Production of consensus material for dissolved methane and nitrous oxide

该项目的目标是提高对溶解在海水中的两种重要温室气体--甲烷和一氧化二氮--的测量质量。许多实验室每年都在全球海洋中重复测量这些气体，重要的是测量结果要一致，而且彼此之间要直接比较。在独立实验室之间建立共同性和沟通的一个有价值的组成部分是使用协商一致的材料，这是本项目的重点。生产和分发共识材料是一个更广泛和持续的活动计划的一部分--包括讲习班、比对练习和标准的制定--所有这些都是为了评估性能和提高溶解甲烷和一氧化二氮测量的准确性。这一研究项目将使积极参与测量溶解甲烷和一氧化二氮的国际研究界受益。将通过在科学文献上发表对协商一致材料的独立分析结果来传播这些结果。共识材料的制作将被拍摄下来，并制作成一段简洁的电影剪辑，与首席调查员之前制作的关于海洋中非二氧化碳温室气体重要性的视频一起播放。甲烷和一氧化二氮加在一起，几乎占温室气体造成的总辐射强迫预算的四分之一，它们目前在对流层的摩尔比例和增加速度在地球近代史上是前所未有的。此外，甲烷和一氧化二氮都比二氧化碳具有更高的升温潜力。尽管甲烷和一氧化二氮的测量至关重要，但全球海洋中甲烷和一氧化二氮的测量比二氧化碳协调得多。科学界正在采取措施改善这一状况，并有一个总体目标，即共同实现甲烷和一氧化二氮测量的准确度和精密度低于1%。通过该项目制作和分发协商一致的材料是实现这一目标的关键一步，因为它将促进对独立实验室进行的现有测量的评估。特别是，协商一致材料将用于评估2014-2017年期间进行的一系列相互比较工作预计取得的进展，以及对《溶解甲烷和一氧化二氮测量最佳做法指南》的持续贡献。使用一个200升的储水池，将使用夏威夷大学附近收集的海水来制备共识材料，以获得一定范围内溶解的甲烷和一氧化二氮浓度。协商一致的材料将被运送给提出请求的科学界成员，他们将提供他们的测量值以供相互比较。这项工作将通过美国海洋碳与生物地球化学计划得到推广，该计划维护着一个关于这一努力和相关活动的具体网站。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The goal of this project is to increase the quality of measurements of two important greenhouse gases, methane and nitrous oxide, dissolved in seawater. These gases are repeatedly measured every year throughout the global ocean by many laboratories and it is important that the measurements are consistent and directly comparable to one another. A valuable component to establishing commonality and communication between independent laboratories is the use of consensus material, which is the focus of this project. The production and distribution of consensus material represents part of a broader and ongoing program of activity – including workshops, intercomparison exercises, and the production of standards – which is all designed to assess performance and improve the accuracy of dissolved methane and nitrous oxide measurements. This research project will benefit the international research community that is actively involved in measurements of dissolved methane and nitrous oxide. Dissemination of the results from independent analysis of the consensus material will be via publication in the scientific literature. The production of the consensus material will be filmed and made into a concise movie clip that will accompany a previous video produced by the lead investigator on the importance of non-CO2 greenhouse gases in the ocean. Together, methane and nitrous oxide comprise almost a quarter of the total radiative forcing budget attributed to greenhouse gases and their current tropospheric mole fractions and rates of increase are unprecedented in recent Earth history. Furthermore, both methane and nitrous oxide have a higher warming potential than carbon dioxide. Despite their critical importance, measurements of methane and nitrous oxide in the global oceans are much less coordinated than carbon dioxide. The scientific community is taking steps to improve this situation and has an overall goal to collectively achieve an accuracy and precision of less than 1% for methane and nitrous oxide measurements. The production and distribution of consensus material through this project is a critical step towards achieving this goal as it will facilitate the evaluation of existing measurements conducted by independent laboratories. In particular, the consensus material will be used to evaluate progress that is anticipated to have resulted from a set of intercomparison exercises that were conducted during 2014-2017 and ongoing contributions to a Best Practice Guide for dissolved methane and nitrous oxide measurements. Using a two hundred liter reservoir, consensus material will be prepared using seawater collected near the University of Hawaii for a range of dissolved methane and nitrous oxide concentrations. Consensus material will be shipped to requesting members of the scientific community who will provide their measured values for intercomparison. The work will be promoted via the US Ocean Carbon & Biogeochemistry program which maintains a specific website about this effort and related activities.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.