and glider mission setting options. For active deployments, I include recommendations for the collection of water samples for carbonate chemistry analysis as checks on the field precision and accuracy of the glider sensor as well as flight techniques for efficient glider sampling, energy usage, and biofouling minimization. The post-deployment procedures for delayed mode data processing include: calculating pH and salinity, evaluation of sensor response time lags, sensor time shift analysis (if applicable), QARTOD-based quality control, deriving total alkalinity from salinity-based total alkalinity relationships (if available), and extracting the full suite of carbonate chemistry parameters. This comprehensive best practices document can be used as an instructional guideline for a broad range of user groups.

http://dissertations.umi.com/gsnb.rutgers:11569

M.S.

Includes bibliographical references

doi:10.7282/t3-9fd3-2k43

The author owns the copyright to this work.