Detecting marine hazardous substances and organisms: sensors for pollutants, toxins, and pathogens

[摘要] Marine environments are influenced by a wide diversity of anthropogenic andnatural substances and organisms that may have adverse effects on humanhealth and ecosystems. Real-time measurements of pollutants, toxins, andpathogens across a range of spatial scales are required to adequatelymonitor these hazards, manage the consequences, and to understand theprocesses governing their magnitude and distribution. Significanttechnological advancements have been made in recent years for the detectionand analysis of such marine hazards. In particular, sensors deployed on avariety of mobile and fixed-point observing platforms provide a valuablemeans to assess hazards. In this review, we present state-of-the-art ofsensor technology for the detection of harmful substances and organisms inthe ocean. Sensors are classified by their adaptability to variousplatforms, addressing large, intermediate, or small areal scales. Currentgaps and future demands are identified with an indication of the urgent needfor new sensors to detect marine hazards at all scales in autonomousreal-time mode. Progress in sensor technology is expected to depend on thedevelopment of small-scale sensor technologies with a high sensitivity andspecificity towards target analytes or organisms. However, deployablesystems must comply with platform requirements as these interconnect thethree areal scales. Future developments will include the integration ofexisting methods into complex and operational sensing systems for acomprehensive strategy for long-term monitoring. The combination of sensortechniques on all scales will remain crucial for the demand of large spatialand temporal coverage.

[学科分类] 海洋学与技术