SBIR 95-1 SOLICITATION

PROJECT SUMMARY

Proposal Number:

08.13-9737

Project Title:

GROUND TRUTH PHYTOPLANKTON SENSOR

Technical Abstract:

A novel oceanographic sensor for in situ determination of the vertical structure of phytoplankton photosynthetic capacity for ground thruthing of remote sensing determinations of primary production will be developed. This information is needed to support physiological models used to convert biomass measurements into maps of water column production. Operation of the sensor is based on a phase fluorometer employing a laser diode or a LED as a light source. This will enable simultaneous measurement of cholorophyll fluorescence intensity and lifetimes, and hence real-time assessment of phytoplankton physiological status in situ with high spatial resolution. Phase fluorometry offers a new approach to in situ investigation of phytoplankton physiological status. Sensors may be implemented with a shipboard diode laser fiber-optically coupled to a sensor head which could be mounted on a variety of platforms including a "slack-line" fast sampling profiler or a towed sensor. Alternatively, they could be implemented as battery-operated stand-alone sensors equipped with data storage/telemetry for deployment in a mooring (or from a ship without need for fiber- optics). No instrumentation exists with the capabilities of the proposed sensor; to our knowledge this would be the first oceanographic phytoplankton analyzer to exploit fluorescence lifetime sensing.

Potential Commercial Applications:

Instrumentation for in situ oceanographic research, to environmental monitoring, to laboratory research. Potential markets include marine environmental analysis, aquaculture, fish farming, plant genetic engineering, on-line process-analysis in bioreactors, and more generally to horticulture, agriculture, and forestry.

Name and Address of Offeror:

Ciencia, Inc.
111 Roberts Street, Suite C
East Hartford, CT 06108