A Smart Multimodal Innovative Model For Marine Environmental Monitoring

Abstract

Hydrocarbon pollution represents one of the most serious issues for the health and entirety of the extremely fragile marine ecosystem, thus, the strategies for its monitoring have been grown in number and complexity in the last decades. Therefore, the realization of systems able to detect the presence of pollutants in the marine environment has become extremely complex, involving different figures and integrated know-hows. This paper presents an innovative model for the real-time assessment of pollutants on sea surface based on a network of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), also able to sail the sea surface, equipped with sensors, capable of detecting volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced by hydrocarbons. In particular, within this context, an AUV equipped with an E-Nose-like system is proposed, with the sensors employed that were characterized both on laboratory bench and at sea. The results obtained confirmed the feasibility of the approach proposed as well as a good reliability of the data acquired, confirming the likely employment of this system within an integrated marine monitoring tool.

Management and Sustainable Exploitation of Marine Environments through Smart Monitoring and Automation

“…For example, forecasting and reporting of tsunamis were made possible by the development of newer buoys able to improve early detection and real-time reporting of events in the open oceans [4,5]. Similarly, the realization of systems able to detect the presence of pollutants in the marine environment (including hydrocarbons, often requiring prompt reactions due to ship collisions and other disasters) has become extremely complex, involving various technologies and integrated know-how [6] further discussed below. Stations for deep-ocean assessment and reporting of tsunamis were developed ad hoc by NOAA (https://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/dart/dart.shtml; accessed on 30 November 2021) to acquire critical data for real-time forecasts in key regions [7].…”

“…In addition, an e-nose-like technology may be integrated into an AUV in order to perform a dynamic check of the pollution status over a given area, and this possibility is increasingly stimulating various research groups because various noses are presently under study for implementation into smart vehicles able to independently monitor large coastal and oceanic areas [23][24][25]. This extension to the basic functions of AUVs was also performed by earlier prototypes [6], and it could embody an invaluable innovative contribution to the prevention strategies presently adopted throughout the world in this field, possibly establishing the basis for future multimodal marine monitoring implementations.…”

“…In addition, weather conditions and light availability may drastically reduce their detection capabilities. To this end, newer intelligent technologies primed the development of AUVs (described in the next paragraph), independently sailing over large areas and able to ride out customized or pre-loaded explorations according to the needs of scientists and administrators [6]. This innovative approach is based on signals produced by electrochemical sensors reacting to the presence of possible pollutants [22], the signal of which is immediately sent to reference stations where the signal may be interpreted and eventually converted into an alert message, prompting the intervention of specialized personnel to assure marine environment preservation.…”

“…In general terms, e-nose technologies are based on arrays of sensors connected to specific unit boards able to analyze the sensor's signals, compare their results, and compute an answer according to pollution thresholds set by the user. For some applications, photoionization detectors were employed, whose driving force relies on vacuum ultra-violet radiation capable of ionizing the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) contained in the air over the seawater [6]. In this case, the sensors do not analyze the chemical or physical properties of the seawater.…”