POSTER Session 1

Optical and imaging sensors for marine snow

Sinking particles are a key mechanism for delivery of carbon from the surface ocean to its interior, via the biological carbon pump. However, measurements are sparse and labor-intensive, and there is an increasing recognition that persistent, autonomous observational methods are needed to capture the dynamics and long-term trends in gravitational carbon fluxes. We present early results from a field intercomparison of two direct-interception, sinking particle sensor prototypes with their analogous traditional sediment trap measurements. The LISST-OST (Sequoia Scientific) is a non-imaging, diffuse attenuance sensor that is optimized for sinking particle observations and is compatible with long term, distributed deployment designs (e.g. floats). Its results are compared with bulk particulate organic carbon fluxes measured with cylindrical, brine-filled trap tubes. The SnoCam+ is a low-cost, open-source imaging sensor fabricated from commercially available parts, whose sinking particle images are comparable to gel sediment trap collectors. We examine the ability of these different sensor and collector types to resolve temporal and compositional variations in particle flux, and comment on their suitability for different types of scientific investigations of the biological carbon pump.

Margaret Estapa, University of Maine, USA, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8000-8517

Sachithma Edirisinghe, University of Maine, USA

Colleen Durkin, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, USA

Nils Haëntjens, University of Maine, USA

Fernanda Lecaros Saavedra, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, USA

Melissa Omand, University of Rhode Island, USA

Sean O’Neill, University of Maine, USA

Wayne Slade, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Florida Atlantic University, USA

Yixuan Song, University of Rhode Island, USA

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