Development of a High-Precision TOC/DOC Analyzer With a nM Detection Limit

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"This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)."Total and dissolved organic carbon (TOC/DOC) are central components of the global carbon cycle, as well as being two important parameters in water and environmental quality analysis. Accurate measurements of dissolved organic matter are important for defining the mass balance of carbon in oceanic models and for estimating the sensitivity of the global ocean carbon cycle to climate fluctuations. Current practices for taking precise TOC and DOC measurements in seawater are insufficient for discerning the small differences in concentrations caused by a number of biogeochemical processes, for example, respiration, photochemical oxidation or mixing of water masses. To address this issue, scientists from Old Dominion University are developing a new type of total and dissolved organic carbon analyzer that will have significant advantages over the existing instruments or techniques, including higher sensitivity and precision. The development of this instrument could enable ocean scientists to detect very small changes in DOC concentrations in the open ocean. This data can then be utilized in carbon cycling and flux models. Following successful development and parameter optimization, this instrument could potentially permit near-continuous, unattended acquisition of underway-shipboard data. Broader impacts: In addition to the benefits this instrumentation would provide for the ocean science community, it would also potentially allow for the monitoring of organics in a variety of regulatory monitoring operations, such as in the sterilization process for reclaimed water. The professional development benefits of this research include funding for an early career research scientist as well as the support for a postdoctoral fellow at Old Dominion University.