Use of, Satisfaction with, and Requirements for in Situ Hydrocarbon Sensors.

Abstract

The fundamental goal of this survey was to assess user needs and applications and to provide the focus for an Alliance for Coastal Technologies (ACT, www.act-us.info) Technology Verification of hydrocarbon sensors. The Customer Needs and Use Assessment strives to better understand how hydrocarbon sensors are used, and not to promote a specific approach to recording/reporting hydrocarbon values. We hope this information can also assist manufacturers in refining hydrocarbon sensor technologies to better address user priorities. rom January 6th to January 31st, 2011, ACT conducted a web-based survey to aid in a Customer Needs and Use Assessment of hydrocarbon sensors. ACT Headquarters, Partners and Hydrocarbon Technical Advisory Committee members developed the questionnaire. SurveyMonkey.com provided the web-based survey tool. The survey contained a total of fifteen questions (listed below along with their responses), divided into three sections: Application, Specification, and Recommendations. Survey participants were divided into two groups: “Users” and “Vendors.” Users were asked to consider the primary in situ hydrocarbon sensor(s) they used when responding to each question. Unaware if any specific vendor (sensor manufacturer) had its own proprietary statistics collected already, Vendors were simply asked to summarize what they felt were the perspectives of their "typical" customers. All participants received emailed requests to participate in this online survey. To assure broad geographic coverage, regional outreach personnel at the six ACT Partner Institutions and members of the Technical Advisory committee nominated participants based on their professional interests, background, and expertise. Approximately 100 coastal resource mangers, regulatory and environmental health agency representatives, manufacturers, and scientific researchers were targeted to take part in the survey; one- third responded.