CICEET Progress Report for the period 9/16/05 Through 3/15/06

Project Title: Development of a Sediment Profile Imaging and Micro-sampling System (SPIMS) for Evaluating Quality of Bedded Sediments
Principal Investigator(s): Marion Nipper
Additional Investigator(s): Scott Carr
Project Start Date: 9/16/05

Figures

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Tasks to meet objectives
Hold two-day meeting at DOER to discus various design aspects and to set deadlines for various project milestones.

Progress on Tasks
Meeting at DOER was held in early October. Numerous emails and phone conversations have followed to discuss specific details of the design. Materials for sampling devices have been tested and a variety of microprobes have been purchased. A chamber for testing the probes in the laboratory has been constructed.

Difficulties
No unexpected difficulties have been encountered thus far.

Project Objectives for Next Reporting Period

Objectives
Finalize the design and begin construction of the SPIMS

Tasks to Meet Objectives
Testing of materials to be used for sampling and robustness of probe will continue at Marine Ecotoxicology Research Station. DOER will construct the instrument. Several laboratories that have been involved in the development of planar optodes will be visited and the necessary techniques for applying this technology for use with the SPIMS will be learned.

Work Plan for Next Reporting Period
By the end of the next reporting period, the instrument construction should be nearing completion and the initial field testing will commence.

Anticipated Success in Meeting Project Objectives
We feel confident that all of the proposed project objectives will be met successfully.

Overall Project Timeline Update
The project is currently on schedule.

Preliminary Data
Some of the latest design schematics for various components of the SPIMS are shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2. We are also working with Dr. Bob Aller of SUNY at Stony Brook to incorporate planar optode technology for pH (Figure 3) and O₂ (Figure 4) into the SPIMS. These planar optodes will allow us to visualize these parameters in full two-dimensions which will correspond directly to the visible sediment profile images. Some examples of the types of images which can be obtained with these planar optodes are shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4.

Dissemination
Publications: None at this time.

Workshops: Scott Carr attended the EPA sponsored workshop on Standardization of Sediment Profile Imaging Methods held at Narragansett, RI in December 2005 where he presented an overview of the SPIMS. There were ~30 participants at this workshop.

Conferences: SETAC-Europe, May 2006, The Hague, Netherlands, will make presentation entitled “Sediment Profile Imaging and Micro-sampling System (SPIMS) for Evaluating the Quality of Bedded Sediments”. This conference typically is attended by ~1500 scientists.

Manuals, Protocols: None to date.

Outreach Activities: Have been in contact with numerous potential users of the SPIMS including the Navy, NOAA, EPA, USGS, DoD, USACE, and several state environmental agencies.

Contact with End Users: End users have been contacted and updated on our progress.

Patent, Copyright, Invention Disclosure Activity: None

Expenditures
Expenditures are in the range anticipated for the work accomplished to date.

Literature Cited
Wenzhöfer, F. and R.N. Glud. 2004. Small-scale spatial and temporal variability in coastal benthic O2 dynamics: Effects of fauna activity. Limnol. Oceanogr. 49:1471-1481.

Zhu Q., R. Aller, and Y. Fan. 2005. High-performance planar pH fluorosensor for two-dimensional pH measurements in marine sediment and water. Environ. Sci. Technol. 39, 8906-8911.

End User Advisor Feedback
Name: Paul Montagna
Organization: University of Texas at Austin and the
Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve
Location: Port Aransas, Texas
Phone number: 361-749-6779
E-mail: paul@utmsi.utexas.edu
1) At this stage, what are the potential applications for this research? Please discuss how you and others could potentially use the technology.
Would allow us to identify sediment profiles and disturbances over large spatial scales.

2) What, if anything, has changed about this project's potential applicability since the last reporting period (not applicable to the first Progress Report)?
Nothing.

3) Do you see any key challenges that the researchers may want to address or keep in mind?
Not yet.

4) Does this report offer you enough information to adequately address the above questions?
Yes.

5) Other feedback?
Good progress.

Name: Jeff Hyland
Organization: NOAA/NOS Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Health
Location: Charleston, SC
Phone No: 843/762-8652
E-mail: jeff.hyland@noaa.gov
1. At this stage, what are the potential applications for this research? Please discuss how you and others could potentially use the technology.
Our Marine Ecology program at the NOAA Center for Coastal Ecosystem Health and Biomolecular Research (CCEHBR) in Charleston, South Carolina, includes among other activities a focus on development of benthic-based sediment quality targets for assessing and predicting effects of chemical contaminants and other sediment-associated stressors on the integrity of sediment-dwelling organisms. The capabilities that SPIMS offers — including a combination of visual imaging of sediment-profile features, in-situ measurement of sediment stressors (e.g., low oxygen levels, toxic levels of ammonia, sulfides, and chemical contaminants), and remote sampling of sediment at varying profile depths — would be highly useful in the interpretation and validation of results of our studies. One potential application that I am particularly interested in is comparing results of SPIMS sampling at degraded versus non-degraded sites to estimates of sediment contamination (based on mean ERM quotients) and condition of ambient benthic fauna (based on the Benthic Index of Biotic Integrity) expressed in relation to the sediment quality targets (i.e. bioeffect cutpoints) developed for such parameters. Such comparisons also would help to elucidate relative contributions of chemical contamination vs. consequences of organic loading (high ammonia and sulfide) to impaired benthic condition (as expressed by low benthic index scores).

2. What, if anything, has changed about this project's potential applicability since the last reporting period (not applicable to the first Progress Report)? None

3. Do you see any key challenges that the researchers may want to address or keep in mind? None. They seem to be on track.

4. Does this report offer you enough information to adequately address the above questions? Yes.

5. Other feedback? None.

Name: Margaret Dutch
Organization: Washington State Department of Ecology
Location: Olympia, WA
Phone number: 360-407-6021
E-mail: mdut461@ecy.wa.gov
1) At this stage, what are the potential applications for this research? Please discuss how you and others could potentially use the technology.
Potential applications for this research includes addition of in-situ sediment quality parameters to the suite of variables measured for programs such as the WA State Dept. of Ecology’s on-going Puget Sound Assessment and Monitoring Program. The SPIMS would facilitate rapid measurement of in-situ variables at numerous locations, giving a more rapid and detailed picture of sediment quality conditions in a target area.

2) What, if anything, has changed about this project's potential applicability since the last reporting period (not applicable to the first Progress Report)?
Nothing has changed.

3) Do you see any key challenges that the researchers may want to address or keep in mind?
The researchers should make sure that the system will be affordable for agencies that operate their sediment monitoring programs on a limited budget.

4) Does this report offer you enough information to adequately address the above questions?
I am interested in knowing which specific instruments will be incorporated into the SPIMS, and which variables will be measured. Please include a list of all in the next report.

5) Other feedback?