Three COPS and still no Arrest to Climate Crisis

OK, if you didn’t grow up in England, you might not get the joke. But the climate crisis is nothing to laugh about, as evident from the three Conferences to the Parties (COPs) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Colombia, Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia this year. The three COPs deal, respectively, with the inter-related issues of biodiversity decline, accelerated climate change, and land degradation due to drought. Sadly, to date, financial contributions of world governments toward the Paris Agreement’s long-term climate goals provide for only ~5% emissions reductions by 2030, which is far short of the 43% needed to attain climate control targets. This is especially worrying since climate change deniers are taking on positions of global influence, and adopting a Frack-happy approach to fossil fuel exploitation.

So, what can we do about it? The best we can, I suppose, by furthering environmental research and reigning in consumerism. Hopefully, Qubit Systems can help by continuing to offer equipment for environmental monitoring at prices that make sense.

Dr. Steve Hunt, President and CEO.

The beef industry accounts for 3.3% of all emissions in the USA equivalent to the TOTAL GHG emissions from Spain. It’s been said it’s OK to eat your burger provided you don’t drive to McDonalds, but a study published in Science states that the single most impactful food-related change to combat climate change is to adopt a plant-rich diet. While this could increase human methane production (and olfactory atmospheric pollution), such a minor nuisance would be vastly offset by reducing emissions from bovine belching, and deforestation to support cattle feed.

Qubit’s methane analyzers have ranges of 0 – 100, 0 – 500, and 0 – 5000 ppm, while our CO2 analyzers for atmospheric monitoring have ranges of 0 – 2000 ppm and 0 – 1% CO2,. All analyzers are supplied in a temperature-controlled case to ensure stable calibration. Prices start at less than $6000 USD. MORE

Soil can be a source and sink for greenhouse gases depending on how land is managed (for more, read this Article). Qubit’s SP1LP Q-Box Soil Respiration Package is used to measure CO2 evolution from the soil in the field or the laboratory. Respiration is measured in situ with a soil chamber placed over the soil in the field, or soil samples may be brought back to the lab and measured in a flow-through chamber. The Q-Box SR1LP package includes probes to measure soil temperature and moisture, as well as an RH analyzer to monitor soil water loss. Air flow through the system is monitored by a mass flow monitor, and an absolute pressure sensor measures atmospheric pressure. Data are displayed, recorded, and processed with Logger Pro software using a PC or Macintosh computer. The SR1LP retails for $13,500 USD. Learn MORE

The earth’s oceans are warming, due primarily to greenhouse gas emissions from human activities. This has caused mass coral bleaching events and infectious disease outbreaks. Additionally, ocean acidification caused by elevated dissolved CO2 has reduced calcification rates in reef-building and reef-associated organisms.  Qubit’s CISME system is a unique diver-deployable respirometer developed to make non-destructive and non-invasive measurements of coral metabolic rates in situ under ambient conditions. A chamber is placed gently on the coral surface, and changes in oxygen and pH are measured during a short incubation period. Respiratory and photosynthetic rates are calculated from concentration changes in oxygen and carbon dioxide within the enclosed volume. Rates of (de)calcification are measured by sampling water from the chamber during incubation, followed by titration in the laboratory. MORE

Recent Publication:

Neely KL, Whitehead RF, Dobler MA (2024) The Effects of Disease Lesions and amoxicillin treatment on the physiology of SCTLD-affected corals. Frontiers of Marine Science, Vol11 https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2024.1460163

Deforestation and desertification have long been studied using remote sensing via satellites. On a terrestrial level, the ROX and NOX boxes are automated field spectroscopy devices capable of unattended collection of continuous, long-term hyperspectral measurements. The ROX incorporates a single spectrometer with a range of 400 – 950 nm, whereas the NOX is a dual spectrometer instruments with a range up to 1650 nm (MORE). Both instruments are designed for long-term measurements of solar radiance, reflected radiance and reflectance. Their robustness and flexibility make the ROX and NOX boxes suitable for numerous applications including vegetation monitoring (numerous reflective vegetation indices such as NDVI, PRI etc.), and monitoring water quality, snow and ice. Learn MORE.

Recent Publications:

G. Traversa & B. Di Mauro (2024) Weathering crust formation outpaces melt-albedo feedback on blue ice shelves of East Antarctica. Communications Earth & Environment 5. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01896-5

H. Moon et al. (2024) Differences in vegetation index values using measurements from two azimuth and multiple zenith viewing angles. International Agrophysics 38(1) https://doi.org/10.31545/intagr/177635

B. Di Mauro et al. (2024) Evaluation of PRISMA products over snow in the Alps and Antarctica. Earth and Space Science 11 https://doi.org/10.1029/2023EA003482

Climate change is responsible for increasing the severity of many stresses that affect plant growth and crop yield. Measurement of solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) is considered the most direct, non-invasive remote-sensing method for tracking photosynthetic activity and its dynamics at the leaf, canopy, ecosystem, and global scale. Accurate measurements of SIF are crucial for understanding photosynthesis and its dynamics in the field, and may be used to monitor changes in plant and algal responses to environmental stresses affecting growth and yield, including drought, temperature, salinity, atmospheric pollution and nutrient availability. The FLOX represents the most advanced system available for SIF measurements in agriculture, forestry and other remote locations. It may be deployed on a tower or tripod and is fully compatible with Licor Eddy Covariance Systems.

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Recent Publications:

C.Y Chang et al. (2024) Coupling sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) with Soil-plant atmosphere research (SPAR) chambers to advance applications of SIF for crop stress research. Remote Sensing of Environment 315 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2024.114462

S. Wieneke et al. (2024) Comparing the quantum use efficiency of red and far-red sun induced fluorescence at leaf and canopy under heat-drought stress. Remote Sensing Environment 311 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2024.114294

L. Wu et al. (2024) Deriving photosystem-level red chlorophyll fluorescence emission by combining leaf chlorphyll content and canopy far-red solar induced fluorescence: Possibilities and challenges Remote Sensing of Environment 304 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2024.114043

Whereas the ROX and FLOX are used to monitor plant reflective indices and chlorophyll fluorescence kinetics on a canopy basis, Qubit Systems’ range of handheld devices provides a low-cost, rapid and extremely accurate way of monitoring these parameters at the level of individual leaves in the field and laboratory. Individual Plantpens are available for monitoring NDVI, PRI and NDGI (for nitrogen content). Our Polypen is a hand-held spectrometer that records the VIS/NIR reflectance spectrum from a leaf for the calculation of numerous reflective indices. Our range of Fluorpens incorporates PAM technology for measuring all chlorophyll fluorescence quenching parameters, including OJIP analysis. Data from Plantpens, Polypens and Fluorpens are downloadable for analysis in customized software. For more on PlantPens and Polypens click HERE. For more on Fluorpens click HERE

Please visit the Qubit exhibit at our upcoming conferences to learn more about Qubit’s instrumentation.

American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting Washington DC, December 9 – 13, 2024.

Society for Integrated and Comparative Biology. Atlanta, WA, Jan 3-7, 2025

Plant and Animal Genome Conference. San Diego, California, January 10-15, 2025,