Smart-Trak mass-flow controller utilised by MBARI

The Monterey Bay Research Institute (MBARI) is using Sierra Instruments' mass-flow controllers to discover how increasing atmospheric CO2 levels are affecting marine life in seas. The Monterey Bay and our oceans are changing rapidly due to the influx of CO2 in the atmosphere.

According to Dr Barry, a benthic biologist and senior scientist at the Monterey Bay Research Institute, about one-third of human CO2 gas emissions in our atmosphere are absorbed by the ocean, making the ocean 30 per cent more acidic than 100 years ago. 'Ocean acidification' is the term that has been coined to describe this process. Early in his experiments, Barry was frustrated with the performance of the mass-flow controllers that controlled gas inputs to his aquarium tanks.

After research and discussions with Sierra Instruments, he chose the company's Smart-Trak model 100 with its Pilot Module gas feature. Barry and his team installed nine Smart-Trak Model 100 units to control mixtures of O2, N2 and CO2 to his aquarium tanks. Conditions in the tanks are varied to simulate past, present, and future ocean conditions. The O2 levels vary from one per cent to 20 per cent, N2 from 80 per cent to 99 per cent and C02 levels from 180-1,500ppm, depending on the desired atmosphere or ocean condition Barry wants to create. In these environments Barry measures the development, growth, and physiological responses of the marine animals to CO2 stress.

Using the Pilot Module, Barry can change his CO2 flow rates instantly and remotely, creating many varieties of oceanic atmospheres with the same set of conditions - same water, temperature, and animals. He can plug his Pilot Module into any one of the nine Model 100s, makes a change in the gas flow-rate, therefore creating another atmosphere. When he unplugs it, the gas flow will not deviate.

If Barry wants to change his atmosphere again by entering different flow rates, it is said to take only seconds. Barry states that accuracy is essential for these experiments. If his CO2 readings are off by just 0.1 per cent, the acidity of his simulated oceanic environment will change drastically, disrupting the experiment, requiring many hours of work to reset conditions and restart the experiment.

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