Optical remote sensing of the water column

Restoring and maintaining healthy ecosystems, monitoring waterway health, predicting the early onset of algal blooms and addressing contemporary problems such as fish deaths and cold water pollution requires knowledge about the water column. Existing technologies, while fit for purpose, often suffer from limitations (e.g. biofouling) which limit their performance, from long retrieval and analysis times (up to 10 days in the case of cyanobacteria), or may be non-existing (e.g. the ability to systematically measure subsurface water temperature). We propose an entirely laser-based measurement system from above the water – negating many application limitations.