SWIFT: novel instrumentation for assessing benthic chemical fluxes from contaminated sediments and submarine groundwater discharge

This project seeks to develop a novel tool for improving coastal water quality by quantifying chemical transport across the benthic boundary layer, using naturally-occurring fluorescent dissolved organic material (FDOM), salinity, and heat as chemical tracers. We will use a new flux meter that implements the eddy correlation (EC) technique, employing a fast fiber-optic spectrofluorometer capable of measuring chemical concentrations with millisecond response times in analytical volumes smaller than a cubic millimeter. This combination of instruments and techniques will enable us to measure flows of organic contaminants into the coastal zone; toxic metals; nutrients; and novel pollutants such as pharmaceuticals and hormonally-active substances.