Measurements of Mixing and Stable Isotope Ratios of Atmospheric CH4 from Air Samples Collected from a Transect of Pacific Ocean Between Los Angeles and NZ

该项目是根据国家科学基金会“少数民族科学家和工程师职业发展奖”方案提交审议的。 该研究包括一系列大气甲烷测量，将提供南北太平洋甲烷丰度和稳定碳同位素组成（13 C和12 C）的断面分布。 测量的主要科学目标是确定大气甲烷的纬度混合比率，以了解可能导致其全球浓度水平不断上升的主要来源。 将分析不同纬度和船上收集的地面清洁空气样品的13 C/12 C、D/H和混合比。 这些藏品将从加利福尼亚州洛杉矶和新西兰奥克兰之间的太平洋横断面上收集。 将使用GC/FID（甲烷浓度）分析空气样本（使用加压气瓶收集），并使用同位素比质谱仪（IRMS，Finnigan MAT）分析13 C/12 C和D/H丰度。 数据将纳入现有的数据库，以了解大气甲烷丰度和同位素组成的全球分布情况。 总的来说，这项研究将有助于开发关于大气甲烷的全球信息，这些信息可以纳入评估长期趋势、来源强度和这一重要温室气体对全球气候影响的模型。

This project was submitted for consideration under the NSF Program, "Career Advancement Awards for Minority Scientists and Engineers". The research consists of a series of atmospheric methane measurements that will provide a North-South Pacific Ocean transect distribution for methane abundance and stable carbon isotopic composition (13C and 12C). The main scientific objectives of the measurements are to determine the latitudinal mixing ratios of atmospheric methane in order to understand the dominant sources that might be contributing to its increasing global concentration levels. Surface clean air samples will be analyzed for 13C/12C, D/H and mixing ratios at different latitudes and longitudes from shipboard collections. The collections will be made from a transect of the Pacific Ocean between Los Angeles, CA and Auckland, New Zealand. The air samples (collected using pressurized cylinders) will be analyzed using GC/FID (methane concentration) and for 13C/12C and D/H abundances using a isotope ratio mass spectrometer (IRMS, Finnigan MAT). Data will be incorporated into an existing database for a global distribution of atmospheric methane abundance and isotopic composition. Overall, the study will help to develop global information on atmospheric methane that can be incorporated into models which assess the secular trends, source strengths, and influence of this important greenhouse on global climate.