TOWARDS NEXT-GENERATION BIOGEOCHEMICAL OBSERVATIONS OF THE BLACK SEA SUBOXIC LAYER: USING HISTORICAL TRENDS TO DEFINE SENSING TECHNOLOGY NEEDS AND DEMONSTRATING AN ELECTROCHEMICAL SENSOR IN THE FIELD

Date

2026-6

Author

Ermiş, Esra

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The Black Sea hosts the world’s largest permanently anoxic basin. This study advances Black Sea oceanography by bridging the critical gap between multi- decadal historical biogeochemistry, high-resolution microsensor profiling, and the global innovation landscape. The first phase of this research documents a profound long-term biogeochemical change within the central basin (1985–2025). The suboxic layer (SOL) has been undergoing drastic biogeochemical changes in recent years. Because traditional discrete bottle sampling lacks the vertical resolution required to accurately capture the modern gradient, new observational tools are urgently required. To address this, the second phase of this research evaluates the global technological frontier. By systematically analyzing recent patent filings and peer-reviewed scientific literature, this chapter identifies a critical shift in innovation away from conventional, low-resolution sampling arrays toward autonomous, miniaturized, biogeochemical sensor networks. Applying these global innovation trends to the local observational gap in SOL, this study highlights the deployment of in situ solid-state electrochemical microprofilers as the optimal next-generation technology for the Black Sea. As a promising next-generation technology, these advanced microsensors deliver the critical in-situ, sub-meter resolution required to definitively map the tightly overlapping redox architecture of the SOL, eliminating the interpolation artifacts inherent to historical methods. Ultimately, this research demonstrates that as the vertical space for biogeochemical cycling collapses, the integration of historical baselines with advanced, patent- driven microsensor technologies is essential to accurately monitor the future climatic resilience of the basin.

Subject Keywords

Black Sea, Suboxic Layer, In-Situ Sensors, Marine Technologies

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/120018

Collections

Graduate School of Marine Sciences, Thesis