Oregon State University is undertaking a 30-month project that addresses a need and requirement within biological and chemical oceanography to improve sea-going data gathering technologies that describe the distribution of nutrients and organisms on space and time scales that are better focused than presently available technology permits. Water sampling bottles, towed devices, and pumping systems that are presently used to measure fine-scale distributions of nutrients and chlorophyll are too coarse to describe plankton distribution in terms of fine scale physical parameters. The overall plan is to develop a fiber-optic system to sense and measure chlorophyll fluorescence and mate it to the existing physical oceanographic instrumentation that measures microstructure and turbulence. The multidisciplinary project will develop a sea-going laser/fiber optic system for making high-frequency, high spatial resolution (vertical and horizontal), in-situ biological and chemical measurements. The following specific objectives have been identified: 1) develop an oceanographic application for remote fiber optic fluorescent technology; 2) obtain scientific data that demonstrates the importance and applicability of this technology; 3) obtain coherence between biological and physical measurement scales in the upper ocean; and 4) investigate potential methods for making in-situ measurements of nutrient concentrations. Part of the development work is to be done by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on a sub-contract. The Office of Naval Research and the Biological Oceanography Program are also providing support.
