The University of South Florida (USF) College of Marine Science operates a fleet of six Teledyne Webb Research Slocum gliders as cost-effective research platforms for sampling the water column. Underwater gliders are autonomous robots that traverse the water to collect a suite of physical (e.g., temperature and salinity) and chemical (e.g., nutrients and dissolved oxygen) data to better understand the environment of coastal and open oceans. Over the past decade, the USF glider group has added sensors to obtain biological data (e.g., fluorometers, acoustic telemetry receivers, echosounders, and passive acoustic monitors) to help survey and monitor marine organisms. The data collected on these glider missions has been used in the forecasting of red tide blooms, detection of tagged aquatic animals, collection of biomass data, and recording of fish and marine mammal sounds in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) and the Atlantic Ocean. Here we describe how our glider fleet has obtained critical biological data and is continuously evolving to better assist in addressing ecosystem-level challenges associated with global environmental changes.

We evaluated the resilience of the zooplankton community to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the northeast Gulf of Mexico, by assessing abundance, biomass, spatial distribution, species composition, and diversity indices during spring, summer, and winter, May 2010 to August 2014. SEAMAP samples collected between spring and summer 2005-2009 were analyzed as a baseline. Our results did not indicate that there was a long-term impact from the oil spill, but did demonstrate that environmental variability and riverine processes strongly governed zooplankton community dynamics. Zooplankton abundances during the oil spill (spring 2010) were not significantly different from abundances during spring 2011 and 2012. Summer 2010 abundances were the highest observed for the 2005 to 2014 period, due to high river discharge, high chlorophyll, and aggregation in eddies. High densities of the dinoflagellate, Noctiluca, during the oil spill, and the copepod, Centropages velificatus, and larvaceans in all years, suggest that these taxa warrant further investigation. Ecosystem connectivity (zooplankton transport by currents into the oil spill region), high fecundity, relatively short generation times, and refugia in deeper depths are key factors in zooplankton resilience to major perturbations. This study serves as a baseline for assessment of future impacts to this system.

The use of marine offshore benthic habitats by sea turtles is poorly characterized due to the difficulty of obtaining in situ data. Understanding benthic habitat use that is important to the species’ reproduction, foraging, and migrations is critical for guiding management decisions. A towed camera-based assessment survey system (C-BASS) equipped with environmental sensors was used to characterize and assess benthic habitats on the West Florida Shelf (WFS) from 2014 to 2018. During these cruises, sea turtles were opportunistically observed during the surveys, and critical in situ data such as spatiotemporal information, species identification, habitat use, behavior, and environmental data were collected and evaluated. In total, 79 sea turtles were observed during 97 transects of approximately 2700 km of seafloor, which was recorded on 380 h of video. Several sea turtle species were spotted within the WFS, including loggerhead Caretta caretta, Kemp’s ridley Lepidochelys kempii, and green turtles Chelonia mydas. These opportunistic sightings revealed an area of high use on the WFS, an anthropogenic structure known as the Gulfstream natural gas pipeline (GSPL). C-BASS survey results suggest that 2 sea turtle species (C. caretta and L. kempii) utilize this artificial structure primarily as a resting area. We emphasize the importance of combining habitat mapping techniques (towed underwater video and multibeam bathymetry/backscatter) with tracking technology to better understand the fine-scale habitat use of sea turtles.

An ongoing challenge for fisheries management is to provide cost-effective and timely estimates of habitat stratified fish densities. Traditional approaches use modified commercial fishing gear (such as trawls and baited hooks) that have biases in species selectivity and may also be inappropriate for deployment in some habitat types. Underwater visual and optical approaches offer the promise of more precise and less biased assessments of relative fish abundance, as well as direct estimates of absolute fish abundance. A number of video-based approaches have been developed and the technology for data acquisition, calibration, and synthesis has been developing rapidly. Beginning in 2012, our group of engineers and researchers at the University of South Florida has been working towards the goal of completing large scale, video-based surveys in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. This paper discusses design considerations and development of a towed camera system for collection of video-based data on commercially and recreationally important reef fishes and benthic habitat on the West Florida Shelf. Factors considered during development included potential habitat types to be assessed, sea-floor bathymetry, vessel support requirements, personnel requirements, and cost-effectiveness of system components. This regional-specific effort has resulted in a towed platform called the Camera-Based Assessment Survey System, or C-BASS, which has proven capable of surveying tens of kilometers of video transects per day and has the ability to cost-effective population estimates of reef fishes and coincident benthic habitat classification.

This paper describes the design and development of a small CTD biotag that measures a suite of oceanographic data. Though presently configured to measure conductivity, temperature, and depth along with geo-location, it is expandable to acquire behaviorally related data, including acceleration, ambient light, and compass heading. The size of the instrument (100 mm x 40 mm x 20 mm) has been optimized for deployments on medium-sized marine predators such as penguins, tuna, and sharks. Several first generation prototypes have been constructed and initial laboratory and field tests have been performed and are reported. In addition, this paper highlights the challenges and difficulties encountered during the developmental process of a new biologging instrument.

The study of fine-scale linkages between animal behavior and the physical microstructure of the marine habitat is essential for understanding the ecology of many marine animals. Animal-borne salinity data has the potential to define the importance of physical water mass features to the ecology of marine animals. Recently CTD (conductivity, temperature and depth) data loggers mounted on large marine mammals (pinnipeds and cetaceans) have been able to capture direct qualitative information on the physical microstructure of the foraging environment and microhabitat. In order to understand the physical environment of smaller marine animals (penguins, fish and reptiles) a miniature, inexpensive CTD biologger is being developed. The biologger circuit boards are of a modular design so that several prototypes for different marine species can be developed. Currently two designs (A and B) have been fabricated and they measure 50 × 25 × 25 mm and 85 × 25 × 15 mm (unpotted), respectively. The biologger has additional internal sensors that are managed by a low-power microcontroller. The complete multisensor system measures conductivity, temperature, pressure, light, three-axis acceleration, three-axis magnetic fields, wet/dry and GPS. CTD measurements are used to calculate salinity and must be in close proximity to one another and the seawater. Therefore a novel CTD board was fabricated. The conductivity sensor was fabricated using printed circuit board (PCB) techniques and integrated with MEMS (micromechanoelectrical system) sensors, a thermistor and piezoresitive pressure module, on a liquid crystal polymer substrate (LCP). A four-electrode conductivity circuit that measures electrical resistance was designed. In this paper the biologger initial design is presented along with the conductivity cell circuit and preliminary CTD characterization data.

The design, fabrication and initial performance of a single substrate, miniature, low-cost conductivity, temperature, depth (CTD) sensor board with interconnects are presented. In combination these sensors measure ocean salinity. The miniature CTD device board was designed and fabricated as the main component of a 50 mm × 25 mm × 25 mm animal-attached biologger. The board was fabricated using printed circuit processes and consists of two distinct regions on a continuous single liquid crystal polymer substrate: an 18 mm × 28 mm rigid multi-metal sensor section and a 72 mm long flexible interconnect section. The 95% confidence intervals for the conductivity, temperature and pressure sensors were demonstrated to be ±0.083 mS cm−1, 0.01 °C, and ±0.135 dbar, respectively.

In this work we describe a small, low cost conductivity, temperature and depth (CTD) system for measurements of salinity in coastal waters. The system incorporates three low cost expendable sensors, a novel planar four-electrode conductivity cell, a planar resistive temperature device and a piezoelectric pressure sensor. The conductivity cell and the resistive temperature device were fabricated using novel printed circuit board (PCB) microelectromechanical (MEMS) techniques combined with a new thin-film material, liquid crystal polymer (LCP). Printed circuit board techniques allow for mass production of the sensors, thereby lowering the cost of the system. The three sensors are packaged so that they are independent of one another and can be quickly replaced if bio-fouled or damaged. Deployments in Bayboro Harbor, St Petersburg, FL demonstrate that the novel CTD systems are capable of obtaining highly resolved in situ salinity measurements comparable to measurements obtained using commercially available instruments. The estimated accuracies for the conductivity, temperature and pressure sensors are +/- 1.47%, +/- 0.546. C and +/- 0.02 bar, respectively. This work indicates that a small, low cost CTD system with expendable/replaceable sensors can be used to provide accurate, precise and highly resolved conductivity, temperature and pressure measurements in a coastal environment.

Printed circuit board microelectromechanical systems are a set of fabrication techniques that use traditional inexpensive printed circuit board processes to construct microsensors. These techniques keep gaining popularity and are utilized herein. The design, fabrication and construction of a miniature, low-cost conductivity cell and resistive temperature device transducers are presented. The transducers utilize a liquid crystal polymer (LCP), a thin-film material, which exhibits moisture resistant properties that makes it suitable for aquatic applications. Novel processing techniques that are reported here include the use of a direct-write photolithography tool eliminating the use of photomasks and chemical catalytic metallization of LCP material. The rapid fabrication of these devices and the repeatability of the fabrication are demonstrated by comparing the calibration of multiple devices. The sensors' sensitivities are found to be 1082.40 +/- 144.18 mS cm(-1) per siemens and 5.910 +/- 0.765 degrees C per ohm for the conductivity and temperature transducers, respectively.

Broadband, low-Cost, Coastal sensor NetsHigh-bandwidth wireless communication links could provide major improvements to integrated ocean observatory systems.The potential of broadband wireless networks opens up numerous application scenarios for coastal environmental monitoring, research, and security.High-bandwidth networks allow the incorporation of bandwidth-hogging video/voice applications along with arrays of environmental sensors, which typically have low data rates.We remotely monitored an ecological hotspot in Tampa Bay waters using low-cost sensor nodes deployed in a wide-area, broadband sensor network.The sensors used in this network were an example of micromachining technology called micro-electro-mechanical-systems (MEMS).Sensors using this technological approach can be designed to monitor the biological, chemical, and physical environment, or they can be used to detect microbial, chemical, or radiological agents.One key device in our demonstration was a low-cost, lowpower salinity sensor (CTD) made of waterproof, printed circuit MEMS materials.Another element of the sensor Web was an offshore camera that permitted remote viewing of surface-water conditions in real time for a sustained period.The sensors were attached to an array of easily fieldable 802.11b-capable network nodes.The low cost of the sensor nodes makes it possible to economically deploy a large array.These high-and low-bit-rate sensor nodes provide real-time data and are remotely configurable, enabling an adaptive broadband observing system.

Within the traditional mass spec instrumentation field there is ongoing interest in new atmospheric ion source designs for more effective and versatile ion generation. The objective of the present study is to apply organic MEMS microfabrication technologies to generation of atmospheric pressure ion optical devices. We have devised novel materials, processes, and designs for micro ion optical systems for control of ions within sources, and across apertures and conductance arrays. PCBMEMS using LCP have been used in the construction of the devices. Vacuum compatibility of the polymeric material has been found to be similar to glass in performance characteristics. Processes for shaping the polymer dielectric for fluid flow control and the metallization for electrical field control have been devised. Different geometries, both tubular and planar, combined with electrical field shaping circuitry and fluidic flow control networks are part of the effort.

Sensor networks for in-water measurements using Organic MEMS are progressing in our research effort. PCBMEMS enabled systems, primarily in Liquid Crystal Polymer material (LCP) have emerged from the laboratory and are operational in the field. The latest progress in sensor development has yielded PCBMEMS sensors operating in the field for extended periods. In addition, we have developed the multisensor system that measures conductivity, temperature, and pressure, and combined it with a 3D system-in-package wireless module based on the 802.11b protocol to create a salinity network node and an environmental network system. The power consumption, reliability and fouling of the fieldable sensors have been evaluated. Our results indicate that biofouling has become the limiting factor for sustained performance of the multisensor system within the environment.

Algorithms for sensor deployment and adaptive sampling form the basis for multisensor fusion of spatio-temporal data from a wireless environmental network of deployed sensors. Derivation of sampling algorithms based on parametric methods are described. These algorithms form the basis for deployment of an array of wireless CTD (conductivity, temperature, depth) sensors to observe basic oceanographic data in Tampa Bay, Florida, USA. This distributed sensor network communicates using RF wireless 802.11b systems, and provides data in real-time to a shore observation station. In the experiments described here, five CTD sensors recorded reliable data over 25 hours. These data have been analyzed using multisensor fusion algorithms to characterize the temporal and spatial patterns. The resulting data analysis is available for integration with other observations made during these experiments, including biological and chemical variables. The approach demonstrates the ability to design and deploy a distributed sensor network that monitors real-time spatio-temporal oceanographic data, and supports further deployments that will incorporate mobile nodes capable of adaptive reconfiguration

The fabrication in liquid crystal polymer, LCP, of a micro flow cuvette and its use as a bio-cell dispersion analyzer is presented. The optical cell configuration measures extinction or a combination of scattering and absorbed spectra from the cells. The spectra are used for characterizing cells (Escherichia coli) size and optical properties, via a Lorenz-Mie algorithm.

We are developing integrated microsystems and sensor networks for in-water measurements using PCB MEMS, also known as organic MEMS. The PCB MEMS laminates are based on liquid crystal polymers (LCP), polyimide (PI) and FR-4 materials with the various sensing elements made within or on top of the printed circuit substrates. Single layer, double layer, and laminate constructions have been achieved. The sensing systems that utilize this technology are directed toward chemical, biological and physical sensing devices. Recent progress in sensor development has yielded PCB MEMS sensors operating in the field. We have developed a multisensor system that measures conductivity, temperature and pressure, and a compact 3D system-in-package wireless module based on the 802.11b protocol. Combining the sensor and telemetry modules yields wireless sensor systems capable of being scaled into networks. The microsystems made in this economical PCB MEMS format can be utilized in the marine environment, especially in emerging adaptive sensor grids, but also be applied to terrestrial, atmospheric and industrial process control environments.