ORE Seminar: The Global Ocean Biogeochemistry Array (GO-BGC)

March 3, 3:30pm - 4:30pm
Mānoa Campus, Zoom Meeting, Please see description for Meeting ID and Passcode Add to Calendar

The ocean is under threat from a variety of processes driven by increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide such as ocean warming, changing winds and currents, decreasing pH and oxygen, and less ice cover at high latitudes. However, vast areas of the open ocean are sampled from research ships for chemical and biological properties only once per decade or less, with sampling occurring mainly in summer. Our ability to detect changes in ocean chemical and biological processes that may be occurring are greatly hindered by this undersampling. Robotic platforms carrying chemical and biological sensors that can monitor ocean metabolism, such as rates of oxygen production, nutrient uptake, accumulation of plankton biomass, and respiration, are required. The platforms and sensors must operate for the 5 to 10 year period between research vessel visits with no direct human intervention and little or no chance for sensor recalibration. Here, I’ll describe the Global Ocean Biogeochemistry Array (GO-BGC), a sensor network funded by a major NSF grant to meet this mission. GO-BGC will operate as the main US component of the BGC-Argo array. It is based on profiling floats that cycle through the upper 2 kilometers of the ocean every 10 days for 4 to 6 years. These floats carry optical sensors for oxygen, nitrate, chlorophyll, and particles, as well as electrochemical sensors for pH and physical sensors for temperature, pressure and salinity. The nitrate and pH sensors used in the array were developed at MBARI. This talk will focus on the background sensor, platform, and data processing infrastructure that enables this system Speaker Bio: Ken Johnson is a Senior Scientist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in Moss Landing. His research focuses on the development of novel chemical sensors which can be deployed for extended periods (years) in the ocean. Much of the focus in his laboratory is on implementation of Biogeochemical-Argo, a global observing system using these sensors on profiling floats. Ken Johnson, Ph.D. Senior Scientist Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute Zoom Meeting ID: 998 7672 1858 Passcode: ore792


Event Sponsor
Ocean & Resources Engineering, Mānoa Campus

More Information
(808) 956-7572, http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/ore/event/seminar_210303/

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