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Sensing Carbon Flux

June 19, 2016

MIT-WHOI Joint Program student Sophie Chu (left) and research assistant Kate Morkeski, who work with chemist Aleck Wang, prepare to deploy a Channelized Optical System (CHANOS) sensor in the Sage Lot Pond Marsh in Waquoit Bay. The new instrument measures both acidity (pH) and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in tidal water flooding the marsh. Using a sensor to make real-time measurements, rather than individual samples, allows for more accurate assessment of changes in water chemistry and carbon export over tidal cycles. The same sensor can be used to monitor how our oceans are acidifying as atmospheric carbon levels increase. (Photo by Gwen Schanker, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)