There are significant gaps in our understanding and prediction of ocean biological and associated chemical processes due to too few observations. This impacts scientific understanding and limits efficiency in key industries including aquaculture, fisheries and offshore energy. Currently there is no way to easily collect widespread and continuous data sets.
To fill these data gaps, TechOceanS demonstrated new sensor, imaging and sampler technologies enabling a step change in the worldwide ability to measure biology, chemistry and plastics in the global oceans from coast to deep sea.
The oceans cover over 70% of our planet, but critical marine habitats are overused or have been destroyed. There is a coordinated international request to develop and improve observation of ocean chemistry, biology and plastic pollution. Data from improved observations would improve models and understanding of ocean biology and chemistry and pollution threats, key to managing and optimising the oceans' role in regulating climate.
TechOceanS supports stakeholders in industry, aquaculture/fisheries, and the global ocean observing community through some of the following objectives:
· Create step change in the capability of non-ship observing systems to measure complex chemical and biological variables.
· Develop low-cost, mass-deployable sensor technologies and imaging techniques.
· Minimise sensor size and power requirements, enabling use on small and single platforms to host multiple systems so that all variables used in common models can be simultaneously measured.
· Develop low-cost and in situ sensors for aquaculture and fisheries including relevant chemical contaminants, biotoxins and environmental DNA, e.g. for pathogen and parasite quantification.
· Develop new sensors for micro/nanoplastics to enable the distribution and fate to be determined.
· Enable remote, real-time awareness of biology, benthic ecosystem type and litter observed by imaging systems by developing novel Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms to enable imaging systems to report information when data bandwidths are limited (e.g. in the remote or deep ocean).
The technologies developed include 5 sensors, 2 imaging systems, a sampler and a new image processing method using AI that enables transmission of information about key variables from the remote ocean. All the systems are robust and submersible to >2000 m.
