Chemical and Isotopic Tracers on the U.S/Canada Arctic Ocean Section

9400069库珀研究由这笔赠款支持，由北极系统科学全球变化研究计划赞助，由海洋科学部和极地方案办公室联合赞助。这项研究将围绕着对北冰洋从未被广泛研究的部分进行一次独特的、密集的、多学科的研究考察。1994年美国/加拿大北冰洋部分是与加拿大的一项合作努力，将有大约60名科学家在1994年夏天在一艘加拿大破冰船和一艘美国破冰船上工作。NSF资助的项目将集中在水文地理学、生物学、古生物和海冰研究上。从北冰洋几个地区收集的数据将是有史以来最早的数据之一，对于增进我们对北极如何成为全球气候条件变化的指标以及它如何影响较温和海洋和地区的物理、化学和生物特征的理解，将具有非常重要的意义。这项工作将确定人造放射性污染物，特别是碘-129、氚和几种超铀的元素和同位素比率的趋势。这些污染物的来源可能是河运的，与意外泄漏或燃料后处理活动有关，也可能来自海洋，与损坏的反应堆、武器和/或处置的废物有关。虽然这项工作将有助于正在进行的对北冰洋放射性核素污染的评估，但选定用于研究的放射性同位素的分布也将增进对北冰洋环流及其水文循环的了解，特别是西伯利亚主要河流在影响物理、生物和化学混合过程中的作用。选定用于研究的放射性同位素的化学行为将允许对污染物的来源进行“指纹”鉴定，因为每个潜在来源的同位素或元素比率存在差异。除了描述污染物的传播模式外，同时使用其他放射性同位素、保守示踪剂(Delta^18O和Delta D)以及生物修改的示踪剂分布(营养物质、溶解氧，以及延伸到NO和PO)，将有助于确定颗粒传输和水混合机制。***

9400069 Cooper Research supported by this grant is under the auspices of the Arctic Systems Science (ARCSS) Global Change Research Program and is jointly sponsored by the Division of Ocean Sciences and the Office of Polar Programs. The research will be centered around a unique and intensive, multidisciplinary research expedition to parts of the Arctic Ocean that have never been extensively studied. The 1994 U.S./Canada Arctic Ocean Section is a collaborative effort with Canada that will involve approximately 60 scientists on a Canadian and a U.S. icebreaker during summer 1994. NSF-funded projects will focus on hydrography, biology, paleo-, and sea-ice studies. Data collected will be amongst the first ever from several regions of the Arctic Ocean and will be highly relevant to improving our understanding of how the Arctic is an indicator of changing global climate conditions and how it affects the physical, chemical, and biological features of the more temperate oceans and regions. This work will identify trends in elemental and isotopic ratios of artificial radioactive contaminants particularly iodine-129, technetium, and several transuranics. Sources of these contaminants may be river-borne and associated with accidental releases or fuel re-processing activities, or marine in origin and associated with breached reactors, weapons, and/or disposed wastes. Although this work will contribute to on-going assessments of radionuclide contamination of the Arctic Ocean, the distributions of the radioisotopes chosen for study will also improve understanding of Arctic Ocean circulation and its hydrologic cycle, particularly the role of the major Siberian rivers in influencing physical, biological, and chemical mixing processes. The chemical behavior of the radioisotopes selected for study will permit a "fingerprint" identification of the provenance of contaminants due to the variability in isotope or elemental ratios in each potential source. The parallel use of other radioisotope, conservati ve tracer (delta^18O and delta D), and biologically modified tracer distributions (nutrients, dissolved oxygen, and by extension, NO and PO), will contribute to defining particle transport and water mixing mechanisms, in addition to describing the propagation patterns of contaminants. ***