The Collaborative O-Buoy Project: Deployment of a Network of Arctic Ocean Chemical Sensors for the IPY and Beyond

O-Buoy, a buoy-based instrument platform, was designed, constructed, and field tested for year-round measurement of ozone, bromine monoxide, carbon dioxide, and meteorological variables over Arctic sea ice. The O-Buoy operates in an autonomous manner with daily, bi-directional data transmissions using Iridium satellite communication. The O-Buoy is equipped with three power sources: primary lithium ion battery packs, rechargeable lead acid packs, and solar panels that recharge the lead acid packs, and can fully power the O-Buoy during summer operation. This system is designed to operate with minimal direct human interaction, to aid in our understanding of the atmospheric chemistry that occurs in this remote region of the world. The current design requires approximately yearly maintenance limited by the lifetime of the primary power supply. The O-Buoy system was field tested off Barrow, AK (February to May 2009), and is now deployed in the Beaufort Sea (September 2009 - ? 2010). Three additional O-Buoys will be deployed next year at Barrow (Feb.-May 2010), at 60oN, 90oW (Feb. - May 2010) and 80oN, 120oW (March - May 2010), the latter two funded by Canada IPY.

It is known that surface chemistry involving sea salt results in depletion of ozone (O3) and elementary mercury (Hg) at the surface during spring time in the Arctic. However, due to the logistics challenge of long term measurements, there have been very few such measurements of O3 or other chemical species in the atmosphere above the Arctic Ocean surface (except from satellites and aircraft). And, although it is believed that more open water will render the Arctic Ocean a larger CO2 sink, there are no long term measurements of CO2 from the Arctic Ocean itself (only around it). Because of new developments in instrumentation, power management, and instrumentation control, there is a new opportunity to meet these data acquisition challenges, with large payoff to the Arctic science communities, through development of robust, unattended, self-contained and autonomous buoys. Long-term, ocean-based atmospheric data sets are needed to quantify seasonal and interannual variability in a fast changing ice field that will vary in different regions of the Arctic Ocean.