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How Will the Greenhouse Gas CO2 Affect Marine Life in Our Oceans?
For Dr. Jim Barry and his colleagues, accuracy matters. The Monterey Bay Research Institute (MBARI) sits on one of the most spectacular coastlines in California with Big Sur to the South and Santa Cruz to the North. But beneath this beauty the Monterey Bay and our oceans are changing rapidly due to the influx of CO2 in our atmosphere. According to Dr. Barry, a Benthic Biologist and Senior Scientist at MBARI, about 1/3 of human C02 gas emissions in our atmosphere are absorbed by the ocean, making the ocean 30% more acidic than just 100 years ago--now coined as “Ocean Acidification”.
Since 2005, Dr. Barry and his team have worked with Sierra to conduct experiments to discover just how these rapidly increasing atmospheric C02 levels are affecting the myriad of marine animals in our seas, including potential differences between shallow and deep-sea water species. Early in his experiments, however, Dr. Barry was frustrated with his low quality mass flow controllers which controled gas inputs to his aquarium tanks. Barry remembers that he would waste precious research time recalibrating these instruments almost every day and laboriously changing flow rates.
Smart-Trak Helps Dr. Barry Create Different Atmospheres in His Aquarium Tanks
In 2005, Dr. Barry was ready to make a change. He drove to Sierra Instruments, also located in Monterey, California and met with Mark McMahon, Sierra’s Scientific Product Manager, for a service question. During this visit, McMahon ended up demonstrating the capabilities of Sierra’s digital, “smart” Model 100.
In 2005, Dr. Barry and his team installed 9 Model 100s to control mixtures of O2, N2 and CO2 to his aquarium tanks. Conditions are varied to simulate past, present, and future ocean conditions. The O2 levels vary from 1% to 20%, N2 from 80% to 99% and C02 levels from 180 to 1500 ppm, depending on the desired atmosphere or ocean condition Dr. Barry wants to create. Then he measures development, growth, and physiological responses to CO2 stress of the marine animals in these aquarium tanks.
Biologist Value the Ease-of-Use of the Pilot Module
With a stroke of a button on the Pilot Module, Dr. 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 simply plugs his Pilot Module into any one of his 9 Model 100s, makes a change in the gas flow rate, thus creating another atmosphere, and then unplugs it, and his gas flow will not deviate. If he wants to change his atmosphere again by entering different flow rates, it takes only seconds-a relief from his former days of tediously changing flow rates.
With Smart-Trak, “It’s very easy,” says Barry. And this is what scientists value, time concentrating on their work, not fiddling with instruments.
Dr. Barry's Experiments Demand Accuracy
Dr. Barry states that “accuracy is essential” for these experiments. If his CO2 readings are off by just 0.1%, 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. With its patented Laminar Flow Element and fast acting solenoid valve, like Dr. Barry, many scientists have discovered the Smart-Trak to be one of the most stable and accurate flow instruments around.
Dr. Barry’s team has been very pleased with the performance of the Model 100, saying “you deliver what you say you will deliver.”
Since their first meeting in 2005, Dr. Barry and Mark McMahon have talked and e-mailed several times. McMahon remembers giving Dr. Barry a tour of the facility and listening to his application needs. That’s the beauty of working with a personal, family-owned business. We can quickly collaborate with our customers and offer solutions by drawing upon all of our resources, from our product managers, worldwide network of representatives and our application engineers.
Dr. Barry Discovers That Shallow Water Animals Acclimate Better to CO2 Variations
Through their conscientious research, Dr. Barry and his team have discovered that shallow water animals tolerate increased CO2 stress better than similar deep-sea animals and acclimate more quickly. He speculates that the continuing rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide will result in a faster rate of acidification, potentially affecting the productivity of our oceans, including marine fisheries that have great societal impact.
He is certain that this change is “the biggest environmental change in millions of years.” Sierra values Dr. Barry’s important research and his use of Monterey Bay as his precious lab.
In 2007, Dr. Barry started to use the Micro-Trak 101 Ultra-Low Flow controller, giving him even greater control with flow rates below 1 sccm/m and less than 1% flow rate.
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