MRI: Acquisition of a Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy (CRDS) Water Isotope Analyzer for Interdisciplinary Research and Undergraduate Research Training

该主要研究仪器（MRI）项目资助购买一台空腔衰荡光谱仪（CRDS），用于分析水、固体地质和生物材料（如沉积物、土壤、木材和植物组织）中氢和氧的稳定同位素。CRDS将支持联合学院的研究和研究培训，非博士学位。授予机构。该仪器将支持本科生在稳定同位素分析方法和相关水文和古环境研究应用方面的培训，研究人员计划在流域和同位素水文学基础方面进行区域K-12推广和教师培训。CRDS每年将支持来自15个机构的至少22名教员研究人员，12门课程的实验室组成部分，以及25名以上的本科生研究，并通过专业会议和同行评审出版物的报告传播拟议研究的结果。拟议的研究项目符合美国国家科学基金会的使命，即通过支持旨在了解水循环和地球气候的环境研究，促进科学进步和促进国家健康、繁荣和福利，这对水资源管理和应对气候变化带来的挑战具有重要意义。CRDS将使一些关于稳定水同位素应用的重大研究项目能够：(a)表征含水层系统和地表水-地下水相互作用，目的是评估水质风险（重点是砷）和可得性；(b)检查沿海和山区非降雨水（雾/露）对含水层的贡献；(c)探索集水区特征对水流年龄的作用以及对溶质和污染物命运和通过流域的运输的相关影响。其他水文研究包括对加勒比海地热水的研究——这项工作对理解和预测火山动荡具有重要意义。CRDS还将推进古气候研究，包括秘鲁安第斯山脉的古气候档案（湖芯和石笋）、几种环境中双壳类代用品的开发以及树木年轮中氧同位素的详细研究。此外，涉及植物-土壤水动力学、陆地生物地球化学和流域同位素研究的其他研究项目将受益于拟议的仪器。CRDS系统将允许正在进行和拟议的研究所需的高容量吞吐量。此外，CRDS将增加测量δ17O的能力，使我们能够更好地表征环境中的蒸发过程——这是许多水文、生态和气候学研究的关键能力。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program grant supports acquisition a cavity ring-down spectrometer (CRDS) for analysis of stable isotopes of H and O in water and solid geological and biological materials (e.g., sediments, soils, wood and plant tissues). The CRDS will support research and research training at Union College, a non-Ph.D. granting institution. The instrument will support undergraduate student training in methods of stable isotope analysis and related hydrological and paleoenvironmental research applications and the investigators plan regional K-12 outreach and teacher training in the fundamentals of watershed and isotope hydrology. The CRDS will support the investigations of a minimum of 22 faculty researchers from 15 institutions, the lab component of 12 courses, and upwards of 25 undergraduate research students annually, with findings from the proposed research disseminated through presentations at professional meetings and peer-reviewed publications. Proposed research projects align with NSFs mission of promoting the progress of science and advancing national health, prosperity, and welfare by supporting environmental research aimed at understanding the water cycle and the Earth’s climate, which have implications for water resource management and confronting challenges stemming from a changing climate. The CRDS will enable a number of major research projects on the application of stable water isotopes to: (a) characterize aquifer systems and surface-water-groundwater interaction with the aim of assessing risks to water quality (with a focus on arsenic) and availability, (b) examine non-rainfall water (fog/dew) contributions to aquifers in coastal and mountains regions, (c) explore the role of catchment characteristics on streamflow ages and the attending implications for solute and contaminant fate and transport through watersheds. Other hydrologic research includes research on geothermal waters in the Caribbean – work that has important implications for understanding and predicting volcanic unrest. The CRDS will also advance paleoclimate research, with projects on paleoclimate archives from the Peruvian Andes (lake cores and stalagmites), the development of bivalve shell proxies in several environments, and a detailed study on oxygen isotopes in tree rings. In addition, other research projects involving plant-soil water dynamics, terrestrial biogeochemistry, and a watershed isotope study will benefit from the proposed instrumentation. The CRDS system will allow for the high-volume throughput required of the ongoing and proposed research. Furthermore, the CRDS will add the capability to measure δ17O, allowing us to better characterize evaporative processes in the environment – a capability critical to many hydrologic, ecologic, and climatologic studies.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.