The Automated Marine pH Sensor (AMpS): a high precision continuous spectrophotometric method for seawater pH measurements

Measurement strategies for understanding the oceanic CO2 (carbon dioxide) system are moving towards in situ and ship of opportunity sampling techniques. Automated instrumentation with high accuracy and sampling frequencies will enable a greater understanding of the fluxes of marine carbon and lead to a more reliable constrain on the calculated uptake of anthropogenic CO2 by the oceans. This paper describes the automated marine pH sensor (AMpS); new instrumentation and methodology for the determination of seawater pH using dual spectrophotometric measurements of sulfonephthalein indicator in a semi-continuous seawater stream. The pH values measured during a recent study in the Weddell Sea are used to illustrate the excellent properties of the AMpS. The method has an on-line precision of better than 0.001 pH units and an estimated accuracy of better than 0.004 pH units. The instrument is compact, portable and has a measurement frequency of 20 samples per hour. The instrument is ideally suitable for operation on ships of opportunity.