RRS Discovery Cruise 368, 15 Jul - 04 Aug 2011. Hydrographic measurements on WOCE line A16N

RRS Discovery Cruise 368 was a repeat occupation of part of the Atlantic hydrographic section designated by the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) as A16N. A total of 29 CTDO (conductivity-temperature-depth-oxygen) stations were occupied. This included one test station, 27 stations between 49N and 23N on the WOCE A16N ‘20W’ line, and one final station near the ESTOC site close to Tenerife. Continuous profile measurements were CTDO and Lowered Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (LADCP). Discrete bottle measurements from a 24-place rosette included salinity and dissolved oxygen analysed on board, and dissolved inorganic nutrients, Dissolved Inorganic Carbon and Total Alkalinity for analysis ashore. Underway measurements included Vessel-Mounted ADCP, surface ocean measurements and surface meteorology. The cruise was a UK contribution to the GO-SHIP sustained hydrography program. It was a partial repeat of the line designated in WOCE as A16N, which was previously occupied as a comprehensive cruise in 2003. In addition, a microbial program was carried out as an opportunistic activity by scientists who would remain on board for the following cruise.This report describes the methods used to acquire and process the data on board the ship during RRS Discovery Cruise 368.<br/

A wearable electrochemical sensor for the real-time measurement of sweat sodium concentration

We report a new method for the real-time quantitative analysis of sodium in human sweat, consolidating sweat collection and analysis in a single, integrated, wearable platform. This temporal data opens up new possibilities in the study of human physiology, broadly applicable from assessing high performance athletes to monitoring Cystic Fibrosis (CF) sufferers. Our compact Sodium Sensor Belt (SSB) consists of a sodium selective Ion Selective Electrode (ISE) integrated into a platform that can be interfaced with the human body during exercise. No skin cleaning regime or sweat storage technology is required as the sweat is continually wicked from the skin to a sensing surface and from there to a storage area via a fabric pump. Our results suggest that after an initial equilibration period, a steady-state sodium plateau concentration was reached. Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) was used as a reference method, and this has confirmed the accuracy of the new continuous monitoring approach. The steady-state concentrations observed were found to fall within ranges previously found in the literature, which further validates the approach. Daily calibration repeatability (n 1⁄4 4) was +/- 3.0% RSD and over a three month period reproducibility was +/- 12.1% RSD (n 1⁄4 56). As a further application, we attempted to monitor the sweat of Cystic Fibrosis (CF) sufferers using the same device. We observed high sodium concentrations symptomatic of CF ($60 mM Na+) for two CF patients, with no conclusive results for the remaining patients due to their limited exercising capability, and high viscosity/low volume of sweat produced

Universal Solar Powered Water Quality Monitoring IoT Device and Notification System

Water constituents are often event-driven so concentrations and properties vary strongly in time. Due to this, there is a high demand for devices which can get accurate and real time measurements as these changes occur. Current methods of monitoring water quality mostly involve a team of people who collect samples which are later analyzed in a laboratory. This process is time consuming, expensive and has a slow reaction time which may lead to missing out on important changes in the water parameters. This paper describes a prototype solution which is affordable and capable of producing quick and accurate results in real time. This prototype measures the water quality using various sensors which record the pH level, temperature, total dissolved solids, conductivity and changes in the level of water. These sensors are connected to the ESP32 DevKit V4 microcontroller which processes and transmits the data in real time using Wi-Fi to the thinger.io online monitoring dashboard. This dashboard also stores all the data so it can be for analyzing the trends in changes of water quality. In addition to that, this prototype utilizes solar energy harvesting allowing it to be self-sufficiently powered throughout the year.Water constituents are often event-driven so concentrations and properties vary strongly in time. Due to this, there is a high demand for devices which can get accurate and real time measurements as these changes occur. Current methods of monitoring water quality mostly involve a team of people who collect samples which are later analyzed in a laboratory. This process is time consuming, expensive and has a slow reaction time which may lead to missing out on important changes in the water parameters. This paper describes a prototype solution which is affordable and capable of producing quick and accurate results in real time. This prototype measures the water quality using various sensors which record the pH level, temperature, total dissolved solids, conductivity and changes in the level of water. These sensors are connected to the ESP32 DevKit V4 microcontroller which processes and transmits the data in real time using Wi-Fi to the thinger.io online monitoring dashboard. This dashboard also stores all the data so it can be for analyzing the trends in changes of water quality. In addition to that, this prototype utilizes solar energy harvesting allowing it to be self-sufficiently powered throughout the year

Electro-active sensor, method for constructing the same; apparatus and circuitry for detection of electro-active species

An electro-active sensor includes a nonconductive platform with a first electrode set attached with a first side of a nonconductive platform. The first electrode set serves as an electrochemical cell that may be utilized to detect electro-active species in solution. A plurality of electrode sets and a variety of additional electrochemical cells and sensors may be attached with the nonconductive platform. The present invention also includes a method for constructing the aforementioned electro-active sensor. Additionally, an apparatus for detection and observation is disclosed, where the apparatus includes a sealable chamber for insertion of a portion of an electro-active sensor. The apparatus allows for monitoring and detection activities. Allowing for control of attached cells and sensors, a dual-mode circuitry is also disclosed. The dual-mode circuitry includes a switch, allowing the circuitry to be switched from a potentiostat to a galvanostat mode

Technology transfer potential of an automated water monitoring system

The nature and characteristics of the potential economic need (markets) for a highly integrated water quality monitoring system were investigated. The technological, institutional and marketing factors that would influence the transfer and adoption of an automated system were studied for application to public and private water supply, public and private wastewater treatment and environmental monitoring of rivers and lakes

RRS Discovery Cruise D359, 17 Dec 2010-14 Jan 2011. RAPID moorings cruise report

This cruise report covers scientific operations conducted during RRS Discovery Cruise D359. Cruise D359 departed from São Antonio, Cape Verde on Friday 17th December 2010 arriving Santa Cruz de Tenerife Friday 14th December 2011.The purpose of the cruise was the refurbishment of an array of moorings on the mid-­Atlantic Ridge and off the Moroccan Coast at a nominal latitude of 26.5°N. The moorings are part of a purposeful Atlantic wide mooring array for monitoring the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation and Heat Flux. The array is a joint UK/US programme and is known as the RAPID-­?WATCH/MOCHA array. Information and data from the project can be found on the web site hosted by the National Oceanography Centre Southampton http://www.noc.soton.ac.uk/rapidmoc and also from the British Oceanographic Data Centre http://www.bodc.ac.uk.The RAPID transatlantic array consists of 24 moorings of which 21 are maintained by the UK, and 20 bottom landers of which 16 are maintained by the UK. The moorings are primarily instrumented with self logging instruments measuring conductivity, temperature and pressure. Direct measurements of currents are made in the shallow and deep western boundary currents. The bottom landers are instrumented with bottom pressure recorders (also known as tide gauges), measuring the weight of water above the instrument.The RAPID naming convention for moorings is Western Boundary (WB), Eastern Boundary (EB) and Mid-­Atlantic Ridge (MAR) indicating the general sub-­regions of the array. Numbering increments from west to east. An L in the name indicates a bottom lander, M indicates a mini-­mooring with only one instrument, H indicates a mooring on the continental slope. During D359 we recovered: MAR0, MAR1L4, MAR1, MAR2, MAR3, MAR3L4, EB1, EB1L7, EBHi, EBH1, EBH1L7, EBH2, EBH3, EBH4, EBP2, EBH5, EBM5. We did not recover EBM1, EBM4, EBM6, EBH1 and MAR3. We deployed: MAR0, MAR1L7, MAR1, MAR2, MAR3, MAR3L6, EB1, EB1L7, EBHi, EBH1, EBH1L8, EBH2, EBH3, EBH4, EBP2, EBH5. A sediment trap mooring NOGST was also recovered and redeployed for the Ocean Biogeochemistry and Ecosystems Group at the NOCS.CTD stations were conducted at convenient times throughout the cruise for purposes of providing pre and post deployment calibrations for mooring instrumentation and for testing mooring releases prior to deployment.Shipboard underway measurements were systematically logged, processed and calibrated, including: waves (spectra of energy and significant wave height), surface meteorology (air pressure, temperature, wind speed and direction and radiation (total incident and photosynthetically active), 6m-­depth sea temperatures and salinities, water depth, navigation (differential GPS measurements feeding two independent and different receivers, heading, pitch and roll from a four antenna Ashtec ADU5 receiver, gyro heading and ships speed relative to the water using an electro-­magnetic log). Water velocity profiles from 15m to approximately 500m depth were obtained using a ship mounted 75 kHz acoustic Doppler current profiler. Sea-­water samples from CTD stations and of the sea-­surface were obtained for calibration and analysed on a salinometer referencing these samples against standard sea water. For velocity data (wind and currents) measured relative to the ship considerable effort was made to obtain the best possible earth-­referenced velocities.Four APEX argo floats supplied by the Met Office were deployed at pre-­assigned locations, filling gaps in the network

Conductivity cell for water quality monitoring

The measurement of electrolytic conductivity is widely applied as a control parameter and its relevance is continously increasing, not only in industrial applications but also in the environmental monitoring domain. In this work the attention is focused on the electrical behaviour of a low cost in-situ four electrode conductivity sensor for water quality monitoring in estuaries and oceans. The design of the sensor, the method used to determine the conductivity value, the circuit developed for signal conditioning and the data acquisition board that links the sensor to the computer for further signal processing are described in detail. The output values of the conditioning circuit are stored in the computer and compared with more accurate conductivity values obtained from commercial equipment. In order to obtain more accurate results algorithms for digital signal processing have been presented and implemented.Peer Reviewe