Oceanographic and aquatic: Applications of optic sensing technologies

This chapter presents a brief overview of the large range of optical sensing technologies that are used to great effect to measure our oceans and aquatic environments. These environments are important as they supply resources (such as fish and minerals) and services to both society and the natural environment (such as buffering heat and CO2 concentrations). However, measuring oceans and aquatic environments is a challenge as they are large and difficult to access in their entirety, and a wide range of parameters must be measured in order to understand the complex processes occurring within them. Here we present an overview of the optical sensors that address this challenge and give some example applications of lab-onchip in situ (i.e., submersible) chemical sensor technology that has precise optical absorption measurement at its heart.