NSF Award
0138036
A grant has been awarded to Dr. Gary Kirkpatrick at Mote Marine Laboratory, Dr. Mark Moline at California Polytechnic State University and Dr. Oscar Schofield at Rutgers University to<br/><br/><br/> develop and expand the present capabilities of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) to study the distribution and taxonomic composition of phytoplankton communities. Traditional methods of study involve boats to collect water samples and then manual examination of the individual water samples. The results from the traditional approach have poor spatial and time resolution, their quality depends on the expertise of the investigator and they are very costly. The goal of this project is to develop a nested AUV observation capability that can provide near continuous in situ data over ecologically significant spatial scales.<br/>Specifically, this work will develop and integrate an optically-based phytoplankton detection instrument into two classes of AUVs to provide an end-to-end in situ phytoplankton detection and mapping network. The existing platforms for this network development effort include a Webb Research Corporation non-propeller autonomous glider (owned by Rutgers University) and a propeller driven Remote Environmental Measuring UnitS (REMUS) (owned by Cal Poly). The proposed optical detection system consists of a capillary waveguide system, which will provide quantitative hyperspectral measurements of particulate light absorption which will be used to differentiate between phytoplankton groups. PIs propose to test the developed network by detecting and mapping harmful algal blooms (HABs) along the West Florida continental shelf.<br/>The proposed systems will complement the broader research community efforts to use satellite remote sensing techniques to monitor the distribution and taxonomic composition of phytoplankton communities. The resulting systems will have world-wide applicability to monitoring and study of phytoplankton communities in freshwater and marine systems. The instruments resulting from the proposed development effort will have value as stand-alone tools and as components of observation networks. The undergraduate and graduate students to be involved in this project will gain insight into the scientific principals and engineering considerations underlying these technologies that will form the basis for future aquatic sciences. Finally, the public will be involved in the information transfer aspects of this system through near-real-time data products available on the World-Wide Web and visualization of biological community structure through existing formal and informal public outreach programs.
