The Deep-Water Gas Analyzer combines membrane separation technology with ABB's cavity enhanced laser absorption spectroscopy technology to provide in-situ measurements of methane or carbon dioxide in waters at depth to 6000 meters.  Designed for applications such as ocean acidification, carbon sequestration, methane hydrate and hydrothermal vent studies, these novel instruments incorporate an automated gas handling system to provide real-time measurements of dissolved gases in oceans and lakes.

These analyzers may be easily operated using DC power, if desired, and are fully self-sustained for unattended, automated measurements.

All ABB analyzers have an internal computer that can store data practically indefinitely on its hard disk drive and send real-time data to a data logger via the digital (RS232) and analog outputs.  Furthermore, the Deep-Water Gas  Analyzer may be controlled remotely via the internet using suitable remote desktop software.

The analyzer uses ABB's patented Off-axis ICOS technology, the fourth-generation cavity enhanced absorption technique, which employs a high-finesse optical cavity as the measurement cell. ABB's technology has many proven advantages over conventional first-generation cavity ringdown spectroscopy (CRDS) techniques. In brief, since the laser beam does not have to be resonantly coupled to the measurement cell (i.e. precise beam alignment is not critical), ABB analyzers are rugged, simple to build, and inherently robust thermally and mechanically.  In addition, since ABB's technology can record reliable absorption spectra over a far wider range of optical depths (absorbance values) compared with CRDS, ABB analyzers provide measurements over a much wider range of mixing ratios (gas concentrations). Finally, due to the ease and simplicity of recording and quantifying the measured spectra using ABB's Off-Axis ICOS, ABB analyzers display the entire absorption spectra to the user in real time allowing for immediate system diagnostics and performance validation.