Increasing evidence was found over the last years that biogeochemical process in marine sediments and in the watercolumn are highly variable in time and space on different scales. Traditional sampling and analysis largely fail to capture these variabilities, since sampling introduces artifacts and only snapshots of the dynamic system can be obtained.
The application of in-situ instruments, equipped with sensors is a large step ahead in this respect. Furthermore, infrastructure for permanent underwater observatories is developed throughout the world.
However, there is a lack of long-term stable sensors that can withstand the harsh marine environment and ideally also resolve the spatial distribution of solutes and processes.

My work is focused on the development and implementation of novel sensors and sensing platforms for our research and the application of these sensors in current projects.
Most promising in this respect are optical (fluoro-)sensors and solid-state ion-selective electrodes. These sensors allow measuring dissolved O2, and CO2 as well pH, various ions and temperature. Furthermore, the combination of solute imaging technology (‘Planar Optodes’) with fiber optics and automated image analysis allows distributed sensing with up to thousands of individual sensors.