An automated greenhouse gas detection system for carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane

温室气体排放正在推动全球气候变化。加拿大森林的农业实践和人为干扰/管理影响着控制土壤二氧化碳(CO2)、一氧化二氮(N2O)和甲烷(CH4)排放的微生物过程。我们需要一种能够同时测量这些气体的气相色谱仪系统，并配备一台100盘自动进样器，以进行高效、高通量的分析。该设备支持研究项目，这些项目调查农业和森林生态系统好氧土壤环境中导致呼吸和硝化作用的微生物中介反应，以及厌氧土壤中的反硝化作用和甲烷生产/消耗(例如，在融雪和洪水之后，在河岸缓冲区)。正在进行的研究包括在魁北克的多个现场实验和受控实验室孵化，每年产生10,000多个样品用于分析二氧化碳、N2O和CH4。我们的两台独立的二氧化碳和N2O气相色谱仪在过去两年中多次出现故障，影响了我们按时并在预算内完成所需分析的能力。我们没有能力用目前的设备分析甲烷。我们绝对需要一个现代化的、自动化的温室气体分析系统来支持我们的研究计划。为了提高我们的研究能力和生产率，迫切需要这项提案中描述的具有成本效益和坚固耐用的气相色谱仪系统。

Greenhouse gas emissions are driving global climate change. Agricultural practices and human-induced disturbance/management of Canadian forests affect the microbial processes controlling carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4) emissions from soils. We are requesting a gas chromatograph system that can measure these gases simultaneously and is equipped with a 100-tray autosampler for efficient, high-throughput analysis. This equipment supports research programs that investigate the microbially-mediated reactions leading to respiration and nitrification in aerobic soil environments of agricultural and forest ecosystems, as well as denitrification and methane production/consumption in anaerobic soils (e.g., following snowmelt and flooding, in riparian buffers). Ongoing research includes multiple field experiments in Quebec and controlled laboratory incubations, generating more than 10,000 samples per year for analysis of CO2, N2O and CH4. Our two stand-alone gas chromatographs for CO2 and N2O have failed repeatedly in the past 2 years and are compromising our ability to complete required analysis on time and within budget. We have no capacity to analyze CH4 with the current equipment. We absolutely require a modern, automated system for greenhouse gas analysis to sustain our research programs. The cost-effective and robust gas chromatograph system described in this proposal is urgently needed to increase our research capacity and productivity.