NSF Arizona AMS Laboratory: Research and Operational Support

0446861年7月该奖项将为NSF亚利桑那加速器质谱（AMS）设施的持续运营提供资金。该设施利用两台专门用于宇宙成因同位素研究的AMS仪器，自1981年以来一直在亚利桑那大学运行。 该实验室主要致力于放射性碳（14 C）的测量，其他研究涉及10 Be和129 I。 美国国家科学基金会-亚利桑那州AMS设施使科学家能够将史前材料的年代定到距今约5万年前，并使用放射性碳作为化学示踪剂来研究自然界中碳的路径。了解这些路径可以阐明海洋、陆地和大气中地球过程的多样性。 NSF亚利桑那AMS设施测量允许研究人员研究这些过程随着时间的推移，并使用过去作为研究现在的基准。 在过去的连续两年里，该设施每年产生超过6,000个放射性碳测量结果。NSF-亚利桑那州AMS设施的时间和资源平均分配给服务和研究。 这两项活动是相辅相成的，都有助于该建议的知识价值和更广泛的影响。 该设施内的研究扩大了其为更大的科学界服务的能力，反过来，服务工作也有利于新的研究举措。 内部研究计划强调为各种样品类型开发样品处理技术。未来几年的拟议研究活动包括考古学、陨石学、放射性碳校准、森林火灾、原位14 C和10 Be、古气候、海洋学和水文学研究，以及使用129 I和26 Al的研究。 该提案的更广泛影响体现在使用该设施的科学家的数量和多样性以及在这里接受培训的学生人数上。这些学生中有许多人接受了实践培训，大部分学生的分析是免费提供的。

0446861JullThis award will provide funding for the continued operation of the NSF-Arizona Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) Facility. This facility utilizes two AMS instruments which are dedicated to the study of cosmogenic isotopes and has operated at the University of Arizona since 1981. The laboratory focuses most of its effort on radiocarbon (14C) measurements, with other studies on 10Be and 129I. The NSF-Arizona AMS Facility enables scientists to date prehistoric materials to ~50 kyr before present and to use radiocarbon as a chemical tracer to investigate the pathways carbon follows in nature. Understanding these pathways illuminates a diversity of earth processes in the oceans, on land, and in the atmosphere. NSF-Arizona AMS Facility measurements allows researchers to study these processes over time, and use the past as a benchmark for studying the present. For the last two consecutive years the facility has produced over 6,000 radiocarbon measurements annually.The time and resources of the NSF-Arizona AMS Facility are evenly divided between service and research. These two activities are complementary and both contribute to the intellectual merit and broader impacts of the proposal. Research within the Facility expands its capabilities for service to the greater scientific community, and conversely the service work can benefit new research initiatives. The in-house research program emphasizes the development of sample processing techniques for a variety of sample types. Proposed research activities for the coming years include studies in archaeology, meteoritics, radiocarbon calibration, forest fires, in situ 14C and 10Be, paleoclimate, oceanography and hydrology, as well as studies using 129I and 26Al. The broader impacts of the proposal are manifest in the number and diversity of scientists who use the facility, and by the number of students who receive training here. Many of these students received hands-on training and the bulk of student analyses were provided at no cost.