MRI: Acquisition of an Inductively Coupled-sector Field Mass Spectrometer to Extract Atmospheric Trace Element Histories from Ice Cores and Assess Contemporary Water Quality

Mosley-Thompson0820779这项MRI奖支持收购一台电感耦合扇区场质谱计(ICP-SFMS)，以从冰芯中提取大气痕量元素历史并评估当代水质。获取这一仪器的学术价值和科学动机源于记录和了解当代和过去的地球系统变化的紧迫性。微量元素是重建地球-S系统过去过程的特殊工具，由于一些有毒物种是由人类活动产生的，因此是监测全球人类足迹的特殊工具。电感耦合等离子体质谱可同时分析小批量样品中的许多痕量和超痕量元素，并将允许从新的和已存档的冰芯中提取新的替代信息。这些分析将有可能查明冰芯和其他水样中的杂质来源，从中可以得出有关过去大气环流模式、人为排放、地外贡献和火山环流模式的知识。这项工作的更广泛影响涉及科学的社会相关性以及主要调查人员的强有力的教育和外联活动。学生将接受最先进的仪器设备培训，这将支持他们的研究生研究培训。

Mosley-Thompson0820779This MRI award supports the acquisition of an inductively coupled-sector field mass spectrometer (ICP-SFMS) to extract atmospheric trace element histories from ice cores and to assess contemporary water quality. The intellectual merit and the scientific motivation for acquiring this instrument arises from the urgency to document and understand both contemporary and past Earth system changes. Trace elements are exceptional tools for reconstructing past processes in the Earth?s system and as some toxic species are produced by human activities, for monitoring the global anthropogenic footprint. The ICP-SFMS allows simultaneous analysis of numerous trace and ultra-trace elements from small mass samples and will allow new proxy information to be extracted from both new and archived ice cores. The analyses will make it possible to identify sources of impurities in ice cores and other water samples from which knowledge about past atmospheric circulation patterns, anthropogenic emissions, extraterrestrial contributions and volcanic circulation patterns can be derived. The broader impacts of the work relate to the societal relevance of the science and the strong education and outreach activities of the principal investigators. Students will receive training on state-of-the-art instrumentation which will support their graduate research training.