Environmental, Coastal, and Ocean Sciences Faculty Awarded Funding for Shipborne Laboratory

What has its own air-conditioning, weighs 15,000 pounds, and can be cut in half for transport? The Integrated Coastal Observation System, otherwise known as ICOS, has recently been acquired through a grant from the Defense University Research Instrument Program through the Office of Naval Research to Environmental, Coastal, and Ocean Sciences (ECOS) faculty Bob Chen, Meng Zhou, Bernie Gardner, and Juanita Urban-Rich.

Essentially a sea-going lab, this 8-by-8-by-20-foot unit is a specially equipped container that can be loaded by crane onto research vessels. The ICOS serves as an instant lab complete with everything ECOS" scientists need to investigate chromophoric (colored) dissolved organic matter, zooplankton, and phytoplankton in coastal areas. Chen and his fellow researchers have been working frenetically to prepare this new lab for deployment on a June research cruise to the Hudson River and New York--New Jersey shelf area.

The ICOS is equipped with a versatile electrical power-switching unit, designed and built by Francesco Peri, a UMass Boston graduate with a degree in both computer science and physics. He was hired by ECOS to oversee its construction from start to finish. The researchers will use the ICOS in combination with the ECOShuttle--a towed, undulating instrument package with temperature, salinity, oxygen, chlorophyll, and fluorescence sensors. Seawater or coastal water is pumped into the ICOS from the ECOShuttle. The water then flows through several instruments installed in ICOS that measure the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of the sample with high spatial and temporal resolution. This data is shared with computer modelers to strengthen and "ground-truth" their physical and ecological models.

Onboard the shipborne lab will be inline nutrient (phosphate, nitrate, and silicate) and total organic carbon instrumentation that can be used to determine the characteristics of the seawater. Two new instruments that are attached to the ECOShuttle include a Laser Optical Plankton Counter (OPC) and a Video Plankton Recorder (VPR). As zooplankton travel through a beam of light produced by the OPC, they are counted and their body length and estimated biomass are measured. These creatures are photographed by the VPR, which compares the images with an extensive computer database that identifies their life stage and species. So much data is generated by these new instruments that a specially designed fiber-optic cable had to be integrated into the system to transport the data. Understanding the population dynamics of these creatures helps scientists learn about complex aquatic food webs and may provide clues to determine if man-induced changes are affecting the ocean community.

Many oceanographic institutes and universities have large, portable, self-contained research vans that can be loaded onto research vessels. The ICOS is the first one in the world that can be separated into two 8-by-8-by-10 subunits in order to operate on small fifty-foot boats that can navigate shallow estuarine areas. When oceanographers go out to sea to collect their samples, they have to spend several days setting up their instrumentation and sampling gear. With a pre-wired, plumbed, and instrumented mobile lab, this time is cut to less than one day, giving the researchers more time to acquire data and collect samples, thus making the expensive cruises more efficient.

Other ECOS staff who have helped prepare the ICOS for her maiden voyage include Steve Rudnick and "Captain" Peter Edwards. Rudnick designed a data acquisition and integration system that combines the input from all the devices into one computer interface. Tom Goodkind, UMass Boston machinist, lent invaluable assistance to the project. Chen is in discussion with an Arts on the Point group about decorating the ICOS with artwork.

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