APPLICATIONS CLOSED

 

 

About the Course	Program & Lecturers	Application
Sponsors & Organisers	Venue & Logistics	Contacts

 

About the Training Course

Challenge

While it is well recognized that the ocean plays a critical role in climate variability, seasonal-to-decadal climate forecast as well as weather forecast, it is paramount to remember that the evaluation of all models allowing us to understand ocean’s role in the weather/climate system relies on ocean observations to improve their skill and to enable them to provide reliable information. Well ground-truthed models are also essential for guiding national and international policies that relate to resources such as fisheries, aquaculture or water supply as well as warning systems and a variety of coastal applications such as energy production, recreation, pollution and more.

 

Thus the quality of the weather and climate services as well as the assessment of the current state of the ocean ecosystem regionally and locally, relies on a comprehensive and timely set of ocean observations. The ocean observing system is used by an increasingly diverse user group from fundamental underpinning ocean research to real-time numerical weather forecast, near-term prediction services, all the way to governmental and non-governmental management and policy making.

 

The biggest challenge in ocean observing is that the ocean properties vary on a number of spatio-temporal scales and it is necessary to obtain high quality, high resolution  measurements across all these scales in order to inform this ever-increasing portfolio of needs. Ocean technology has leapt to the aid of scientists by providing them with cost-effective sensors that can take autonomous measurements of essential ocean variables with the aim of improving data coverage worldwide and therefore complement efforts carried out by traditional ship-based sampling. 

 

However, there remains a gap between the technology and the end-user. This gap is born primarily out of lack of training in sensors’ use as well as disconnect between data gathering and data quality assurance as required for various applications across the ocean domain.

 

Solution 

Focused on biogeochemical Essential Ocean Variables and to help train the new generation of marine observers in the appropriate use of a suite of biogeochemical sensors and to assure the best possible quality of the data produced, the IOCCP and the Integrated Carbon Observation System Ocean Thematic Centre (ICOS OTC) will hold a 13-day training workshop on "Instrumenting our ocean for better observation: a training course on a suite of biogeochemical sensors".

 

Building on the success of the First Training Course held in 2015 and the Second Training Course held in 2019, we decided to respond to the growing demand of the global ocean marine biogeochemistry observing community for expanding the correct usage of and generation of information from a suite of autonomous biogeochemical sensors. 

 

This intensive workshop will provide trainees with lectures and hands-on experience across the whole spectrum of operations from deployment and interfacing, through troubleshooting and calibration, to data reduction, quality control and data management. In addition, participants will be given an overview of the use of remote sensing, modelling and smart data extrapolation techniques to broaden their perspectives and effectively open new avenues for exciting research ideas and collaborations. While teaching established best practices for selected biogeochemical sensors and autonomous measurement systems, Course instructors will provide ample guidelines and practical tips regarding specific reporting requirements (e.g. meta-data, calibration, validation, error estimates, formats, etc.). This training course is ideally suited for the next generation of users of large scale biogeochemical ocean observation networks centred around profiling floats, moorings and gliders as well as research and commercial vessels.

 

Perhaps most importantly, as stated consistently by the participants of previous editions in their evaluations, the course provides a unique opportunity to form a tight and long-lasting network of biogeochemical sensor users, combining experts with beginners, coming from a wide range of countries on all continents and representing groups and communities in various phases of technical, logistical and financial development. The importance of networking enabled by this workshop will be revealed in short, medium and long term strengthening our community as a whole and every individual involved.

  

 

Course Program & Lecturers

Course program and format

The course program will consist of lectures, practicals and group assignments and is designed around the following specific objectives:

• Teach best practices for biogeochemical sensors with the aim of improving the data currently generated encompassing all steps from pre-deployment calibration to data synthesis and dissemination.
• Work on data reduction and data quality control practices for sensor data, including specific reporting requirements (e.g. meta-data, calibration, validation, error estimates, formats, etc.).
• Present selected methods (statistical modelling, intelligent data exploration techniques) and tools (remote sensing data, mathematical model outputs) for the development of secondary data products (parameter distribution maps, fluxes and budgets).
• Foster critical thinking regarding the design of an optimum sampling strategy dedicated to solving specific problem.
• Develop the ability to place specific observing activity in the wider context of local, regional and global ocean’s role in climate, operational services and ocean health.

During the course, we will focus on sensors related to five groups of parameters: 

• Oxygen - with optode and electrochemical sensors,
• Particulate Organic Carbon - with e.g. fluorometer, backscatter and radiometers,
• pH - with a range of sensors available: a) colorimetric reagent method, b) field effect transistor type sensor, and also c) benchtop surface application,
• pCO₂ - with a range of sensors available: a) membrane based sensors with NDIR, b) colorimetric, c) otpodes, and d) underway General Oceanic system
• Nitrate - with spectrophotometric and colorimetric reagent method sensors

 

Paramater	Instruments & sensors
Chl-Fluorescence / Optical Backscatter	ac-s, Eco-Chla, FDOM
nitrate	SUNA, OPUS
pH	SAMI-pH, ISFET, Pyroscience optical
pCO2	Contros, Pro-Oceanus, SAMI-pCO2, GO, VEGAS
Total Alkalinity	SAMI-TA, HydroFIA
O2	Aanderaa, Sea-Bird, RBR, Pyroscience

 

During hands-on sessions, participants will be divided into groups, each assisted by 1-2 dedicated instructor(s). Groups will take turns in exchanging sensors used in the practical sessions of the course. Ultimately and regardless of prior experience with any or none of the sensors, each participant will receive basic training for all sensors that the course focuses on. As preparation for the course, participants will be requested to familiarise themselves with a number of background documents and videos to enable the most effective use of time during the Course.

 

The course agenda and an overview description of the course sessions will be made available in early 2023. 

 

Course instructors 

The final list of instructors will be confirmed in the first quarter of 2023, along with a draft course agenda. Our course instructors are experts with great experience in the application of biogeochemical sensors and marine biogeochemistry research in general. Each will be present during the course as a lecturer and/or practical session instructor. We have arranged for the experts to stay in Kristineberg for a few days to give the course participants the opportunity to interact with leaders in the field both in a formal and informal setting. Our list of already confirmed lecturers includes the following names:

 

Dariia Atamanchuk Research Associate - Ocean Science & Technology, Chemical Oceanography Ocean Frontier Institute (OFI), Dalhousie University Halifax, Canada

Dariia (Dasha) Atamanchuk is a Research Associate at the Department of Oceanography, Dalhousie University, Canada. Dariia holds a PhD in Marine Chemistry from University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and have been involved in the oceanographic sensor development for the most part of her doctoral and postdoctoral work. Her research focuses on the use of sensors and autonomous platforms for sustained biogeochemical ocean observations. She’s a research scientist on the SeaCycler project, an autonomous underwater winch profiler, and the Volunteer Observing Ship project (VOS) at Dalhousie University. Dariia collaborates nationally and internationally with industry and institutional partners (NOAA-PMEL, Scripps, GEOMAR, MUN, etc). Her scientific interests cover air-sea fluxes, ocean productivity measurements, mechanisms of supply and transport of CO2 and oxygen in the Northwest Atlantic and the Labrador Sea, in particular. Dariia maintains her involvement in international inter-comparison exercises of submersible, underway and bench-top instrumentation for dissolved gases, carbonate system measurements and nutrients.

 

Andrew Dickson Professor - Marine Chemistry Scripps Institution of Oceanography University of California, San Diego, USA

Andrew Dickson is a professor of marine chemistry at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego. Since the 1990s he has played a key role in improving measurements of oceanic CO2 system properties, and leads a program to prepare, certify, and distribute CO2 reference materials to the world’s marine scientists. His research interests include: ocean acidification, quality control of oceanic carbon dioxide measurements, biogeochemistry of the upper ocean, marine inorganic chemistry, thermodynamics of electrolyte solutions, and the analytical chemistry of carbon dioxide in seawater. He has participated in a wide variety of training workshops aimed at improving seawater CO2 measurement capacity around the world.

 

Craig Neill Research Engineer CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Hobart, Australia

Craig Neill has been working as a research engineer at CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere in Hobart, Australia since 2009, where he has developed new technology for ocean carbon measurements and underway observing systems on ships.  From 2003-2009 he was at the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research in Bergen where he developed one of the first systems for accurate multipoint calibration of oxygen optodes. From 1994 – 2003 he ran a small company in Seattle developing, manufacturing and utilising numerous systems for measurement of dissolved gasses in the ocean, including TCO2, CFC’s, SF6 and an underway pCO2 system which has ben used as the basis for one of the most common commercial systems (General Oceanics). At Brookhaven National Laboratory (1992-1994) he developed a system for measuring pCO2 of discreet water samples. Craig’s work has always been very hands on, having participated in over 50 research cruises.  He has a BS in Physics from Washington State University.    Craig maintains an ongoing interest in best practices and education. He was a member of the Scientific Steering Committee and lecturer at the 2015 IOCCP Sensors Summer Course and a is a contributor to the Guide to Best Practices for Ocean CO2 Measurements.

 

Anders Tengberg Product Manager & Scientific Advisor Xylem/Aanderaa Data Instruments AS Bergen, Norway

Dr. Anders Tengberg is an Associate Professor at the Chalmers University of Technology (Gothenburg, Sweden) with long experience in developing autonomous platforms, like benthic landers, and new sensing technologies, like oxygen and pCO2 optodes to study processes and dynamics in the marine environment. Anders is also Scientific Advisor and Product Manager for Aanderaa Data Instruments, part of the Xylem group. He is the author/co-author of about 50 peer revied scientific publications. He has coordinated and participated in many international research projects and is at this time involved in projects on environmental effects of shipping and new sensors developments to measure waves, currents, turbulence, suspended particles and trace oxygen.

 

Ellen M. Briggs Assistant Professor - Ocean & Resources Engineering University of Hawai’i at Mānoa Honolulu, HI, USA

Ellen M. Briggs holds a PhD in Oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography where she primarily focused on developing an in situ pH and Total Alkalinity (AT) sensor that utilizes ion sensitive field effect transistor (ISFET) technology bringing it from proof of concept to early-stage field deployment. She continues to advance the technology readiness level of the pH-AT sensor in her current position as Assistant Professor in the Ocean and Resources Engineering Department at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Briggs’ research group is very diverse with national and international students coming from various backgrounds ranging from Chemistry to Mechanical Engineering. Her group primarily focuses on adapting the ISFET-based pH-AT sensing technology for a variety of applications including benthic sampling, probing boundary layers of coral, monitoring mesocosm experiments, and integration with various platforms such as moorings and drifters. Briggs has been involved in programs such as the SOCCOM (Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observations and Modelling) project, the OOI Biogeochemical Sensor Data Best Practices working group, participated in several GO-SHIP cruises including as Co-Chief, and is actively involved in ocean-based carbon dioxide removal discussions with associated monitoring, reporting, and verification.

 

Jannine M. Lencina Avila Research scientist Marine Chemistry Department Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde Rostock, Germany

Jannine is a research scientist specialist on the marine carbonate system and is currently a member of the RETAKE project, working on understanding the benefits and impacts of applying alkalinity enhancement in the coastal waters of the Baltic Sea. Since her Master's, she has gained experience working with all four main carbonate system parameters using different instruments, such as underway pCO2 and closed-cell titration systems. Jannine holds a Ph.D. in Oceanologie from Université de Perpignan Via Domitia, France, where she assessed the acidification status of Southern Ocean areas by applying a range of carbonate system data sets and performing in-situ total alkalinity and total inorganic carbon measurements. In recent years, she has focused on improving spectrophotometric pH measurements in coastal waters by assessing state-of-the-art pH measuring systems, which results have collaborated to strengthen coastal monitoring programs. Jannine participated in the 2019 edition of the IOCCP BGC training course and is excited to collaborate this year!

 

Adrienne Sutton Assistant Professor - Oceanography, University of Washington NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory Seattle, WA, USA

Adrienne is an Oceanographer at NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) and an Affiliate Assistant Professor at University of Washington’s School of Oceanography in Seattle, U.S.  Her research group focuses on advancing our understanding of the ocean carbon cycle and how it is changing over time. Her team maintains almost 40 moored autonomous time series around the globe in open ocean and coastal ecosystems that track air-sea CO2 exchange and ocean acidification.  Her recent publications focus on characterizing natural variability and long-term anthropogenic trends using time series observations and models, uncertainty in observation-based CO2 flux estimates, and modern-day exposure of marine organisms to corrosive carbonate chemistry conditions.  Adrienne also collaborates with her team and PMEL engineers on observing technology development.  This team was part of the first autonomous circumnavigation of Antarctica in 2019 and has transferred two autonomous air-sea pCO2 observing technologies to industry and nonprofit partners.  Adrienne is incredibly passionate about mentoring the next generation of oceanographers, especially those underrepresented in the ocean sciences and also has experience in science communication and policy. Adrienne’s dedication to marine biogeochemistry will no doubt help IOCCP provide our services to the community via a variety of well-designed and efficiently implemented activities.

 

Yui Takeshita Scientist - Oceanography Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute Moss Landing, CA, USA

Yui received his PhD in Oceanography from the University of California, San Diego. Yui’s main research interests are to develop and apply autonomous sensing technology to observe marine biogeochemical cycles in situ. Most recently, Yui was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Carnegie Institution for Science, Department of Global Ecology, at Stanford. Yui has received several honors, including the Excellence in Partnership Award from the National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP), the University of California San Diego Directors Fellowship, and the undergraduate academic honor cum laude.

 

Giorgio Dall'Olmo Scientist - Earth Observation National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics - OGS   Trieste, Italy

Giorgio Dall’Olmo is a scientist in the field of Earth Observations, since 2022 working at the National Institute of Oceaography and Applied Geophysics (OGS)specializing in Earth Observations, previously at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (UK) in 2010-2021. Giorgio holds a PhD from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln during which he developed remote-sensing algorithms for estimating chlorophyll-a concentrations in turbid productive waters. After obtaining his doctoral degree, Giorgio moved to Oregon State University to investigate phytoplankton physiology in the open ocean using remote sensing and in-situ optical measurements. Besides his longstanding passion for marine optics, Giorgio’s main research interest is investigating ocean biology and biogeochemistry by exploiting data from remote sensing and Biogeochemical-Argo floats. Giorgio leads the UK Biogeochemical-Argo programme and is a member of the Biogeochemical-Argo International Steering Team.

 

Nathan Briggs Scientist - Ocean Biogeochemistry and Ecosystems National Oceanography Centre (NOC) Southampton, UK

Nathan Briggs is a postdoctoral researcher at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, UK. Nathan has been working since 2007 on bio-optical oceanography, and biogeochemistry, and he has developed new techniques for quantifying particle sizes and fluxes using optical backscattering and fluorescence sensors. Nathan obtained his PhD in 2014 from the University of Maine, USA, where he gained a strong foundation in bio-optical sensor technologies, including as a student and later a teaching assistant for the intensive four-week Ocean Optics Summer Class. Nathan obtained a US National Science Foundation fellowship for his first post-doc at the Laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche-sur-mer, France, to study the biological carbon pump using Biogeochemical Argo floats, and he is currently doing similar work using autonomous gliders.

 

Maciej Telszewski Director - International Ocean Carbon Coordination Project institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Science (IO PAN) Sopot, Poland

Maciej Telszewski holds a PhD in Marine Biogeochemistry from the University of East Anglia (Norwich, UK), where he worked with surface ocean carbon data to develop an efficient neural network algorithm allowing basin scale mapping of this parameter in the North Atlantic. He then moved to Japan, where he joined a research group at the National Institute for Environmental Studies (Tsukuba) to further improve the statistical computing approach. His work resulted in successful mapping of surface carbon and nutrients fields in the North Pacific accompanied by fluxes estimates included in the RECCAP synthesis (http://www.globalcarbonproject.org/reccap/). Throughout his research carrier he was actively involved in field campaigns, contributing surface measurements to the Surface Ocean CO2 Observing Network (SOCONET) and ocean interior measurements to the Global Ocean Ship-based Hydrographic Investigations Program (GO-SHIP, http://www.go-ship.org/).   In 2011 Maciej joined the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (Paris, France) initially as a Deputy Director of the International Ocean Carbon Coordination Project (IOCCP, http://www.ioccp.org/index.php ) and since mid-2012 as IOCCP’s Project Director (and Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) Biogeochemistry Expert Panel Executive Officer). In this role he coordinates the highly diverse set of ocean carbon and biogeochemistry activities through extensive collaboration and dialogue with the scientific community via national and international organizations, scientific steering committees, scientific workshops, and expert meetings.

 

Peter Landschützer Research Director Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) Ostend, Belgium

Peter Landschützer received his Master of Science degree in Environmental Systems Science from the University of Graz (Austria) in 2011. In July 2014, he completed his PhD on the variability of the global ocean carbon sink at the University of East Anglia (Norwich, England). From 2014 to 2016, he was a postdoctoral researcher at ETH Zurich, Switzerland before joining the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology and eventually becoming group leader of the research group 'Observations, Analysis and Synthesis'. Since 2022 he now serves as Research Director at the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) where he oversees the research developments of the department.   While being interested in many aspects of the ocean in the Earth system, Peter's research focus is set on ocean biogeochemistry and the marine carbon cycle. His expertise ranges from CO2 measurements through big data modelling using artificial neural networks. The outcome of his work - particularly those building on the Self-Organizing Maps Feed-Forward Network (SOM-FFN) neural network method he developed - has become one of the gold standards in the determination of the role of the ocean for the global carbon cycle, and has served as the basis for a number of highly important papers. This includes his 2015 Science paper on the reinvigoration of the Southern Ocean carbon sink, which demonstrated, for the first time, the importance of decadal variations for the ocean carbon sink, or his demonstration that the seasonal cycle of surface ocean pCO2 has increased substantially in recent decades, with potential important consequences for marine life (Nature Climate Change, 2018). For this and other achievements, Peter was awarded the Outstanding Early Career Scientist award of the Ocean Science division of the EGU in 2019.

 

Jessica Garwood Assistant Professor Oregon State University USA

Jessica Garwood is an oceanographer who seeks to elucidate the fundamental dynamics that govern small-scale physical-biological interactions, particularly as they relate to plankton or sediment. Her work combines high-resolution, in situ observations with numerical models, and includes new technology development.   Jessica currently holds a joint position with Oregon State University and NOAA. She received her PhD from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and her Master's degree from Dalhousie University.

 

Mario Esposito GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Germany

Mario Esposito's research interests are marine biogeochemistry and chemical oceanography with focus on carbon cycling and inorganic nutrients dynamics. Following his master’s degree in Oceanography at the University of Southampton, he has been involved in several cruises providing measurements of seawater carbon species (DIC, TA, DOC, POC) and nutrients (NO3-, NO2-, PO43-, Si(OH)4 and NH4+). During his PhD he worked with stable carbon isotopes to investigate biogeochemical responses of marine ecosystems to human CO2 perturbation. He was then involved in the STEMM-CCS project as a postdoc and his main task was the assessment of water column baseline from discrete sampling and in-situ deployment of commercial and novel chemical sensors.   Based at GEOMAR he is currently involved in the AIMS3 project where he will be monitoring water column conditions at potential CO2 storage sites via sensor measurements from landers and ROV deployments. He is also involved in the development of a new sensor for in-situ measurements of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC).

 

Application

APPLICATIONS CLOSED

 

The course will be limited to a total of 28 participants at a PhD / early-career level, with large prospects for utilizing the course experience to advance their ongoing or planned research projects and their scientific career in general. Previous editions attracted 100 (2015) and 140 (2019) applicants, and the 28 participants were selected through a competitive process at the discretion of the organisers. We make every effort to attract the widest possible range of applicants allowing us to train a truly representative set of participants. 

 

Due to the current, rather unpredictable, global financial situation related to raising prices in general and energy prices in particular, we can only provide an estimated cost of attendance at the Course. The Course venue management indicated that accommodation and meals prices might increase in early 2023.

 

Beyond renting the Station, which is covered by IOCCP and our co-sponsors, the approximate cost of a 13-day stay in Kristineberg will be (all prices are inclusive of VAT and are given in EUR for simplicity as the organisers will operate in this currency):

• Accommodation: 340 EUR
• Meals - full board: 360 EUR
• Registration Fee: 300 EUR
• Cost of air and ground transportation which varies for each participant

Limited financial support will be awarded to selected participants to cover one or more elements listed above. This will be done based on the quality of the application, the need for support expressed therein and availability of funds. Please note that any financial support awarded will NOT include costs related to health insurance or visa application/processing fees.

 

 

 

Sponsors & Organisers

 

WE THANK OUR CO-SPONSORS FOR THEIR EXCEPTIONAL GENEROSITY!!!

 

 

 

The Organizing Committee is composed of the following members:

 

Maciej Telszewski

IOCCP - Director

institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Science (IO PAN)

Sopot, Poland

 

Dariia Atamanchuk

Research Associate - Ocean Science & Technology, Chemical Oceanography

Ocean Frontier Institute (OFI), Dalhousie University

Halifax, Canada

 

Tobias Steinhoff

Researcher - Marine biogeochemistry; ICOS OTC

GEOMAR | Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel

Kiel, Germany

 

Artur Palacz

IOCCP - Project Officer

Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Science (IO PAN)

Sopot, Poland

 

Craig Neill

Research Engineer

CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere

Hobart, Australia

 

Anders Tengberg

Product Manager & Scientific Advisor

Xylem/Aanderaa Data Instruments AS

Bergen, Norway

 

 

The Local Organizing Committee is composed of the following members: 

 

Jessica Broman
Administrative Assistant
Kristineberg Center for Marine Research and Innovation
Kristineberg, Sweden

 

Lars Ljungqvist
Research Engineer
Kristineberg Center for Marine Research and Innovation
Kristineberg, Sweden

 

Petra Papinoja

Receptionist
Kristineberg Center for Marine Research and Innovation
Kristineberg, Sweden

 

 

Venue & Logistics

All logistical information can be found in this document: click here to download

 

The course will be held at the Kristineberg Center for Marine Research and Innovation, in Kristineberg, Sweden: https://www.gu.se/en/kristineberg 

 

 

Location and areal view of the course venue.

 

Kristineberg is located at the mouth of the Gullmar fjord, with easy access to coastal habitats and open sea. The Gullmar fjord is 30 km long with a maximum depth of 118 m. Key features that makes this an important marine environment are the excellent water quality with three rather distinct water-masses; surface water of varying salinity depending on the mixture of local runoff and water from the Baltic and Kattegat/Skagerrak surface water, inter-mediate layer dominated by Skagerrak surface water and high saline bottom water from the North Sea at greater depths.

 

Current weather conditions as well as sea temperature and salinity in Kristineberg Marine Research Station: https://www.weather.mi.gu.se/kristineberg/en/

 

Visiting address:

Kristineberg, Fiskebäckskil (municipality of Lysekil)

 

Postal address:

Kristineberg 566,

SE-451 78 Fiskebäckskil, Sweden

Phone: 46 31 786 95 00

 

 

Contacts

For all inquiries concerning the course, please send an email to IOCCP Offfice (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). 

 

 

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Course Materials available online!!! 

 

In collaboration with the Ocean Teacher Global Academy (OTGA) we have prepared an online version of the course with all the lectures grouped into a number of topics. Most of the lectures were also video recorded. As this was our first attempt to document the course proceedings, and because of occasional technical mishaps, there are issues with video quality or completeness in some instances. We hope this will not discourage you from exploring the rich content of these lectures. You can go over the complete online course by following the link below:

 

https://classroom.oceanteacher.org/course/view.php?id=394

 

(use the 'login as guest' option to access the course without registration) 

 

Check out also our Eos article on

Training the Next Generation of Marine Biogeochemists

 

About the Course	Program & Lecturers	Application
Sponsors & Organisers	Venue & Logistics	Contacts

 

About the Training Course

Background and motivation

Ocean properties vary on a number of time-scales and it is necessary to obtain high quality, high resolution (both spatial and temporal) biogeochemical measurements in order to tease out human from naturally-induced changes. In this regard, biogeochemical ocean time-series represent one of the most valuable tools scientists have to characterise and quantify ocean carbon fluxes and biogeochemical processes and their links to changing climate. In recent years, the importance of biogeochemical time-series has been underscored in light of issues of global, regional and local climatic and societal relevance. Ship-based biogeochemical monitoring is critical to understand ocean changes, but these are costly and therefore have limited temporal resolution. Ocean technology has leapt to the aid of scientists by providing them with cost-effective tools that can take measurements of essential biogeochemical variables autonomously, i.e. sensors on autonomous platforms. These autonomous measurements are complementary to efforts carried out by traditional ship-based sampling, with the aim of improving data coverage worldwide. Yet, despite these options becoming more readily available, there is still a gap between the technology and the end-user. This is born out of lack of training, lack of in-depth knowledge, and lack of community coordination. There is also a disconnect between data gathering by autonomous sensors and data quality, which is a major obstacle as these sensors are already being deployed on autonomous platforms in several different projects in many ocean regions. Indeed, the Panel for Integrated Coastal Observation (PICO) pointed out that while some of the required technologies are mature, the implementation on a global scale may be limited by lack of common standards and protocols and/or calibrated and validated algorithms for translating data into useful information.

 

2015 Sensors Training Course 

For all these reasons the IOCCP decided to hold its an international summer course on best practices for selected autonomous biogeochemical sensors with the aim to promote and enhance the utilization of these sensors, and to teach users common best practices of use and data reporting. The need for such course was identified by the scientific community which felt that there exists an urgent necessity to address the usage of autonomous biogeochemical sensors to carry out time-series work, complement existing autonomous platforms, expand our current observational network, and ensure that the data being collected can serve both scientific and societal needs.

 

In 2015, IOCCP thus completed the International Summer Course on best practices for selected biogeochemical sensors (oxygen, pH, pCO₂, nitrate). This intensive, 10-day Summer Course provided 27 trainees with lectures, hands-on in-situ and laboratory experiences, and informal interactions to improve in-depth knowledge on instrument know-how, troubleshooting, data management, data reduction and quality control. The final outcome of the course was the publication of "A user's guide for selected autonomous biogeochemical sensors". You can read more about the 2015 course from HERE.

 

2019 Sensors Training Course

Building on the success of the 2015 training course, IOCCP and EU BONUS INTEGRAL Project (Integrated carboN and TracE Gas monitoRing for the bALtic sea) are now organizing a 10-day international training course on "Instrumenting our ocean for better observation:a training course on a suite of biogeochemical sensors." The course will be held on June 10-19, 2019 at the Sven Lovén Center for Marine Sciences, in Kristineberg, Sweden. This course responds to the growing demand of the global ocean observing system and the marine biogeochemistry community for expanding the correct usage and generation of information from a suite of autonomous biogeochemical sensors.

 

The goal of the course is to train the new generation of marine biogeochemists in the use of a suite of biogeochemical sensors and to assure the best possible quality of the data produced. The workshop will be limited to a total of 28 participants at a PhD / early postdoc level selected through a competitive process at the discretion of the organizers.

 

This intensive training course will provide trainees with lectures and hands-on field and laboratory experience with sensors (deployment, interfacing, troubleshooting and calibration), will provide in-depth knowledge on data reduction and quality control as well as data management. This course will also provide an overview on the use of remote sensing, modelling and intelligent data extrapolation techniques.

 

Total cost of attendance at the course is approximately 620 EUR (accommodation - ca. 230 EUR, meals - ca. 190 EUR, registration fee - 200 EUR) + the cost of transportation to and from Kristineberg. 

 

2019 Sensors Training as an Ocean Teacher Global Academy online course

Based on the course proceedings, and in collaboration with IOC-UNESCO IODE's Ocean Teacher Global Academy (OTGA), we have prepared an online version of this course in an attempt to meet the overwhelming demand for such training opportunities. Here we provide a comprehensive set of training materials divided into a number of topics. The course materials include video recorded lectures and/or lecture slideshows in PDF supplemented with links and references to various materials such as manuals, guides and best practices. The course is open to all and is meant to expand the impact of the sensors training beyond the initial group of 28 that we could invite to Kristineberg in June 2019. You can access the course materials from here: 

https://classroom.oceanteacher.org/course/view.php?id=394

 

 

Course Program & Lecturers

Course program and format

The course program was designed around the following specific objectives:

• Teach best practices for biogeochemical sensors and selected autonomous measurement systems in general, and for selected types of sensors in particular, with the aim of improving the data currently generated by such sensors.
• Provide an overview of existing documentation on best practice across observing system within the selected parameters, with emphasis on existing gaps. Update the Field Guide resulting from the previous training course held in 2015.
• Work on data reduction and data quality control practices for sensor data, including specific reporting requirements (e.g. meta-data, calibration, validation, error estimates, formats, etc.).
• Present selected methods (statistical modelling, intelligent data exploration techniques) and tools (remote sensing data, mathematical model outputs) for the development of secondary data products (parameter distribution maps, fluxes and budgets).

During the course, we will focus on sensors related to four groups of parameters: 

• Oxygen - with optode and electrochemical sensors,
• Bio-optics - with e.g. fluorometer, backscatter and radiometers,
• pH - with a range of sensors available: a) colometric reagent method, b) field effect transistor type sensor, and also c) benchtop surface application,
• pCO₂ - with a range of sensors available: a) membrane based sensors with NDIR, b) colorimetric, c) otpodes, and d) underway General Oceanic system.

During hands-on sessions, participants will be divided into groups of 7 participants. Each group will have 1-2 instructor(s) dedicated to the group. Groups will take turns in exchanging sensors used in the practical sessions of the course. Ultimately and regardless of prior experience with any or none of the sensors, each participant will receive basic training for all four sensors that the course focuses on. As preparation for the course, participants are requested to familiarize themselves with the 2017 IOCCP publication "A user's guide for selected autonomous biogeochemical sensors". We will also ask the scientific advisory board to identify relevant best practice documents for each parameter, each relevant observing platform and ideally spanning from sensor calibration, through deployment and data reduction to validation, data quality control and data submission.

 

Below you can find the course agenda and a detailed description of the course sessions. 

 

Course Agenda

 

Session Descriptions

 

Course instructors 

Our course instructors are experts with great experience in the application of biogeochemical sensors and marine biogeochemistry research in general. Each will be present during the course as a lecturer and/or practical session instructor. We have arranged for the experts to stay in Kristineberg for a few days to give the course participants the opportunity to interact with leaders in the field both in a formal and informal setting. Our list of lecturers includes the following names:

 

Andrew Dickson Professor - Marine Chemistry Scripps Institution of Oceanography University of California, San Diego, USA

Andrew Dickson is a professor of marine chemistry at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego. Since the 1990s he has played a key role in improving measurements of oceanic CO2 system properties, and leads a program to prepare, certify, and distribute CO2 reference materials to the world’s marine scientists. His research interests include: ocean acidification, quality control of oceanic carbon dioxide measurements, biogeochemistry of the upper ocean, marine inorganic chemistry, thermodynamics of electrolyte solutions, and the analytical chemistry of carbon dioxide in seawater. He has participated in a wide variety of training workshops aimed at improving seawater CO2 measurement capacity around the world.

  

Craig Neill Research Engineer CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Hobart, Australia

Craig Neill has been working as a research engineer at CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere in Hobart, Australia since 2009, where he has developed new technology for ocean carbon measurements and underway observing systems on ships.  From 2003-2009 he was at the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research in Bergen where he developed one of the first systems for accurate multipoint calibration of oxygen optodes. From 1994 – 2003 he ran a small company in Seattle developing, manufacturing and utilising numerous systems for measurement of dissolved gasses in the ocean, including TCO2, CFC’s, SF6 and an underway pCO2 system which has ben used as the basis for one of the most common commercial systems (General Oceanics). At Brookhaven National Laboratory (1992-1994) he developed a system for measuring pCO2 of discreet water samples. Craig’s work has always been very hands on, having participated in over 50 research cruises.  He has a BS in Physics from Washington State University.    Craig maintains an ongoing interest in best practices and education. He was a member of the Scientific Steering Committee and lecturer at the 2015 IOCCP Sensors Summer Course and a is a contributor to the Guide to Best Practices for Ocean CO2 Measurements.

 

Gregor Rehder Professor - Marine Chemistry Leibniz Institut für Ostseeforschung Warnemünde (IOW) Rostock, Germany

Gregor Rehder holds a professorship for Marine Chemistry at the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW), where he is heading the Working Group for Trace Gas Biogeochemistry. Ever since his PhD work at the University of Kiel/GEOMAR in 1996, his work has focused on the cycling of environmentally relevant gases in the marine system, with a special focus on methane and the carbon system. Within this framework, his work has covered all ranges of concentrations from the subnanomolar background concentrations of methane in the ocean to the dissolution kinetics of methane and carbon dioxide gas hydrates, droplets and bubbles in the deep sea. Transport phenomena and phase transition processes have always played a dominant role in this research. Working on air-sea exchange of gases throughout his career, he is currently PI of the VOS Finnmaid, recording pCO2, pCH4, pO2 (and soon also pN2O) across the Baltic Sea as contribution to the ocean theme of the European Research Infrastructure ICOS (Integrated Carbon Observation System). He is coordinator of the European integrated project BONUS INTEGRAL (https://www.io-warnemuende.de/integral-home.html), which is co-organizing the training course.

  

Dariia Atamanchuk Research Associate - Ocean Science & Technology, Chemical Oceanography Ocean Frontier Institute (OFI), Dalhousie University Halifax, Canada

Dariia (Dasha) Atamanchuk is a Research Associate at the Department of Oceanography, Dalhousie University, Canada. Dariia holds a PhD in Marine Chemistry from University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and have been involved in the oceanographic sensor development for the most part of her doctoral and postdoctoral work. Her research focuses on the use of sensors and autonomous platforms for sustained biogeochemical ocean observations. She’s a research scientist on the SeaCycler project, an autonomous underwater winch profiler, and the Volunteer Observing Ship project (VOS) at Dalhousie University. Dariia collaborates nationally and internationally with industry and institutional partners (NOAA-PMEL, Scripps, GEOMAR, MUN, etc). Her scientific interests cover air-sea fluxes, ocean productivity measurements, mechanisms of supply and transport of CO2 and oxygen in the Northwest Atlantic and the Labrador Sea, in particular. Dariia maintains her involvement in international inter-comparison exercises of submersible, underway and bench-top instrumentation for dissolved gases, carbonate system measurements and nutrients.

  

Ingunn Skjelvan Senior Researcher - Chemical Oceanography NORCE Norwegian Research Centre Bergen, Norway

Ingunn Skjelvan is a senior researcher at NORCE Norwegian Research Centre in Bergen, Norway. She holds a PhD in Chemical Oceanography from the University of Bergen, Norway, and has for more than 20 years worked with the marine inorganic carbon cycle through national and EU projects like e.g. ESOP1 and 2, TRACTOR, CARBOOCEAN, EUROBASIN, and FixO3. Her research focuses on temporal variability of the carbon cycle, drivers of the observed changes, and ocean acidification (OA), which is examined by combined use of observations from fixed stations and volunteer observing ships (VOS). Skjelvan started timeseries measurements of inorganic carbon at the ocean weather station M in the Norwegian Sea in 2001. She is involved in the EU infrastructure project ICOS (Integrated Carbon Observatory System) as a VOS PI and in OTC (Ocean Thematic Centre of ICOS) as PI for station evaluation and certification. Further, Skjelvan is contributing to a Norwegian governmental OA monitoring program, and she is involved in several initiatives focusing on knowledge exchange and building of competence in African countries.

  

Meike Becker Researcher - Chemical Oceanography University of Bergen Bergen, Norway

Meike Becker is currently a post doc researcher within ICOS at the University of Bergen and responsible for continuous measurements of pCO2 on a container vessel sailing between Denmark and Greenland, as well as for coordinating the work on all four Norwegian voluntary observing ships (VOS) with highly precise measurements of pCO2. Already her PhD, which she obtained at the University of Kiel in 2016, was focussed on pCO2 measurements from a VOS in the North Atlantic. She installed a cavity ringdown spectrometer on the vessel and was able to describe the seasonality in stable isotope ratios of inorganic carbon with a high spatial resolution. Since moving to Bergen her focus has shifted a bit further north towards the Nordic Seas and coastal dynamics along the long Norwegian coast. Another interest is the coupling between the variability in pCO2, primary production and nutrients.

  

Véronique Garçon Senior scientist - Marine Chemistry Laboratoire d'Etudes en Géophysique et Océanographie Spatiales (LEGOS) Toulouse, France

Dr. Véronique Camille Garcon graduated from University of Paris VII in Environmental Sciences and then became a post-doc fellow at MIT (Cambridge, USA). Recruited as an Early Career scientist at Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in 1985, she worked at ‘Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris’ then moved down to Toulouse with a sabbatical stay at Princeton University in 1995-1996. Her research themes aim towards understanding and quantifying processes governing fluxes of carbon, oxygen and associated biogeochemical elements in the ocean, using in situ tracers observations, remotely sensed data, coupled physical biogeochemical modeling and data assimilation technics. She is also deeply involved in oceanic biogeochemical climatic monitoring via electrochemical sensors development. She served in the JGOFS SSC, member of the French IFREMER Scientific Committee for 10 years, and in many national (CNRS National Committee, National Navy,..), European (PML, GEOMAR, ESF, EC, EGU, ERC..) and international scientific instances. She served for many years in the Scientific Committee of the SOLAS (Surface Ocean Lower Atmosphere Study) project (SCOR, ICACGP, WCRP, Future Earth) as a member then as Chair. She is presently a member of the Global Ocean Oxygen Network from IOC-UNESCO, of the IOCCP SSG and of the CLIVAR EBUS Research Focus group. She has published over 110 papers in peer-reviewed journals on her various research thematics. She received the Anton Bruun medal in June 2017 delivered by IOC-UNESCO.

  

Giorgio Dall'Olmo Scientist - Earth Observation Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) Plymouth, UK

Giorgio Dall’Olmo is a scientist at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (UK) where he has been working since 2010. Giorgio holds a PhD from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln during which he developed remote-sensing algorithms for estimating chlorophyll-a concentrations in turbid productive waters. After obtaining his doctoral degree, Giorgio moved to Oregon State University to investigate phytoplankton physiology in the open ocean using remote sensing and in-situ optical measurements. Besides his longstanding passion for marine optics, Giorgio’s main research interest is investigating ocean biology and biogeochemistry by exploiting data from remote sensing and Biogeochemical-Argo floats. Giorgio leads the UK Biogeochemical-Argo programme and is a member of the Biogeochemical-Argo International Steering Team.

  

Nathan Briggs Scientist - Ocean Biogeochemistry and Ecosystems National Oceanography Centre (NOC) Southampton, UK

Nathan Briggs is a postdoctoral researcher at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, UK. Nathan has been working since 2007 on bio-optical oceanography, and biogeochemistry, and he has developed new techniques for quantifying particle sizes and fluxes using optical backscattering and fluorescence sensors. Nathan obtained his PhD in 2014 from the University of Maine, USA, where he gained a strong foundation in bio-optical sensor technologies, including as a student and later a teaching assistant for the intensive four-week Ocean Optics Summer Class. Nathan obtained a US National Science Foundation fellowship for his first post-doc at the Laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche-sur-mer, France, to study the biological carbon pump using Biogeochemical Argo floats, and he is currently doing similar work using autonomous gliders.

  

Henry Bittig Scientist - Chemical Oceanography Leibniz Institut für Ostseeforschung Warnemünde (IOW) Rostock, Germany

Henry Bittig is a researcher in the Department Physical Oceanography and Instrumentation at the Leibniz Institut für Ostseeforschung Warnemünde (IOW) in Rostock, Germany. Henry's research interests are among other things in: (i) Marine carbon cycle and biological carbon pump, (ii) Biogeochemical in-situ sensors (e.g., O2, pH, NO3, Chl a, bbp) and platforms (e.g., free-drifting floats), (iii) Linking of ocean observing systems: research campaigns (GO-SHIP), voluntary observing ships (VOS, SOCONET), autonomous water column observations (Argo and Biogeochemical-Argo), remote sensing (Ocean Color), (iv) Linking ocean observation & modeling, as well as marine research infrastructure & research.

  

Phil Bresnahan Research Engineer - Chemical Oceanography Scripps Institution of Oceanography at University of California, San Diego (UCSD) San Diego, CA, USA

Bresnahan is a Research Engineer at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Director of the Scripps Makerspace. His research focuses on the development of CO2 system sensors, especially for mobile platforms and citizen science programs. The Scripps Makerspace is designed to serve both education and research communities at Scripps and to enable rapid prototyping and testing in a variety of pressure chambers, test tanks, and calibration facilities. As the Head of Technology for the Smartfin Project, Bresnahan is developing a suite of tools for the collection of coastal oceanographic data from surfboards and standup paddleboards in order to fill in gaps between moored sensors and field surveys and to inspire coastal communities to become better stewards of their environment.

  

Douglas Connelly Professor - Marine Geoscience National Oceanography Centre University of Southampton, Southampton, UK

Doug is a Principal Scientist at the National Oceanography Centre in the UK, and holds an Honorary Professorship at the University of Southampton. Doug is involved in the development and application of a variety of sensor technologies to address global biogeochemical and societal questions. Applying these sensors to marine systems as diverse as cold-seeps, hydrothermal vents, and reducing lochs, Doug has worked in all of the worlds' Oceans.    Doug manages a large laboratory facility with a suite of sensors and instruments valued in excess of US$ 1 million and supervises numerous technical staff and a number of PhD students investigating a range of more focused studies such as the role of organic complexes in the stabilization of iron in the marine environment, through to studies of the role of a warming Arctic in the release of geologically stored methane. Doug leads of has led EU funded projects with a total value of more than $3 million, including the largest EU funded project on carbon capture and storage, STEMM-CCS, working to enhance our understanding of CCS in offshore environments.

  

Jamie Shutler Associate Professor - Earth Observation Centre for Geography and Environmental Science, University of Exeter Penryn, UK

I am an oceanographer and engineer with a wide range of interests that exploit in situ observations, satellite Earth observation and models to study and monitor land-water-atmosphere interactions and environment, particularly in relation to climate and water quality. This includes studying atmosphere-ocean gas exchange of climatically important gases, the distribution of calcium carbonate in the ocean, evaluating the quality of model and Earth observation data, developing approaches for water quality monitoring of bathing waters and aquaculture sites and land-water interactions in fresh water reservoirs. I have also published research on developing and exploiting computer vision techniques for biometrics (gait), medical imaging (breast cancer) and surface ocean currents.   My reserach has been featured in the Guardian Environment, BBC news, Al Jazeera TV, contributed to UK parlimentary enquiries and guided international agencies. My research team (JamieLab) currently comprises 1 post-doc researcher, 8 PhD students and an MSci student. All of our research software is open-source and free to use. The FluxEngine open source python toolbox for calculating atmosphere-ocean gas fluxes is freely avaialable here.

  

Tom Holding Postdoctoral researcher - Earth Observation University of Exeter Penryn, UK

Tom has studied Environmental Science at undergraduate level and has a BSc in Computer Science from the University of East Anglia. He has a PhD in Applied Mathematics from the University of Exeter, where he used computational models to understand the evolution and transmission strategy of the human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. He later joined the Centre for Geography and Environmental Science (CGES) as a post-doctoral research associate working on two European Union Integrated Carbon Observing System (ICOS) readiness projects which are: BONUS INTEGRAL and RINGO. Tom’s work within these projects focuses on atmosphere-ocean gas exchange of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other trace gases in Baltic Sea and North Atlantic. He is the lead software developer maintaining and extending the FluxEngine toolbox; a toolbox for calculating atmosphere-ocean fluxes. More recently his work has also focussed on developing computational methods for quantifying the net transport of carbon across continental shelves, which results from interactions between ocean currents, wind and waves, towards better understanding the role of shelf-seas in the export of carbon to the deep ocean.

  

Peter Landschützer Scientist - Ocean Biogeochemistry Max Planck Institute for Meteorology Hamburg, Germany

I am a marine biogeochemist working at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (MPI-M) in Hamburg, Germany, focusing on the marine uptake of carbon and heat and its variability in space and time. While being involved in the collection, quality control and analysis of underway pCO2 data during my PhD at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK, my doctoral and post-doctoral work at ETH in Zurich, Switzerland, focused on the interpretation and extrapolation of surface ocean pCO2 measurements using artificial neural networks. At MPI-M I combine my analysis and numerical skills to close the marine carbon budget based on observations and further provide a constraint to evaluate and improve state of the art Earth System Models.

  

Maciej Telszewski Director - International Ocean Carbon Coordination Project institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Science (IO PAN) Sopot, Poland

Maciej Telszewski holds a PhD in Marine Biogeochemistry from the University of East Anglia (Norwich, UK), where he worked with surface ocean carbon data to develop an efficient neural network algorithm allowing basin scale mapping of this parameter in the North Atlantic. He then moved to Japan, where he joined a research group at the National Institute for Environmental Studies (Tsukuba) to further improve the statistical computing approach. His work resulted in successful mapping of surface carbon and nutrients fields in the North Pacific accompanied by fluxes estimates included in the RECCAP synthesis (http://www.globalcarbonproject.org/reccap/). Throughout his research carrier he was actively involved in field campaigns, contributing surface measurements to the Surface Ocean CO2 Observing Network (SOCONET) and ocean interior measurements to the Global Ocean Ship-based Hydrographic Investigations Program (GO-SHIP, http://www.go-ship.org/).   In 2011 Maciej joined the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (Paris, France) initially as a Deputy Director of the International Ocean Carbon Coordination Project (IOCCP, http://www.ioccp.org/index.php ) and since mid-2012 as IOCCP’s Project Director (and Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) Biogeochemistry Expert Panel Executive Officer). In this role he coordinates the highly diverse set of ocean carbon and biogeochemistry activities through extensive collaboration and dialogue with the scientific community via national and international organizations, scientific steering committees, scientific workshops, and expert meetings.

 

 

Application

APPLICATIONS CLOSED

 

We received more than 130 applications from all over the world. Applications were subject to a very thorough and selective evaluation process by members of the Scientific Advisory Committee and the Organizing Committee. 28 students and early career researchers seeking training on biogeochemical sensors were invited to attend the course.

 

 

Sponsors & Organisers

 

WE THANK OUR CO-SPONSORS FOR THEIR EXCEPTIONAL GENEROSITY!!!

 

         

 

      

 

 

The Organizing Committee is composed of the following members:

 

Maciej Telszewski

IOCCP - Director

institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Science (IO PAN)

Sopot, Poland

 

Gregor Rehder

BONUS INTEGRAL - Coordinator

Professor - Marine Chemistry

Leibniz Institut für Ostseeforschung Warnemünde an der Universität Rostock (IOW)

Rostock, Germany

 

Artur Palacz

IOCCP - Project Officer

Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Science (IO PAN)

Sopot, Poland

 

Henry Bittig

Scientist - Chemical Oceanography

Leibniz Institut für Ostseeforschung Warnemünde an der Universität Rostock (IOW)

Rostock, Germany

 

Anna Rutgersson

BONUS INTEGRAL - Principal Investigator

Professor - Meteorology

Uppsala Universitet

Uppsala, Sweden

 

Marcus Reckermann

Baltic Earth - Head of International Secretariat

Hemholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht

Geesthacht, Germany

 

 

The Local Organizing Committee is composed of the following members:

 

 Andrea Norder

Administrative Assistant

Sven Lovén Centrum för Marin Infrastruktur, Göteborgs Universitet

Kristineberg, Sweden

 

 Adam Ulfsbo

Researcher - Marine Science

Göteborgs Universitet

Kristineberg, Sweden

 

Bengt Lundve

Research Engineer

Sven Lovén Centrum för Marin Infrastruktur, Göteborgs Universitet

Kristineberg, Sweden

 

Lars Ljungqvist

Research Engineer

Sven Lovén Centrum för Marin Infrastruktur, Göteborgs Universitet

Kristineberg, Sweden

 

Venue & Logistics

More information on the course logistics will be available in due time. The course will be held at the Sven Lovén Center for Marine Sciences, in Kristineberg, Sweden: https://loven.gu.se/english/about_the_loven_centre/kristineberg 

 

 

Location and areal view of the course venue.

 

Kristineberg is located at the mouth of the Gullmar fjord, with easy access to coastal habitats and open sea. The Gullmar fjord is 30 km long with a maximum depth of 118 m. Key features that makes this an important marine environment are the excellent water quality with three rather distinct water-masses; surface water of varying salinity depending on the mixture of local runoff and water from the Baltic and Kattegat/Skagerrak surface water, inter-mediate layer dominated by Skagerrak surface water and high saline bottom water from the North Sea at greater depths.

 

Visiting address:

Kristineberg, Fiskebäckskil (municipality of Lysekil)

 

Postal address:

Kristineberg 566,

SE-451 78 Fiskebäckskil, Sweden

Phone: 46 31 786 95 00

 

 

Contacts

For all inquiries concerning the course, please send an email to IOCCP Offfice (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). You can also contact us by phone or fax: Phone: +48 58 731 16 10 / Fax: +48 58 551 21 30

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

A user’s guide for selected autonomous biogeochemical sensors 

An outcome from the

1^st International IOCCP Sensors Summer Course –

Instrumenting Our Oceans for Better Observations

 

 

 

 

The IOCCP has completed it's first International Summer Course on best practices for selected biogeochemical sensors (oxygen, pH, pCO₂, nitrate). The course was held at the Sven Lovén Center for Marine Sciences in Kristineberg, Sweden, June 22-July 1, 2015.

 

The goal of the course was to further develop proficiency in the use of a suite of biogeochemical sensors and to improve the quality of the data currently generated by autonomous biogeochemical sensors. This intensive, 10-day Summer Course provided 27 trainees with lectures, hands-on in-situ and laboratory experiences, and informal interactions to improve in-depth knowledge on instrument know-how, troubleshooting, data management, data reduction and quality control.

 

We have received an enormous amount of outstanding applications (almost 100!) and following very selective evaluation process, this course brought together a group of 27 wonderful participants from 14 countries. The agenda was developed with planaries, practical sessions, informal presentations and social time allowing our participants not only improve their knowledge in many aspects of biogeochemical sensors observations (listed below) but also walk away from Kristineberg with expanded network of collaborators and friends.

 

We were also very lucky to attract 13 excellent lecturers (listed below) and 4 manufacturers, who through their dedication, hard work and unwavering enthusiasm made this course an unforgettable experience for everyone involved.

 

A more formal report based on extensive input received from participants during the course can be accessed from the link on top of the page. We hope that this will become a useful user's guide for novice sensor users worldwide. Funding permitting we hope to organize the next iteration of this course in late summer 2018! More details about the 2015 course below.

 

 

 

Lectures and practicals included the following themes:

 

Lectures included:

• Scientific importance of instrumenting our oceans
• Basic theory of sensors
• Interfacing sensors
• Overview of bio-optical sensors
• Key oceanographic characteristics determining the choice of sensors
• All that you need to know about sensor deployment
• Getting the most out of your data: the importance of sensor co-location
• The carbonate system and the difficulties in measuring it
• Elusive oxygen - how do we accurately measure it?
• Sensor calibration and validation
• Developing real-time and delayed mode procedures for data delivery
• Getting the data: the good, the bad and the weird
• Data quality control and making the data available
• Biofouling
• Dogs and cats: can models and measurements get along?
• Emerging technologies: benchtop and deployable

Practicals included:

• preparation, deployment and recovery of autonomous sensors off the pier and at the Koljoe Fjord observatory on board of the R/V Skagerak
• water sampling for calibration/validation
• lab-based sensors calibration using benchtop instruments
• data reduction and data quality control sessions
• troubleshooting
  

 

Lectures and practicals were given by leading experts in the field:

 

Kenneth S. Johnson

Senior Scientist

Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute

Moss Landing, CA, USA

 

Hervé Claustre

Research Scientist

Marine Optics and Remote Sensing Lab

Laboratoire d'Oceanographie de Villefranche, France

 

Anders Tengberg

Principal Research Engineer

Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology

University of Gothenburg, Sweden

 

Craig Neill

Research Engineer

Marine and Atmospheric Research

CSIRO, Hobart, Australia

 

Eric Achterberg

Professor - Marine Biogeochemistry

GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research

Kiel, Germany

 

Phil Bresnahan

Chemical Oceanographer

Scripps Institution of Oceanography

University of California, San Diego, USA

 

Doug Connelly

Marine Chemist

National Oceanography Centre

University of Southampton, Southampton, UK

 

Andrew Dickson

Professor - Marine Chemistry

Scripps Institution of Oceanography

University of California, San Diego, USA

 

Per Hall

Professor - Marine Biogeochemistry

University of Gothenburg

Gothenburg, Sweden

 

Arne Körtzinger

Professor - Chemical Oceanography

GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research

Kiel, Germany

 

Iris Kriest

Biogeochemical Modeller

GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research

Kiel, Germany

 

Benjamin Pfeil

Biogeochemical Data Manager

Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research

University of Bergen, Norway

 

Collin Roesler

Professor

Dept. of Earth and Oceanographic Science

Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME, USA

 

 

More background information

 

In recent years ocean technology has leaped to the aid of scientists by providing them with cost-effective tools that can take measurements of essential biogeochemical variables autonomously, i.e. sensors on autonomous platforms. These autonomous measurements are complementary to efforts carried out by traditional ship-based sampling, with the aim of improving data coverage worldwide. Yet, despite these options becoming more readily available, there is still a gap between the technology (investigators and technicians that deploy these technologies) and the end-user. This is born as much out of lack of training, lack of in-depth knowledge, and lack of community coordination. There is also a disconnect between data gathering by autonomous chemical sensors and data quality, which is a major obstacle as these sensors are already being deployed on autonomous platforms in several different projects in several ocean areas. Indeed, the Panel for Integrated Coastal Observation (PICO-I) pointed out that while some of the required technologies are mature, the implementation on a global scale may be limited by lack of common standards and protocols and/or calibrated and validated algorithms for translating data into useful information.

 

For all these reasons the IOCCP decided to hold its first International Summer course on best practices for selected autonomous biogeochemical sensors with the aim to promote and enhance the utilization of these sensors, and to teach users common best practices of use and data reporting. The need for such course was identified by the scientific community which felt that there exists an urgent necessity to address the usage of autonomous biogeochemical sensors to carry out time-series work, complement existing autonomous platforms, expand our current observational network, and ensure that the data being collected can serve both scientific and societal needs. While many biogeochemical parameters cannot yet be directly characterized to the accuracy and precision required for climate research, there are several autonomous sensor technologies which can tackle some essential biogeochemical variables with the quality required, and they are mature enough to be implemented within regular monitoring platforms. These technologies include oxygen, nutrients, carbon dioxide and pH. There is also a need to integrate (and standardize) sensor methodologies, including quality control, data reporting and calibration protocols. A ‘global biogeochemical sensor network’, which fills the current gaps that exist in ocean observing, is needed to understand changes in marine biogeochemical cycles and ecosystems. Such network should be integrated with existing sampling programs so that it has the necessary synergy to make it useful to the current scientific objectives. Incorporating autonomous sensors into existing platforms that take regular, high quality, discrete measurements (i.e. time-series stations) is also one approach to validation.

 

 

 

WE THANK OUR CO-SPONSORS FOR THEIR EXCEPTIONAL GENEROSITY !!!

 

      

 

        

 

 

 

The International Ocean Carbon Coordination Project (IOCCP) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), with co-sponsorship from the Millennium Institute of Oceanography (IMO) and the Center for the Study of Multiple-Drivers on Marine Socio-Ecological Systems (MUSELS) organized a hands-on Technical Workshop on Carbonate System Measurements at the Instituto de Investigaciones Oceanológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, in Tijuana-Ensenada, México, from December 3 to 11, 2016.

 

With representation from 8 Latin American and Caribbean countries participating in the Latin-American Ocean Acidification Network (LAOCA), the course was designed to train 14 participants and therefore significantly strengthen the analytical capacity in the region. All of the participants were selected based on their current role in their laboratories indicating their active, full-time involvement with relevant analytical duties in the field and in their laboratories.

 

The workshop design (agenda below) focused on hands-on laboratory experience where instructors (list of instructors below) taught the workshop participants the appropriate high-precision chemical techniques and protocols related to carbonate system measurements. Additionally, lectures on the design of the observing system, data management practices and carbonate system calculations were included to allow the participants to understand a wider context of making measurements and collecting data. 

 

Course objectives and content
Upon completion of the training course, participants gained increased knowledge in the following aspects:

• Observing system design based on their needs in the framework of internationally accepted protocols (e.g. Framework for Ocean Observing, Essential Ocean Variables) and data management procedures based on established data products such as the Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (SOCAT) and Global Ocean Data Analysis Project (GLODAP) with explicit focus on the need for ancillary parameters (i.e. temperature, salinity, nutrients, barometric pressure and more)
• Monitoring carbonate chemistry, including detailed methodology for measurements of potentiometric and spectrophotometric pH, total alkalinity (TA) with an open cell titration method, and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), the use of certified reference materials, analytical know-how such as the typical sample volume required, and specific challenges related to each method.
• Advantages and disadvantages of the different platforms for carbonate system measurements, such as moored surface sensors, gliders, underway measurements, and discrete water samples; requirements for handling, maintenance, calibration and validation of specific platforms and instruments.
• The use of carbonate system calculating tools including error propagation.

 

Equipment availability
The following equipment was available during the course for practical activities. Participants were divided into up to four groups (max. 4 participants in each group) to provide each participant with first-hand experience in handling and analytical procedures for each respective measurement (i.e. pH, AT, and DIC):

• Colorimetric system (20 mL, manual) and infrared system (2 mL, LICOR-7000) for DIC analysis;
• Potentiometric system for measurements of total alkalinity. Additionally, an automatic alkalinity titration system Apollo Sci. Tech. will be shipped from Chile (Vargas' Lab).
• Spectrophotometric system for pH measurements.
• 1 SeapHOx and 1 SeaFET sensor

 

Instructors/Lecturers

• José Martín Hernández Ayón - Instituto de Investigaciones Oceanológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, Mexico
• Cristian A. Vargas - Department of Aquatic Systems, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Millennium Institute of Oceanography, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile
• Todd Martz – Geosciences Research Division, Scripps Institution of Oceanography; San Diego, USA
• James C. Orr - Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, LSCE/IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay, France
• Andrew Dickson – Marine Physical Laboratory, Scripps Institution of Oceanography; San Diego, USA
• Maciej Telszewski - International Ocean Carbon Coordination Project (IOCCP), Project Director, Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Sopot, Poland.

 

 

 

WE THANK OUR CO-SPONSORS FOR THEIR EXCEPTIONAL GENEROSITY !!!