An underwater hyper-spectrometer developed by Taiwanese researchers has been used to observe water quality and ecology in Australia this month, the National Applied Research Laboratories (NARL) said yesterday.
A research team including researchers from the NARL’s Instrument Technology Research Center and National Cheng Kung University’s Sustainable Environment Research Laboratories was invited by the Australian Water Quality Centre to cooperate in a three-year advanced environmental observation project.
The team took the spectrometer on its first trial in the Gulf of Saint Vincent near Adelaide, Australia, on May 7.
The new technology can rapidly scan spectral changes under water, including visible light that cannot be seen by humans, the NARL said, adding that supplemented with specialized algorithms and analytic methods, researchers can analyze water quality and growing conditions for seaweed.
According to data from the Australian Department of the Environment, about one-third of the seaweed in waters surrounding South Australia has died since the 1950s.
The cause of death for seaweed within 2km of the shore is mainly from rainwash and pollution, it said.
The loss of seaweed along the coast causes the sandification and deterioration of seafloor soil, which threatens the survival of animals and plants, as well as soil and water conservation, the department said.
The Australian government values the importance of monitoring seaweed and water quality, it added.
The research team had previously tried to use the technology to observe coral reefs in southern Taiwan, but the equipment was damaged by a typhoon.
Due to budget restrictions for marine ecology monitoring and the maintenance of equipment, the technology is not being used in Taiwan for long-term projects.
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