Assessing Scalable, Autonomous Volumetric Carbon Flux for MRV of Ocean Carbon Dioxide Removal

Ocean carbon dioxide removal (CDR), with the potential for 5 Gigatons annual CO2 removals, will be crucial for removing the 10 Gigatons CO2 annually from the atmosphere by mid-century necessary to stay within 1.5-2°C of warming. The problem, however, is that commercially available tools for comprehensive MRV of ocean CDR do not yet exist, leaving ocean CDR developers, researchers, carbon credit buyers, and policymakers without the necessary instruments to assess the effectiveness, safety, and performance of ocean CDR strategies. Subtidal aims to address this critical gap by developing the Ocean Carbon Flux Grid, a technology that integrates real-time, three-dimensional, high-frequency carbonate chemistry sensing with novel Eulerian control-volume cloud-based carbon flux analytics frameworks to transform ocean carbonate chemistry concentration sensor measurements into continuous volumetric carbon flux measurements (or, “net carbon drawdown”). This technology has the potential to revolutionize the MRV of ocean CDR by offering the first accurate and scalable solution for measuring, reporting, and verifying ocean carbon removals.