MRI: Acquisition of a total organic carbon analyzer for undergraduate training and research quantifying how climate-glacier interactions impact land-to-ocean fluxes of carbon

该资助将用于购买溶解有机碳（DOC）和总溶解氮（TDN）分析仪，该分析仪将位于USFS太平洋西北研究站和阿拉斯加东南大学共享的实验室中。获得该仪器将提供必要的基础设施，以量化不同冰川覆盖的流域的DOC通量，从而创建一个时空替代，以确定气候-冰川相互作用如何推动该地区的生态变化。DOC/TDN分析仪将取代位于校园外的USFS拥有的老化，无功能的仪器。该仪器的获得将使研究人员能够重振旨在了解冰川变化对阿拉斯加东南部沿海流域生物物理影响的河流生物地球化学研究工作，促进外部用户使用该仪器，并加强本科生培训。特别是，该工具将加强环境科学本科生的研究培训机会，并提供机会招募和培训两个群体（农村和阿拉斯加土著学生）的成员，这两个群体传统上在环境科学方面的代表性很低。DOC/TDN分析仪允许快速和精确的测量浓度的DOC和TDN。研究应用包括：1)确定影响冰川径流时间和规模的雪/降雨制度的气候驱动变化如何驱动该地区的溪水DOC和养分通量；2)量化目前或可能为农村流域提供饮用水的流域的消毒副产物形成、DOC浓度和降水事件大小之间的关系；3)测试DOC作为森林和湿地主导的流域甲基汞浓度的代表；4)确定从土壤到溪流的水分运动的季节变化如何控制森林生态系统横向碳输出的产生、物种形成和时间。

EAR-1726177FellmanThis grant supports acquisition of a dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and total dissolved nitrogen (TDN) analyzer that will be located in a lab shared by the USFS Pacific Northwest Research Station and the University of Alaska Southeast. Acquisition of this instrument will provide the infrastructure necessary to quantify DOC fluxes from watersheds of varying glacial coverage, thus creating a space-for-time substitution to determine how climate-glacier interactions are driving ecological change in the region. The DOC/TDN analyzer will replace an aging, non-functional instrument that is located off campus and is owned by the USFS. Acquisition of this instrument will allow the investigators to reinvigorate stream biogeochemistry research efforts aimed at understanding the biophysical impacts of glacial change on coastal watersheds in southeast Alaska, facilitate access to the instrument by outside users, and enhance undergraduate training. In particular, the instrument will strengthen the research training opportunities for undergraduates in Environmental Science as well as provide the opportunity to recruit and train members of two groups (rural and Alaska Native students) that are traditionally highly under-represented in the Environmental Sciences.The DOC/TDN analyzer allows for rapid and precise measurement of concentrations of DOC and TDN. Research applications include: 1) determining how climatically-driven changes in snow/rainfall regimes that influence the timing and magnitude of glacial runoff are driving stream water DOC and nutrient fluxes in the region, 2) quantifying the relationship between disinfection byproduct formation, DOC concentrations and precipitation event size in watersheds that currently or may provide drinking water in rural watersheds, 3) testing the use of DOC as a proxy for methylmercury concentrations in forested and wetland-dominated watersheds, and 4) determining how seasonal changes in the movement of water from soils to streams controls the production, speciation and timing of lateral carbon export from forested ecosystems.