Autonomous technology for marine carbon monitoring

Researchers are increasingly utilizing autonomous technology to monitor marine carbon dynamics and CO2 absorption. In coastal regions, autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) such as the Autosub Long Range have been used to provide high-resolution pH measurements to quantify air-sea CO2 fluxes. These observations help capture coastal variability that global models and ship-based surveys often miss, while institutions like the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute use mobile and stationary methods to track the export of carbon-rich marine snow to the deep sea.

Expanding these efforts to open ocean environments, Australia’s CSIRO has deployed a fleet of wind and solar-powered unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) to monitor carbon dioxide uptake in the Southern Ocean. This international collaboration aims to circumnavigate Antarctica over a five-year period, collecting data on atmospheric CO2, salinity, and seawater CO2 levels in remote regions. The mission seeks to refine estimates of ocean carbon sinks, which are responsible for absorbing approximately one-third of annual atmospheric CO2.