Low cost CO(2) sensing: A simple microcontroller approach with calibration and field use

Understanding the spatial variability of gaseous carbon flux at a landscape scale requires intensive monitoring campaigns necessitating significant and perhaps prohibitive financial investment. Commercially available CO(2) sensors may only partially fulfil the requirements of the researcher, thereby generating inadequate data. In this context we present the fully replicable designs for a low-cost, microcontroller-based gaseous CO(2) concentration data logger suitable for field deployment at scale. It demonstrates a post-calibration accuracy of 96–99% and large onboard data storage for data collected at user-defined intervals. The sensor can be powered via USB or batteries, assembled by novice users, and produced for approximately £155. Post-calibration it was used to measure CO(2) evasion from a peatland stream, environments known to be spatially and temporally variable CO(2) sources, although potential applications are much wider in scope. The proliferation of low-cost, open-source, and user-made sensors in physical sciences could allow researchers to answer questions previously unanswerable due to the limitations of existing proprietary equipment. We encourage other research teams to use and adapt this design for a range of purposes and research questions beyond carbon processing in peatlands.