We developed a method to measure in situ the isotopic composition of liquid water with minimal supervision and, most important, with a temporal resolution of less than a minute. For this purpose a microporous hydrophobic membrane contactor (Membrana) was combined with an isotope laser spectrometer (Picarro). The contactor, originally designed for degassing liquids, was used with N₂ as a carrier gas in order to transform a small fraction of liquid water to water vapor.

The goal of this study is to determine how H₂O and HDO measurements in water vapor can be used to detect and diagnose biases in the representation of processes controlling tropospheric humidity in atmospheric general circulation models (GCMs). We analyze a large number of isotopic data sets (four satellite, sixteen ground-based remote-sensing, five surface in situ and three aircraft data sets) that are sensitive to different altitudes throughout the free troposphere.

The Neogene Guantao formation in the Beitang sag in the Bohai Bay Basin (BBB) of North China, a Mesozoic–Cenozoic sedimentary basin of continental origin, has been chosen as a candidate for a pilot field test of CO₂ sequestration. Hydrogeological and geochemical investigations have been carried out to assess its suitability, taking advantage of many existing geothermal wells drilled to 2000 m or greater depths.

oncern exists about the suitability of laser spectroscopic instruments for the measurement of the (18)O/(16)O and (2)H/(1)H values of liquid samples other than pure water. It is possible to derive erroneous isotope values due to optical interference by certain organic compounds, including some commonly present in ecosystem-derived samples such as leaf or soil waters.

Leaf waxes protect terrestrial plants from biotic and abiotic stresses and are important sedimentary biomarkers for terrestrial plants. Thus, understanding the production and ablation of leaf waxes is critical in plant physiology and for geochemical studies. However, there have been no accurate approaches to quantify leaf wax production at different time scales.

Carbonate, cellulose, and bulk organic isotope data from varved sediments of Deep Lake (Minnesota) provide a record of paleohydrologic and paleoclimatic change during the deglacial–Holocene transition from 12,000 to 7500 cal BP.

Hydrogen isotope values (δD) of sedimentary aquatic and terrestrial lipid biomarkers, originating from algae, bacteria, and leaf wax, have been used to record isotopic properties of ancient source water (i.e., precipitation and/or lake water) in several mid- and high-latitude lacustrine environments. In the tropics, however, where both processes associated with isotope fractionation in the hydrologic system and vegetation strongly differ from those at higher latitudes, calibration studies for this proxy are not yet available.

In this study, we used oxygen- and hydrogen-isotope data from human bone (δ¹⁸O) and modern environmental water samples (δ¹⁸O and δD) to investigate geographic origins of individuals buried at Cahuachi, a ceremonial centre in the Nasca region of Peru (c.AD1-1000). Our objective was to characterise the natural variation in water stable isotopic composition in the Rio Grande de Nasca drainage, and then to use these data to better infer place of origin for 30 adults interred at Cahuachi.

Over the last century, many grasslands worldwide have transitioned from a graminoid to atree/shrub-dominated state in a short period of time, a phenomenon referred to as woody encroachment.Positive feedbacks and bi-stability are thought to be important drivers of woody encroachment, but there islittle empirical evidence to suggest that positive feedbacks accelerate the woody encroachment of mesicgrasslands. In mesic tallgrass prairie, shrub establishment does not directly facilitate seedlingestablishment.

A new technique for on-line high resolution isotopic analysis of liquid water, tailored for ice core studies is presented. We built an interface between a Wavelength Scanned Cavity Ring Down Spectrometer (WS-CRDS) purchased from Picarro Inc. and a Continuous Flow Analysis (CFA) system. The system offers the possibility to perform simultaneuous water isotopic analysis of δ¹⁸O and δD on a continuous stream of liquid water as generated from a continuously melted ice rod.

his study presents observations of atmospheric boundary layer CO₂ mole fraction from a nine-tower regional network deployed during the North American Carbon Program's Mid-Continent Intensive (MCI) during 2007–2009. The MCI region is largely agricultural, with well-documented carbon exchange available via agricultural inventories. By combining vegetation maps and tower footprints, we show the fractional influence of corn, soy, grass, and forest biomes varies widely across the MCI.

The multispecies analysis of daily air samples collected at the NOAA BoulderAtmospheric Observatory (BAO) in Weld County in northeastern Colorado since 2007shows highly correlated alkane enhancements caused by a regionally distributed mixof sources in the Denver-Julesburg Basin. To further characterize the emissions of methaneand non-methane hydrocarbons (propane, n-butane, i-pentane, n-pentane and benzene)around BAO, a pilot study involving automobile-based surveys was carried out duringthe summer of 2008.

We present a 1-year long representative δ¹⁸O record of water vapor (δ¹⁸O_v) in Niamey (Niger) using the Wavelength Scanned-Cavity Ring Down Spectroscopy (WS-CRDS). We explore how local and regional atmospheric processes influence δ¹⁸O_v variability from seasonal to diurnal scale.

Purpose  

The impact of CO₂ urban plume in a rural area was investigated by concentrations recorded near surface.

Methods  

CO₂ dry concentrations at three levels near surface were recorded for about 8 months at a rural site. Daily cycles were obtained and directional analysis was made with percentiles. Several functions were used to fit background and plume concentrations and the goodness of fit was evaluated with different statistics, which were also compared.

Gravel excavation often bears conflicts with the use of drinking water as under-water-table mining can directly impact groundwater quality downstream of the open gravel pit lake due to exposure of the groundwater aquifer to the atmosphere and to human activities. To assess this potential impact of GPLs on groundwater, we assessed the mass balance for nitrate (NO₃) and phosphate (PO₄) and whole-ecosystem metabolism of five post-excavation GPLs in Austria. GPLs differed in both age and residence time of lake water.

The Carbonaceous Aerosols and Radiative Effects Study (CARES) took place in the Sacramento Valley of California in summer 2010. We present results obtained at Cool, CA, the T1 site of the project (~40 km downwind of urban emissions from Sacramento), where we deployed an Aerodyne high resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS) in parallel with complementary instrumentation to characterize the sources and processes of submicron particles (PM₁).

The effects of sheep urine and dung patches on methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (C[O.sub.2]) fluxes were investigated during the summer-autumn in 2010, to evaluate their contribution to climate change in a desert grassland in Inner Mongolia, China. Results indicate that the cumulative C[H.sub.4] emissions for dung patches, urine patches and control plots were -0.076, -0.084, and -0.114 g/[m.sup.2] and these were net C[H.sub.4] sinks during the measured period.

The dynamics of rapid changes in carbon (C) partitioning within forest ecosystems are not well understood, which limitsimprovement of mechanistic models of C cycling. Our objective was to inform model processes by describing relationshipsbetween C partitioning and accessible environmental or physiological measurements, with a special emphasis on short-termC flux through a forest ecosystem.

The contribution of old soil C (SOM) to total soil respiration (R_S) in forest has been a crucial topic in global change research, but remains uncertain. Isotopic methods, such as natural variations in carbon isotope composition (δ¹³C) of soil respiration, are more frequently being applied, and show promise in separating heterotrophic and autotrophic contributions to R_S.

A novel sampling device suitable for continuous, unattended field monitoring of rapid isotopic changes in environmental waters is described. The device utilises diffusion through porous PTFE tubing to deliver water vapour continuously from a liquid water source for analysis of δ¹⁸O and δD values by Cavity Ring-Down Spectrometry (CRDS). Separation of the analysed water vapour from non-volatile dissolved and particulate contaminants in the liquid sample minimises spectral interferences associated with CRDS analyses of many aqueous samples.

The recent development of a field deployable water isotope analyzer using CRDS technology was used to directly measure the vapor isotopes in real time and at multiple heights above the crop canopy. This technique was coupled with additional samples gathered using conventional techniques and a new xylem water extracting apparatus developed by the IAEA.

Describes a field campaign wherein a Picarro water isotope analyzer was used to measure isotopes in water vapor over a corn field in China for the purpose of studying evapotranspiration. The Picarro sampled vapor along with a cold trap sampling system and the real-time Picarro data was compared to offline analysis of the trapped vapor.

Model-based interpolation, prediction, and approximation are contingent on the choice of model: since multiple alternative models typically can reasonably be entertained for each of these tasks, and the results are correspondingly varied, this often is a considerable source of uncertainty.

Cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) is a new and evolving technology that shows great promise for isotopic δ(18)O and δ(2)H analyses of pore water from equilibrated headspace H(2)O vapor from environmental and geologic cores. We show that naturally occurring levels of CH(4) can seriously interfere with CRDS spectra, leading to erroneous δ(18)O and δ(2)H results for water. We created a new CRDS correction algorithm to account for CH(4) concentrations typically observed in subsurface and anaerobic environments, such as ground waters or lake bottom sediments.

We used metabolic tracers and modeling to analyze the response of soil metabolism to a sudden temperature change from 4 to 20 °C. We hypothesized that intact soil microbial communities would exhibit shifts in pentose phosphate pathway and glycolysis activity as observed for individual microorganisms in pure culture, and that increased maintenance respiration at higher temperature would result in greater energy production and reduced carbon use efficiency (CUE). Two hours after temperature increase, respiration increased almost 10-fold.

For anchoring CO2 isotopic measurements on the δ18OVPD-CO2 scale, the primary reference material (NBS 19 calcite) needs to be digested using concentrated ortho-phosphoric acid. During this procedure, great care must be taken to ensure that the isotopic composition of the liberated gas is accurate. Apart from controlling the reaction temperature to ±0.1°C, the potential for oxygen isotope exchange between the produced CO2 and water must be kept to a minimum. The water is usually assumed to reside on the walls in the headspace of the reaction vessel.

In order to study controls on metabolic processes in soils, we determined the dynamics of ¹³CO₂ production from two position-specific ¹³C-labeled pyruvate isotopologues in the presence and absence of glucose, succinate, pine, and legume leaf litter, and under anaerobic conditions. We also compared ¹³CO₂ production in soils along a semiarid substrate age gradient in Arizona.

The world’s first continuous flow isotopic TIC/DOC-CRDS measurements are reported here with remarkable achieved precisions. A measurement precision of the isotopic ratio in the range of 0.2 ‰ to 0.4 ‰ was achieved in minutes of measurement time. Such precision readily distinguishes the isotopic DIC and DOC signatures from a set of three different streamwater samples collected from various sites in Northern California.

Hydrothermal fluids from two vent sites along the East Scotia Ridge, E2 and E9, were analyzed for their hydrogen and oxygen isotopic values using a Picarro L1115-i CRDS. The fluids display varying salinity, sulfate and hydrogen sulfide content. None of the samples analyzed in this work showed any signs of spectroscopic interference. Isotopic values of the fluids were combined with salinity, magnesium and silica measurements to determine the possible role of magmatic inputs and phase separation.

Cavity Ring-Down spectroscopy is becoming a gold standard for atmospheric monitoring. High sensitivity and precision coupled with low drift characteristics ensure optimal operation even in remote field stations or on aircraft and ships. However, current platforms have been limited to two or three species simultaneous observation.

The quantification of fugitive methane emissions from extended sources such as landfills is problematic due to the high temporal variability and spatial heterogeneity of the emission. Additionally, the relationship between the emission rate and the gas concentration at a given location is dependent on the meteorological conditions and local topography, preventing accurate quantification of the emission rate.

The regulation of Earth’s climate and its ability to sustain life are critically linked to water as it exists in all three of its phases (gas, liquid, and solid). Earth’s water cycle, its movement between the hydrosphere, biosphere, and the atmosphere, and how it undergoes phase changes, is incredibly complex. While we continue to gain insight into the water cycle, there remains considerable uncertainty in predicting the impacts of future climate change on fresh water supplies and the welfare of life on our planet.

While stable isotope techniques have been previously applied to partition evapotranspiration (ET) fluxes in crops, it has only recently become possible to take in situ, long-term, continuous (every 10 seconds) measurements of stable water vapor isotopologues.

Presentation Description:

The NOAA ESRL GMD Carbon Cycle and Greenhouse Gases Group’s aircraft network consists of 18 sites, mostly in North America, that conduct bi-weekly flask sampling over given locations to altitudes of 8000 m above sea level (masl). Most sites sample 12 flasks during an altitude profile, and through collaboration with GMD’s Ozone group, many conduct continuous ozone measurements as well. In March 2009, a new site in Alaska (site code ACG) was added to our network, through a collaborative effort with the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG).

A portable stable carbon isotope ratio analyzer for carbon dioxide, based on wavelength scanned cavity ringdown spectroscopy, has been used to detect, locate, and characterize an intentional leakage of CO₂ from an underground pipeline at the ZERT experimental facility in Bozeman, Montana. Rapid (1 h) walking surveys of the 100 m x 100 m site surrounding the pipeline were collected using this mobile, real-time instrument.

Monitoring is essential for the approval and control of geological storage of carbon dioxide and to judge the effectiveness of the technology in mitigating CO₂ emissions and climate change. We present a strategy for monitoring the atmosphere in the vicinity of a geological storage project that is designed to detect and quantify potential emissions. The strategy includes measurements of CO₂, CO₂ fluxes and tracers, combined with model simulations of atmospheric dispersion and ecosystem CO₂ fluxes.

Describes application and function of a the LIAISON, a new Picarro universal interface for high throughput analysis.

Describes use and methods for stable isotope-based food adulteration testing using Cavity Ring-Down Spectrometry.