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Ultralight,
Low-Power Probes of Carbon Dioxide—Atmospheric
Observing Systems, Inc., 1930 Central Avenue, Suite A, Boulder, CO
80301; 303-443-3389
Dr.
James R. Smith, Principal Investigator, jim@aosinc.net
Dr.
James R. Smith, Business Official, jim@aosinc.net
DOE
Grant No. DE-FG02-05ER84272
Amount:
$750,000
A
wide range of practical instruments is needed for monitoring carbon dioxide
concentrations of the land, air, and sea. Moderate
accuracy of order 1 ppm (dry mole fraction) and temporal response of a few
seconds will suffice. Expense,
weight, size, and electrical power must be kept low to make the instrumentation
applicable to a large number (~10,000) of one-way deployments per year. Accessible
platforms include weather balloons, floater buoys for probing the ocean's
surface, sky hooks (tethered, small blimps) for vertical profiling of the
atmospheric boundary layer, and towers for monitoring the accumulation of
nighttime transpiration and its dispersal as a transient flux. This
project will use a variation of a proven electro-optical design to build and
deploy solid-state probe detection systems. Manufacturability,
as expressed by a fully integrated electrical/mechanical/optical design, will be
a key consideration to make the Probe detection system inexpensive and robust. Phase
I built and tested two kinds of nondispersive infrared probe technologies: photo-electronic
and photo-acoustic. The
functionality of the photo-acoustic probe was proven for the stable isotopes of
CO2. Based on a wide
range of laboratory tests, the photo-electronic probe proved advanced and robust
enough to serve as the basis for Phase II. In
Phase II, the photo-electronic probe will be upgraded
and its observational capabilities will be demonstrated.
Commercial Applications and other Benefits as
described by the awardee: The new
probes should serve as the basis for: (1)
observational
services, consisting of deployments of the probes from sky hooks, towers,
weather balloons, and floater buoys, and of management of the data streams; (2)
sales of the probes for use on these same platforms and also for monitoring
leaks from geosequestration of carbon dioxide; and (3) improved measurements of
the amounts of sequestration of carbon dioxide by natural ecosystems.