Ocean and air measurements

Our main sensor package is the Modulair package by Quant AQ, which measures pollutants such as carbon monoxide and particulate matter. In addition, we will pull of the GPSS, wind and boatspeed from Elusive's instruments, add a flux gate compass.  This extra data will allow us to get true and apparent wind as well as the ocean current velocity.  Our instrument packages will store data onboard and transmit it to the cloud when there is cell service - probably every few days on the race.

This combination allows us to:

• Track how air quality changes as we move from urban areas past small communities and into remote coastal regions.

• Compare our measurements against sparse fixed monitors along the coast to ensure data reliability.

• Capture ship emission plumes and estimate emission factors, such as the amount of carbon monoxide emitted per kilogram of fuel burned. During the expedition, we expect to pass near at least 50 large vessels on the way north and another 50 on the way south (this is a stretch given the time resolution of this instrument package but we'll try).

• Ocean currents.  Ocean current models often have large errors.  We'll see the real thing.

Traditional air monitoring sites cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to set up, making it difficult to measure air quality in remote communities. Advances in low-cost sensors now provide an opportunity to understand what people in these areas are exposed to and identify relevant pollution sources.

While our mobile monitoring does not replace permanent stations, it provides a first snapshot of air quality along the route and may help pave the way for more routine monitoring in these outlying areas.  Sources of pollutants that we might track include forest fires, large ships and on-shore industries.

The system to collect wind and current data will make use of the wind and speed indictators on the boat, and combine this with GPS and heading data to compute the true wind velocity and true current velocity.  Although ocean currents have been well studied in a few places on the coast, for example Seymour Narrows, the vast majority of locations have not been studied, especially in the surface layer, which is most important to mariners.

We use the Modulair package by Quant AQ, widely used in research projects. While these sensors have been applied in many studies, our use on a sailboat in remote coastal waters is unique.  Our other package, which will collect NEMA2000 boat data and compute ocean current data, is designed by UBC Mech students Khonsa Nida and Ben Shen at UBC, with practical guidance from Mech technicians Sean Buxton and Mome Hussain, and design guidance from Prof. Adrien Desjardins and graduate student Will.

Monitoring on a boat allows us to create a moving profile of air quality along the entire coast, covering areas that are not accessible to traditional land-based stations. 

While a dense network of stationary monitors would provide the most comprehensive data, our mobile survey provides unique insights into remote regions and may help identify locations where permanent monitoring would be most valuable.

The ocean current instruments will fill a huge data void, helping commercial mariners, recreational boaters, and the Coast Guard.  

UBC students and researchers review the data as it is collected, adjusting or resetting sensors as needed.

After the expedition, we aim to secure long term funding for in-depth analysis, combining air quality measurements with ship locations, wind direction, and our GPS track to understand pollutant patterns.  In the shorter term, analysis of this data will be offered as a senior undergraduate research thesis project.

Will we expand to other types of environmental monitoring? Or make it an annual monitoring project?

This is research in action. Potential next steps include:

• Deploying mobile sensor packages on commercial ships to expand coverage

• Encouraging communities to install low-cost permanent monitoring systems

• Creating an annual monitoring program to track long-term trends

The project is a first step in exploring air quality and currents along remote coastal regions.