An Underwater Methane Sensor Based on Laser Spectroscopy in a Hollow Core Optical Fiber.

Existing sensors for measuring dissolved methane in situ suffer from excessively slow response times or large size and complexity. The technology reported here realizes improvements by utilizing a hollow core optical fiber (HFC) as the detection cell in an underwater infrared laser spectrometer. The sensor operates by using a polymer membrane inlet to continuously extract dissolved gas from water.