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The next generation of high technology environmental sensors,
designed to send back real-time information on pollution,
pathogens and toxic algal blooms from marine and freshwater
environments were unveiled at the first annual Beaufort workshop
held by the National Centre for Sensor Research (NCSR) at
Dublin City University (DCU), along with the Marine Institute.
The sensors were developed as projects under the Beaufort
Marine Research Awards which were launched in 2007 as part
of ‘Sea
Change - A Marine Knowledge, Research & Innovation
Strategy for Ireland 2007-2013.
Under the leadership of Prof. Dermot Diamond, the NCSR
was awarded €2.48 million from the National Development Plan
to focus on the development of bio-sensing platforms for targets
like microbes, parasites, pathogens and toxins - since, despite
significant capabilities in related areas, there is no specialist
national leader or team in this important area of research.
DCU’s commitment to advanced marine technology is timely
as the Irish government has clearly stated it intends to develop
a cluster of marine, environmental and technology projects
in light of recent climatic events.
Speaking at the workshop Prof. Dermot Diamond said - "These
awards are capacity building through the funding of a cluster
of research projects. The next generation of technologies
of the marine environment will provide information and
knowledge to realise the economic potential."
The lack of low-cost, self sustaining platforms for monitoring
water means that, at present, measurements are carried out
primarily through the physical taking of samples at a limited
number of places and times, followed by analysis at a centralised
facility. The resulting gaps in our knowledge of water quality
means that, when a major pollution event occurs, there can
be dispute about where the pollution originates and who is
responsible.
“Our knowledge of what is happening in the oceans is directly
related to our ability to collect accurate data,” said Dr.
Peter Heffernan, CEO of the Marine Institute. “Work undertaken
by the NCSR will not only allow the Marine Institute to improve
its existing SmartBay ocean sensing system in Galway Bay,
but also to take an important step closer to the realisation
of a SmartCoast network, delivering environmental information
in real-time from locations all around the coast.”
The NCSR’s aim is to roll out platforms capable of remote
sampling and analysis over extended periods of time and to
ultimately produce the building blocks of an ‘environmental
nervous system’ comprised of many distributed sensing
devices that share their data in real time online. This will
allow any sources of pollution events to be quickly located
and remedial action initiated rapidly to minimise the danger
to human health and the contamination of water distribution
systems.
The Beaufort Marine Research Awards amount to €20m overall
and are funding a variety of new marine research projects
over seven years throughout Ireland.
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