September 6, 2025
ICOS OTC pCO2 instrument intercomparison
In 2021, led by the Ocean Thematic Centre of the European Research Infrastructure “Integrated Carbon Observation System”, this pCO2 measurement intercomparison was conducted with 27 instruments spaning 16 differing models over a two week period. The end goal was to understand how various types of instrumentation that are used to measure ocean pCO2 compare to one anohter. Using a well-controlled tank and pumping system, large temperature variations (between 10°C and 28°C) and seawater pCO2 (between 250 and 800 μatm) were replicated and stabilized, generating a very borad and expansive comparison that far surpassed previous comparison studies in scale. The fully published results can be found HERE.
This was a major undertaking and the efforts of everyone involved. From the pre-comparison planning, on the ground activity, daily online checkins for those of us who could not join in person with Covid restrictions, to taking the huge swath of data and information and combining it all into a single concise publication that will be used by many of us moving forward to continue to improve the measurement of carbon and climate change in our oceans. Pro-Oceanus Systems is proud to be part of this ecosystem of knowledge and we thank everyone involved, especially the ICOS-OTC - Integrated Carbon Observation System Ocean Thematic Centre and Dr. Tobias Steinhoff for leading the efforts of this important and expansive intercomparison.