Sunburst News

Ebb Carbon uses Sunburst instruments in its mCDR efforts

Oceanographer Mallory Ringham makes adjustments on a SAMI-CO₂ carbon dioxide sensor that will be deployed in Port Angeles Harbor. (KEITH THORPE/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS)

Ebb Carbon is using Sunburst Sensors’ instruments in its marine CO₂ removal (mCDR) studies at Port Angeles, WA. Ebb Carbon uses a novel electrochemical process to simultaneously address desalination and mCDR. From their webiste:

Ebb is pioneering electrochemical water technology that tackles two of the world’s most urgent problems: growing demand for freshwater and excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. We partner with desalination plants to transform brine—the salty waste stream left behind after freshwater is extracted—into additional freshwater, permanent carbon removal, and valuable industrial products. By turning waste into a resource, Ebb helps desalination operators unlock the full potential of every drop while advancing water security, decarbonization, and ocean health.

Here’s a story in the Peninsula Daily News with more: PDN Story

For an overview of mCDR and how it can mitigate ocean acidification, see this informative NOAA link.

Florida group uses SAMI-pH with Sofar buoy to get real time reef measurements.

Taylor Gill at U. Miami and NOAA-AOML, recently published an article in HardwareX titled, “Real-time acidification monitoring through Sofar buoy and SAMI-pH integration.” It describes the use of the SAMI-pH to monitor reef pH in real time. Linked here.. (See other publications like this in our bibliography.)

SAMI-pH deployed on reef near Jamaica

Thanks to Rowan Martindale at U Texas Austin who shared this video of a SAMI-pH deployment on a reef near Jamaica. They are interested in monitoring the response of reef calcification following Hurricane Melissa.

“Measuring pH Using a pHyter ” Video

Courtesy of our SBIR collaborators at Cabrillo College, here is an excellent video on use of the pHyter

Sunburst Awarded NOAA Phase II SBIR

Having completed 6 months of work on a Phase I SBIR in February, Sunburst Sensors submitted its proposal to continue work on: “The pHyter and Other Oceanographic Tools for Citizen Science and STEM Education.” We were notified mid-summer that we were one of twelve companies to receive Phase II funding and are excited to continue development of the pHyter and other instruments, working with collaborators from around the country. Starting in August of 2022, this grant will fund two years of work at approximately $500K to:

Improve the pHyter design, focusing on a more rugged design with better accuracy and temperature measurement that is easily manufactured.Develop additional tools for citizen science based on the same controller and smart-phone app. New instruments will include a higher accuracy ‘pHyter-Pro’ and instruments to measure TA, pCO₂, pCO₂, and FDOM.Work with college and high school teachers and students, citizen scientists, and partners in developing countries to develop and test our instruments. Support STEM curriculum development and community education.Develop a web-based data repository for data visualization, analysis, quality control and download. Evaluate its usefulness for teachers, students, citizen scientists, making improvements based on feedback.

Here is a press release from NOAA announcing Phase II SBIR winners: NOAA invests $5.9M in small businesses to advance innovative technologies. (will open in new window/tab)

Sunburst Sensors Presentation to NOAA Central Library Seminar

On September 9, 2020, Sunburst Sensors gave a presentation entitled “Sunburst Sensors: Oceanographic Instrumentation from Montana to Mauritius” discussing our use of SBIR and other grant funding mechanisms in growing our business. The presentation is archived here. You may want to skip over the video (4 minutes) towards the end as it is pretty choppy. If you’re interested it can be found directly on YouTube at the link here.

The NOAA Central Library Seminar program provides an educational forum (hosting over 1,000 presentations since 1992) for the presentation of ideas, research updates and share news in support of NOAA’s mission: to understand and predict changes in climate, weather, oceans and coasts; to share that knowledge and information with others; and to conserve and manage coastal and marine ecosystems and resources.

Sunburst Sensors Instruments Used to Study Arctic Carbon Cycle

Researchers have used the SuperCO2, SAMI-CO2 and SAMI-pH along with other instruments to learn more about the changing carbon cycle in the arctic.

From the linked article:

Sea surface pCO₂ variability in the Arctic Ocean is intertwined with biological production, ice formation, and melting (where CO₂ is concentrated or diluted, respectively), heating and other processes, all of which are no longer in steady state. Sparse long-term data have limited our ability to assess variability of sea surface pCO₂ that is related to these changes.
(The authors) have been measuring pCO₂ in the Canada Basin of the Arctic Ocean since 2012 to help address this shortcoming. Cruises have taken place on the Canadian icebreaker, the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent as part of the Beaufort Gyre Observing System and Joint Ocean Ice Study (BGOS/JOIS) programs through Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (Woods Hole, Massachusetts) and the Institute of Ocean Sciences (Sidney, British Columbia), respectively. These cruises, conducted since 2002 with support from NSF, have focused on the hydrography and biogeochemistry of the western Arctic Ocean.

For full article, click here: Arcus: The Changing Carbon Cycle of the Arctic (this will open article in a new tab or window)

Sunburst Sensors SAMI-CO2 Helping OOI Measure Ocean Carbon

The Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) uses both SAMI-CO₂ and SAMI-pH instruments at many of its observatories to help monitor the marine carbonate system. OOI recently published an article: Altered Carbon: Improvement to CO₂ Measurements Enhance OOI Data Quality (Link will open new tab/window)

Sunburst Demonstrates SAMI-CO₂ at ICOS OTC 2019

Sunburst Sensors was invited to participate in the 2nd Integrated Carbon Observation System Ocean Thematic Centre (ICOS OTC) sensor workshop at GEOMAR in Kiel, Germany in November 2019. The purpose of the 3-day workshop was to train ICOS members in best practices for CO₂ measurements, as well as instrument maintenance and data handling. Reggie Spaulding presented SAMI-CO₂ best practices, maintenance, and quality control. Approximately 30 members from across Europe attended.

ICOS will sponsor a pCO₂ measurement intercomparison exercise in 2021 at the Flanders Marine Institute in Belgium. The exercise will focus on underway instruments. We plan to test our SuperCO₂ and our AFT-CO₂ instruments.