Water is drawn from below the sea ice through the red “Smartie” in the photo (right) and pumped into our seawater enrichment system, where carbon dioxide gas is bubbled through to lower the water’s pH (make it more acidic).
Once enriched with CO2, the water is pumped back down below the sea ice and added to the flow of ambient sea water in 40 metre-long ducting, where it mixes, before flowing through the experimental chambers at the required pH offset (-0.4 pH units less than the surrounding seawater).
Throughout the experiment water is also drawn from the chambers to the surface where it passes through our sensor system. Various water quality measures, including dissolved oxygen, conductivity and pH, are taken and recorded automatically.
Glenn Johnstone — Project Manager
