Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Gulf Coast CESU

Post Date

August 4th 2014

Application Due Date

August 15th 2014

Funding Opportunity Number

G14AS00131

CFDA Number(s)

15.808

Funding Instrument Type(s)

Cooperative Agreement

Funding Activity Categories

Science and Technology and other Research and Development

Number of Awards

1

Eligibility Categories

Other

This financial assistance opportunity is being issued under a Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Program. CESUкs are partnerships that provide research, technical assistance, and education. Eligible recipients must be a participating partner of the Gulf Coast Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Program.

Funding

• Estimated Total Funding:

  $45062

• Award Range:

  $0 - $0

Grant Description

The USGS is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner for research in development of a simple, inexpensive photometer device capable of measuring pH with high accuracy. A large fraction of the CO2 released to the atmosphere each year (approximately one quarter) enters the ocean. This oceanic uptake of CO2 has profound consequences for the global ocean. In a process widely known as `ocean acidificationк, nearly every CO2 molecule entering the surface ocean from the atmosphere produces a hydrogen ion. This acidification process reduces pH, reduces calcium carbonate saturation states, alters the speciation of many chemicals, and has been shown to have myriad biological effects. A particularly important problem associated with ocean acidification is that, while it is widely acknowledged that observations of pH are essential context for a wide range of modern-day biogeochemical investigations, facile measurement of seawater pH on broad spatial scales and finely resolved temporal scales has proven to be problematic. Furthermore, measurements of pH in salinity ranges from freshwater to seawater, as is typical in estuaries and coastal areas, has been hampered by lack of inexpensive, versatile instrumentation and calibration issues. Spectrophotometric devices capable of measuring pH with high accuracy are typically expensive, Ion Selective Field Effect Transistor devices (ISFETs) are expensive and require frequent calibration, and glass electrodes, although relatively inexpensive, require frequent calibration and are frequently unreliable.

Contact Information

• Agency

  Department of the Interior

• Office:

  Geological Survey

• Agency Contact:

  Faith Graves, 703-648-7356
  fgraves@usgs.gov
  

• Agency Mailing Address:

  fgraves@usgs.gov

• Agency Email Address:

  fgraves@usgs.gov

• More Information:

  http://www.grants.gov/