SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Sequoia Scientific, Inc.
2700 Richards Road
Bellevue, WA 98005 - 4200
(425) 641-0944

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Wayne Slade
wslade@sequoiasci.com
2700 Richards Road
Bellevue, WA 98005 - 4200
(425) 641-0944

CORPORATE/BUSINESS OFFICIAL (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Wayne Slade
wslade@sequoiasci.com
2700 Richards Road
Bellevue, WA 98005 - 4200
(425) 641-0944

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:
Begin: 3
End: 7

Technology Available (TAV) Subtopics
Surface & Sub-surface Measurement Systems is a Technology Available (TAV) subtopic that includes NASA Intellectual Property (IP). Do you plan to use the NASA IP under the award?
No

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (Limit 2000 characters, approximately 200 words)
The remote sensing reflectance signal measured by an ocean color satellite is to first order proportional to the ratio of backscattered to absorbed light. Therefore in situ measurements of absorption and backscattering, as functions of wavelength, along with in situ and satellite radiometery, are key to refinement and calibration of legacy ocean color algorithms, as well as development of next generation ocean color products such as phytoplankton functional type. Currently, commercial instruments exist for in situ measurement of the hyperspectral absorption coefficient, but no instrument exists for measurement of the hyperspectral backscattering coefficient. We propose to develop an active sensor for in situ measurement of the hyperspectral backscattering coefficient.

The proposed instrument will use a broadband halogen lamp source, servo-controlled linear variable filters as spectral bandpass elements in transmit and receive optics, and a photomultiplier tube detector with integrated low-noise amplifier and variable gain.

The proposed instrument addresses a critical gap in the field of currently available systems for measuring hyperspectral IOPs in situ, in support of hyperspectral ocean color missions.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
The proposed novel sensor for measuring hyperspectral backscattering has wide applicability in the field of ocean optics and ocean biology and biogeochemistry. There are currently no instruments available that make this measurement. NASA scientists and NASA-funded researchers,especially those working on risk reduction and optical IOP-radiometric closure studies as well as phytoplankton functional group algorithms, and increasingly complex biogeochemical and ecosystem models are currently hindered by a lack of ground truth hyperspectral backscattering data. Given the current push within NASA programs in preparation for launch of the PACE ocean color mission and EXPORTS field campaign, development of this system is very timely.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
Similar to the NASA applications, the target market for the proposed instrument is broad. Government scientists and agency-funded researchers (many federal agencies including NSF, NRL, ONR, NOAA, and foreign space and environmental agencies) in ocean science routinely measure IOPs for ocean color cal/val.