Novel multiparameter optical sensor head design for marine environments.

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Optical Engineering
• Marine Biology

Background:

• Anthropogenic activities increasingly stress marine and aquatic ecosystems.
• Effective monitoring is crucial for understanding and mitigating these environmental pressures.
• Detecting optically active constituents is vital for water quality assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and test a novel optical head for monitoring marine optical phenomena.
• To detect optically active constituents in marine and coastal environments.
• To assess the potential for applications such as Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) detection, oil spill monitoring, and turbidity measurement.

Main Methods:

• Development of a novel optical head for in-situ measurements.
• Laboratory-based testing of the optical head's capabilities.
• Benchmarking analytical performance against commercial sensors for turbidity and in-vivo Chlorophyll a (Chl a).

Main Results:

• The optical head is well-suited for measuring in-vivo Chlorophyll a (Chl a) fluorescence, turbidity, fluorescent dissolved organic matter (fDOM), and petroleum.
• Demonstrated good analytical performance with certified reference standards.
• Showed very good agreement with reference instruments for turbidity and in-vivo Chl a measurements.

Conclusions:

• The developed optical head shows significant promise for marine environmental monitoring.
• It offers reliable measurement of key water quality parameters, including those indicative of HABs and pollution.
• The sensor's performance validates its utility as a tool for aquatic ecosystem health assessment.