NSF Supports Mobile Sea Lab Studies

Researchers carrying out their studies on the open ocean now have a new aid at their disposal. Nicknamed ESP, the new instrument is a so-called Lab in a Can, a mobile, barrel-sized laboratory that is fully autonomous, and can conduct a wide array of studies.

On the outside, the instrument looks pretty much like a garbage can, but the instruments and technologies it contains are very advanced. These remote sensors operate automatically, after they are thrown overboard, and deployed at the intended locations.

Analyzing water samples is their main specialty, explain scientist from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI). They are conducting ESP-based investigations with funds secured from the US National Science Foundation (NSF).

In the near future, the MBARI team believes, devices such as this Lab in a Can will be used by people to detect the level of contamination of a beach, or whether the water is sufficiently safe to drink.

“The ESP is the Environmental Sample Processor. It is an instrument that collects water, allows you to extract particles, and use molecular probe technology to understand the presence of certain organisms and their activities,” Chris Scholin explains.

The expert, who is the president and chief executive officer of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, says that he and his crew developed the ESP in order to avoid long commutes between labs, every time when they needed a water sample analyzed.

“We have intake valves. We draw in seawater with a syringe and create a vacuum to basically pull the seawater through a filter that collects a particular size of particles,” scientist Christina Preston says.

“We have a manipulator arm and a carousel that basically drives pucks in different places in order for us to complete our tasks,” she goes on to say. The expert is a MBARI marine biologist.

“The ESP has enough battery power to last roughly 30 to 45 days. Our goal is to have something that can go out for six months,” adds the director of the MBARI Sensors Underwater Research of the Future (SURF) Center, Jim Birch.

“Water quality testing takes an immense amount of time. If you get it wrong, a whole bunch of fish can die on you,” explains Chris Newman, a fish farmer who is also the creator and president of Santa Cruz Aquaponics.

“If you have something like ESP that gives you a database that comes up on a computer screen where you can just look at what your water quality is without having to go out and test, it's revolutionary!” he concludes.