Metrology for marine monitoring: cooperation between INRiM and ENEA

The study of the status of the marine environment is typically carried out by monitoring several parameters, both chemical and physicochemical, classified as Essential Ocean Variables by the Global Climate Observing System. These variables are useful to obtain quantifiable indications to monitor the phenomena occurring in the oceans and to relate them to the changes occurring on the global scale in all the environmental compartments. In this framework, a research collaboration is ongoing between the Italian National Metrology Institute (INRiM) and the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), to support the collection, validation and maintenance of reliable and accurate databases, by applying the concepts of metrology from the laboratory to the field. Among the main Essential Ocean Variables, the dissolved oxygen and the partial pressure of carbon dioxide are key parameters to monitor the changing ocean and are largely measured in stations around the globe. INRiM and ENEA are collaborating in the measurement of these variables, focusing on the metrological traceability issues and the measurement uncertainty evaluation, also exploiting innovative Internet of Underwater Things (IoUT) in situ monitoring systems developed by WSense, spinoff of Sapienza University.