Large “brown tide” events, where large mats of sargassum inundate coastal areas, are increasing in frequency and extent in the U.S. Caribbean. Preliminary data collected by CARICOOS suggests that these events may cause dramatic changes in carbonate chemistry significant enough to affect reef and ecosystem health. However, monitoring the small-scale changes in carbonate chemistry to inform management decisions remains difficult and costly. 

This project will enable The Ocean Foundation, together with its partners Dakunalytics, The University of Hawai’i, and CARICOOS, to pilot, improve, and bring to market a new surface dissolved carbon dioxide sensor — the pCO2 to Go — capable of making rapid, in-field measurements during sargassum inundation events. Additionally, the project will streamline elements of the Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network (GOA-ON) in a Box Kit, a suite of equipment designed by The Ocean Foundation that enables weather-quality carbon chemistry measurements, to make this system more easily accessed and maintained by researchers. Monitoring partners in the CARICOOS region will receive equipment and funding and will assist with the iterative design of training materials in English and Spanish.

PI: Alexis Valauri-Orton, The Ocean Foundation 

IRA Funded Ocean Technology Transition award: $924,644