A low-cost, high-performance sensor for seawater pH, and multiparameter devices for monitoring dissolved CO2 and dissolved oxygen in-situ, are essential to current and future NASA space missions such as Active Sensing of CO2 Emissions over Nights, Days, and Seasons (ASCENDS), Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2), and Geostationary Coastal and Air Pollution Events (GEO-CAPE).
Robust sensors for monitoring pH in seawater will enter the oceanography market for NASA programs and beyond. Combined sensing of pH and dissolved oxygen will find application not only in ocean studies but in the growing aquaculture market. According to a study by Grand View Research, Inc., the global aquaculture market is expected to exceed $200 billion by 2020; 40% of that aquaculture takes place in marine and brackish water, where water quality plays a critical role in production. A low-cost, robust water quality monitor will be an important enabling technology, helping this industry collect massive amounts of data to accelerate the development of underutilized marine resources in a responsible manner. Finally, sensors developed for seawater will also find application in the water quality monitoring market, which is projected to reach $3.6 billion by 2020.
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