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.

我们的小组研究了包括二甲基硫化物（DMS）以及其他重要挥发性有机化合物（VOCS）的海洋气候活性气体的生产，分布和生物地球化学循环。我们的目的是研究整个空气接口的这些化合物的来源和命运，以更好地了解全球气候反馈。二甲基硫化物通过产生阻塞传入太阳辐射的大气气溶胶影响地球的气候。该分子在碳，硫和能量在海洋营养水平上的转移中也起着相当大的作用。我们最近使用质谱法开发了一种强大的分析方法，以超低水平的海水中的DMS和其他VOC进行测量。该方法适合在所有海洋环境中，集中度的许多数量级中检测这些化合物，并实现了独特的应用，而其他方法是不可能的。这些应用包括稳定的同位素孵育，以测量海洋DMS的周转率，低氧水中DMS微区的检测和表征以及大气中的痕量VOC分析。 我们的新分析方法是一种强大的研究工具，具有在海洋和大气科学领域开放新的世界领先研究的强大潜力。但是，所需的仪器繁琐，微妙且昂贵，因此并非旨在处理海上研究的严格性。为了维持该工具的长期性能，并将我们的方法的效用扩展到远程野外情况（例如，基于直升机的北极采样），至关重要的是，我们至关重要的是，我们为从基于实验室的分析中解释了样本收集的新策略。我们要求资金建立一个完全自动化的气体诱捕系统，这将使我们能够离线进行定量分析，从而消除了将质谱仪带到未来探险中的海上的需求。我们提出制造定制的挥发性捕获歧管，这是一个大型且可扩展的单独寻址的商业热吸收管，从而使DMS的基于现场的收集，处理和稳定以及从海水和/或大气样品中提取的其他VOC进行稳定，然后再运回实验室分析。提出的系统将用于支持HQP培训，并使我们大大扩展基于现场的采样功能。