Field-portable volatile trapping system for marine and atmospheric research

用于海洋和大气研究的现场便携式挥发物捕集系统

• 批准号: RTI-2021-00263
• 负责人: Tortell, Philippe
• 金额: $ 3.26万
• 依托单位: University of British Columbia
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Research Tools and Instruments
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=718823
• 关键词: Field; portable; volatile; trapping; system

Our group examines the production, distribution and biogeochemical cycling of oceanic climate-active gases, including dimethyl sulfide (DMS), and other important volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Our aim is to study the sources and fate of these compounds across the air-sea interface, to better understand global climate feedbacks. Dimethyl sulfide impacts Earth's climate through the production of atmospheric aerosols that block incoming solar radiation. This molecule also plays a considerable role in the transfer of carbon, sulfur and energy across marine trophic levels. We have recently developed a powerful analytical method using mass spectrometry to measure DMS and other VOCs in seawater at ultra-low levels. The method is suitable for detecting these compounds in all marine environments, across many of orders of magnitude in concentration, and has enabled unique applications, which are not possible with other methods. These applications include stable isotope incubations to measure the turnover rates of marine DMS, the detection and characterization of DMS micro-zones within low oxygen waters, and the analysis of trace VOCs in the atmosphere. Our new analytical method is a powerful research tool, with strong potential to open new lines of world-leading research in ocean and atmospheric sciences. However, the required instrumentation is cumbersome, delicate, and expensive, and thus not designed to handle the rigors of sea-going research. In order to maintain long-term performance of this instrument, and to extend the utility of our methods to remote field situations (e.g. helicopter-based Arctic sampling), it is critical that we develop a new strategy for sample collection to decouple field sampling from the lab-based analysis. We are requesting funds to build a fully-automated gas trapping system, which will allow us to take quantitative analysis offline, eliminating the need to bring the mass spectrometer to sea on future expeditions. We propose fabrication of a custom-built Volatile Trapping Manifold a large and expandable array of individually addressable commercial thermal desorption tubes, allowing field-based collection, processing and stabilization of DMS and other VOCs extracted from seawater and/or atmospheric samples, before transport back to the lab for MS analysis. The proposed system will be used to support HQP training, and allow us to greatly extend our field-based sampling capabilities.

我们的小组研究海洋气候活性气体的生产，分布和地球化学循环，包括二甲基硫（DMS）和其他重要的挥发性有机化合物（VOC）。我们的目标是研究这些化合物在海气界面上的来源和命运，以更好地了解全球气候反馈。二甲硫醚通过产生大气气溶胶来阻挡太阳辐射，从而影响地球气候。这种分子在海洋营养级之间的碳、硫和能量转移中也发挥着相当大的作用。我们最近开发了一种强大的分析方法，使用质谱法测量海水中超低水平的DMS和其他VOC。该方法适用于检测所有海洋环境中的这些化合物，浓度在许多数量级上，并实现了独特的应用，这是其他方法无法实现的。这些应用包括测量海洋二甲基硫醚周转率的稳定同位素培养、低氧沃茨内二甲基硫醚微区的探测和定性以及大气中痕量挥发性有机化合物的分析。 我们的新分析方法是一种强大的研究工具，具有很强的潜力，可以在海洋和大气科学领域开辟世界领先的新研究领域。然而，所需的仪器是笨重的，微妙的，昂贵的，因此不是设计来处理航海研究的严格。为了保持该仪器的长期性能，并将我们的方法的实用性扩展到远程现场情况（例如，基于恒温器的北极采样），至关重要的是，我们开发了一种新的样本采集策略，以将现场采样与基于实验室的分析分离。我们正在申请资金来建造一个全自动的气体捕获系统，这将使我们能够离线进行定量分析，从而消除了在未来探险中将质谱仪带到海上的需要。我们建议制造一个定制的挥发物捕集歧管，一个大的和可扩展的阵列，可单独寻址的商业热解吸管，允许基于现场的收集，处理和稳定的DMS和其他挥发性有机化合物从海水和/或大气样品中提取，然后运回实验室进行MS分析。拟议的系统将用于支持HQP培训，并使我们能够大大扩展我们的实地采样能力。