Acquisition of a Flow Injection System and a Carbonate Carbon Analyzer for the Large Lakes Observatory

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9902853McManusThis grant provides partial support of the costs of acquiring both a carbonate carbon coulometer and an autoanalyzer (flow injection system) for the analysis of nutrients (i.e. nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, dissolved silica, ammonia) for the University of Minnesota Large Lakes Observatory (LLO) in Duluth. Both instruments are standard in oceanographic and limnological laboratories for the analysis of natural waters and sediment samples. The LLO is undergoing an expansion in faculty (a total of seven new faculty) and has recently instituted a new Ph.D. program in Water Resources. As Duluth is remote from existing analytical facilities at the Minneapolis main campus and is a natural venue for the study of the Great Lakes (especially Lake Superior), provision of these basic analytical capabilities for studies of organic carbon and nutrient dynamics in the water column and within lake sediments will greatly facilitate in-house research and education in the fields of paleolimnology, paleoclimatology and the biogeochemistry of sediment diagenesis. Understanding the relationships between nutrient availability, primary production and benthic regeneration and/or burial of organic carbon is critical for understanding the global carbon cycle, paleoclimatology and to aid in prediction of the effects of increasing anthropogenic CO2 in the atmosphere. The U.S. and Canadian Great Lakes are an obvious and globally important reservoir for carbon and fresh water due to their sheer size. Understanding the biogeochemistry of these systems is therefore important for scientific and economic reasons. Faculty and students at the LLO do not limit themselves to study of the U.S. Great Lakes but have been and continue to be involved in study of the East African Rift Lakes and large lakes in central Asia.***