Measurement of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) for ocean acidification research

人为排放的二氧化碳被海洋吸收，过量的二氧化碳改变了碳酸盐平衡，导致海洋酸化。预计大气中二氧化碳的增加将导致海洋的pH值在本世纪内下降0.3 - 0.5个单位。海洋pH值发生如此剧烈的变化已经有数百万年没有见过了。过量的CO2 /降低的pH值将对海洋生物产生重要影响，包括发育，生长和生存的变化。这些生物层面的影响将反过来转化为海洋种群、群落和生态系统的巨大变化。尽管海洋酸化的实验工作正在进行中，包括在哈雷博士和布劳纳博士的实验室。然而，这项研究受到缺乏测量精度的严重阻碍。测量溶解二氧化碳的现有技术只能精确到百万分之几百，这显然不足以精确测量气候系统，预计气候系统将从今天的380 ppm转变为世纪末的540至970 ppm。因此，即使是最好的已发表的研究也不能足够准确地测量CO2，而是依赖于基于未经测试的关于气体饱和度和生物吸收的假设的计算。为了提高我们海洋酸化实验的准确性，从而了解我们实际测试的CO2浓度-从而了解气候变化情景，我们需要高灵敏度的溶解无机碳（DIC）分析仪。结合现有的pH电极和所需的计算机，该系统将使我们能够以前所未有但绝对必要的精度测量CO2。只有达到这样的精确度，酸化实验才能转化为实际的气候预测。

Anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions are being absorbed by the oceans, where the excess CO2 shifts the carbonate equilibrium and leads to ocean acidification. The expected doubling of atmospheric CO2 will lead to oceanic pH drops of 0.3 - 0.5 units over the course of this century. Such radical changes in ocean pH have not been seen for millions of years. The excess CO2 / lowered pH will have important effects on marine organisms, ranging from changes in development, growth, and survival. These organismal-level impacts will in turn translate to dramatic changes in marine populations, communities, and ecosystems.Although experimental work on ocean acidification is now underway, including in the laboratories of Drs. Harley and Brauner. However, this research is severely hampered by a lack of measurement accuracy. Readily available techniques for measuring dissolved CO2 are only accurate to a few hundred parts per million, which is clearly inadequate for precisely measuring a climate system which is expected to shift from 380 ppm today to between 540 and 970 ppm at the end of the century. Thus, even the best published research does not measure CO2 with sufficient accuracy, but instead relies on calculations based upon untested assumptions regarding gas saturation and organismal uptake.To enhance the accuracy of our ocean acidification experiments and thus gain an understanding of  the CO2 concentrations - and thus the climate change scenarios - that we are actually testing, we request a highly sensitive dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) analyzer. In conjunction with existing pH electrodes and the requested computer, this system will allow us to measure CO2 with unprecedented but absolutely necessary accuracy. Only once such accuracy has been achieved can acidification experiments be translated into actual climatic predictions.