Protocols for the Performance Verification of In Situ Nutrient Analyzers Submitted to the Nutrient Sensor Challenge.

Abstract

The Alliance for Coastal Technologies (ACT) has partnered with the Challenging Nutrients Coalition on the Nutrient Sensor Challenge to help address the environmental and ecological problems associated with nutrient pollution. A critical step in this process is facilitating the development and adoption of the next-generation of in-situ nutrient sensors and analyzers. The Nutrient Sensor Challenge is a market stimulation and innovation effort to accelerate the development, adoption, and use of affordable, reliable, and accurate sensors measuring nitrate and orthophosphate in water. The goal is to accelerate these new technologies to commercial availability by 2017. ACT is a NOAA- and EPA-funded partnership of research institutions, state and regional resource managers, and private sector companies that are interested in developing, improving, and applying sensor technologies for studying and monitoring coastal environments. ACT was established on the premise that instrument validation of existing and emerging technologies is essential to support both coastal science and resource management. The overall goals of ACT’s verification program are to provide industry with an opportunity to have a third-party (ACT) test their instruments in both controlled laboratory settings and in diverse field applications within a range of coastal environments, and to provide users of this technology with an independent and credible assessment of instrument performance. The Nutrient Sensor Challenge is similar to all past ACT Technology Verifications in that instrument performance will be evaluated in laboratory and field tests against reference water samples analyzed using EPA-approved standard methods. Unlike previous ACT technology verifications, however, results from these verification tests will be used by an independent Challenge judging panel in order to address all of the requirements of the competition according to the criteria and weighting factors in Table 1. Points will be assigned using weights to assess both exceedance and partial attainment of the targets. In the event that no sensors meet all target sensor features, awards will still be given to first, second, and third place performers in both the nitrate and phosphate categories