| NSF Org: |
OCE Division Of Ocean Sciences |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | August 1, 2014 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | July 14, 2016 |
| Award Number: | 1434228 |
| Award Instrument: | Continuing Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Kandace Binkley
kbinkley@nsf.gov (703)292-7577 OCE Division Of Ocean Sciences GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
| Start Date: | October 1, 2014 |
| End Date: | September 30, 2018 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $488,009.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $488,009.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2015 = $86,824.00 FY 2016 = $73,027.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1251 MEMORIAL DR CORAL GABLES FL US 33146-2509 (305)421-4089 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
4600 Rickenbacker Causeway Key Biscayne FL US 33149-1031 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | OCEAN TECH & INTERDISC COORDIN |
| Primary Program Source: |
01001516DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001617DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT |
| Program Reference Code(s): | |
| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.050 |
ABSTRACT
This is a proposal to develop an autonomous submersible analyzer to measure ammonium. Ammonium is the most rapidly cycled nitrogen compound in coastal and marine environments. In oceanic waters, ammonium concentrations are normally below 1 mole, but exhibit considerable temporal and spatial variability. An automated, in-situ, and submersible analyzer is the only way to assess the actual environmental variability of ammonium. Not only will the proposed analyzer significantly contribute to biogeochemical and oceanographic research but the novel technical approach used can be applied to other wet chemistry analyses. Moreover the system will have immediate non-research applications given environmental concerns about the effects of ammonium discharge from wastewater-treatment facilities as well as agricultural and industrial inputs in tidal inlets, coastal rivers and estuaries. Such ammonium discharge has become an issue of major significance to both state and federal environmental regulators.
The proposed system is based on a novel fluidic technique called Autonomous Batch Analysis (ABA) in conjunction with a LED photodiode-based fluorescence detector (LPFD) for in-situ underwater measurement of ammonium in natural waters. The analyzer the investigators propose to construct will be mechanically simple (only two moving parts), highly precise, submersible, require only modest power, and have the capability of measuring ammonium at nanomolar levels with a sampling frequency of 15 minutes for periods of a month (or more frequently for shorter deployments). Where necessary, the analyzer can be equipped with back flushed passive filters to enable measurements in turbid, sediment-laden waters. The parts required to assemble such an analyzer will cost under $9000. The proposed instrument will be immediately deployable on moorings or fixed stations but applicability to lowered or towed systems and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) will also be explored.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The underwater ammonium sensor system developed will have broad applicability as a research tool in biological oceanography but with respect to economic development it also has wide market potential for regulatory-required monitoring of ammonium. Such monitoring has become part of the permitting process for municipal and regional waste water treatment facilities throughout the U.S. Moreover, the basic design we have pioneered through the ABA system can be adapted to automating other wet chemical reactions such as nitrate, nitrite and phosphate, etc.
Quality of Life
Given the central ecological significance of ammonium in coastal and oceanic ecosystems a sensor system permitting long-term and near real-time cost effective measurements will be of significant assistance with regard to ecosystem based management of coastal living marine resources. Ecosystem based management is becoming a requirement of federal resource management and this implies measurement of key nutrients on the time and space scales relevant to ecological processes and changing ecosystem function.
Economic Development
Contacts have already been established (and interest expressed) by commercial instrument manufacturers.
Quality of Life
The instrument has already been used in the Florida Area Coastal Environment (a federal/state/private industry partnership) to monitor surface concentrations of ammonium in the coastal waters of the Florida Keys and south-eastern coastal waters with respect to point sources like inlets adjacent to population centers and sewage outfalls.
Science Education and Communication
With respect to science education the primary relevance will be incorporation of the system (and the measurements it permits) in graduate theses and dissertations within the marine science community. Moreover data streams from contexts of local political significance (e.g. documenting the extent of pollution associated with individual point sources like sewage outflows or groundwater springs could be useful for public outreach and education.
When the development and testing is complete we will be able to deploy such an instrument to monitor in situ ammonium in the coastal and ocean water column to study the variable influx of this rapidly assimilated nutrient that is associated with migration of zooplankton populations in benthic communities (including coral reefs), zooplankton and mesopelagic fish vertical migration, grazing by schooling herbivorous fishes and intermittent physical processes such as breaking internal waves, wind-mixing etc.
Last Modified: 10/11/2018
Modified by: Peter B Ortner
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