The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has granted US$1.5M to the University of Maine for funding under the National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP) for the Development, Assessment and Commercialization of Biogeochemical Profiling Floats for Calibration and Validation of Ocean Color and Ocean Carbon Studies.

This project is a collaboration between UMaine and global leaders in sensor technology, Satlantic and WET Labs, float technology, Teledyne Webb Research, wireless communication and data dissemination, CLS America, and remote sensing, NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center.

Led by Emmanuel Boss at the University of Maine, the project brings together scientific leaders in the interpretation of remote and in-situ bio-optical data Marlon Lewis (Satlantic), Ronald Zaneveld (WET Labs), Hervé Claustre and David Antoine of the Laboratoire d'Oceanographie, Villefranche-sur-mer.

Claustre and Antoine are coordinating their extensive plans for autonomous biogeochemical platforms with this project to coordinate inter-comparison activities between both platform systems, and the permanent, deep-water cal/val mooring BOUSSOLE.

The project will develop two versions of the Biogeochemical Profiling Float.

A 'Productivity Float' designed for studies focused on organic carbon dynamics in the upper ocean will include a Satlantic PAR sensor and a WET Labs ECO-triplet sensor for measurements of proxies of particulate organic carbon, chlorophyll and colored dissolved material.

A 'Calibration/Validation Float' designed for the generation of a large number of cost effective match-ups between ocean color measurements and in-water optical properties will include Satlantic spectral radiometers for upwelling radiance and downwelling irradiance and two ECO-triplets providing information on the backscattering spectrum, CDOM and chlorophyll. Both floats will use the Teledyne Webb Research Apex float and will integrate CTD and dissolved oxygen sensors as well.