1979 — 1981 |
Quay, Paul Emerson, Steven [⬀] |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Carbon Fluxes in Lake Washington @ University of Washington |
0.915 |
1982 — 1984 |
Quay, Paul |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Freshwater Carbon Cycle @ University of Washington |
0.915 |
1983 — 1992 |
Quay, Paul Stuiver, Minze (co-PI) [⬀] |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Pacific Ocean Radiocarbon @ University of Washington
This proposal is to make carbon 14 measurements on the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) cruises in the central Pacific on longitude 150 west. The carbon data are useful as tracers of the ocean circulation. These measurements, along with hydrographic and other tracer measurements will form the basis for ocean circulation descriptions and models which are the principal objectives of WOCE.
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0.915 |
1985 — 1988 |
Quay, Paul |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Acquisition of a Gas Isotope Mass Spectrometer @ University of Washington |
0.915 |
1986 — 1997 |
Quay, Paul Emerson, Steven [⬀] |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Surface Ocean Oxygen Fluxes @ University of Washington
9314687 EMERSON This study is t determine rates of net biological productivity and respiration in the oligotrophic ocean and the mechanisms that control this process. It is hypothesized that oxygen and carbon is cycled at this location in which about two thirds of the net oxygen production in the euphotic zone is accompanied by dissolved organic carbon (DOC) production and one third by particulate carbon formation. Most of the DOC is respired immediately below the euphotic zone (100-175m) and most of the particulate carbon escapes the upper ocean. Since DOM has a high C/N ratio, much less nitrite is required to fuel the biological pump than suggested by the "Redfield" ratio. Dissolved nitrate appears to be taken up in the region of oxygen respiration below the euphotic zone. This proposal is designed to test this hypothesis and study the importance of short term transients of net biological O2 production. Continuous measurements of net biological oxygen production will be determined by deploying a device for in situ measurements of total gas pressure and oxygen. The hypothesis will be tested by detailed simultaneous measurements of biological O2 production and dissolved organic matter at both Hawaii and Bermuda U.S. JGOFS time series stations, and by determining the rates of respiration and 15N-NO3 uptake below the euphotic zone.
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0.915 |
1988 — 1990 |
King, Stagg Quay, Paul |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Reu: Research Experience For Undergraduates in Chemical Oceanography: Role of the Ocean in the Global Carbon Cycle @ University of Washington
This award supports a Research Experiences for Undergraduates site proposal to provide research experiences for selected undergraduates in the marine sciences, in order to acquaint them with the excitement and opportunities of academic research and to encourage them to contemplate going on to graduate studies and eventually careers in research.
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0.915 |
1991 — 1994 |
Quay, Paul |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Isotopic Dic Measurements in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean @ University of Washington
The 13C and 14C composition of dissolved inorganic carbon will be measured in the equatorial Pacific Ocean during two U.S. JGOFS cruises in Spring and Fall 1992. The objective of the research is to estimate the rates of new production in the equatorial pacific and determine the effects of CO2 gas exchange, upwelling and biological production of surface ocean CO2 levels.
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0.915 |
1991 — 1998 |
Gammon, Richard (co-PI) [⬀] Quay, Paul |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Isotopic Composition of Atmospheric Carbon Monoxide @ University of Washington
9305795 Quay Determining the effect of man's activities on the concentration of atmospheric hydroxyl radical is critical to obtain accurate predictions of global change. Hydroxyl radical levels determine, to a large extent, the capacity of the atmosphere to oxidize reduced gases. Many of these reduced gases, like chlorofluorocarbons and methane, are greenhouse gases that are increasing in concentration. Accurate estimates of present concentrations are an important test for photochemical models used to predict the future levels of greenhouse gases and climate change. This project is designed to determine the seasonal and meridional variability of atmospheric hydroxyl radical concentrations through a combination of carbon-14 labeled carbon dioxide concentration measurements and modeling. This work will measure the seasonal trends in atmospheric carbon-14 labeled carbon dioxide concentrations, with samples collected on a biweekly basis, at a marine air site on the coast of Washington State (48 N) and at a remote site. A 2-D radiative-chemical-transport model will be used to derive zonally averaged hydroxyl radical fields that best describe the measured seasonal and meridional variability in carbon-14 labeled carbon dioxide.
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0.915 |
1992 — 1996 |
Quay, Paul |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
N. Pacific 14c @ University of Washington
In this project, the PI will collect and analyze water samples for concentration and distribution of radiocarbon (C-14) on hydrographic survey lines in the Pacific, as part of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE). Lines to be done in 1992 and late 1993 will enhance the coverage of the US contribution to sampling in the North Pacific. C-14 data will be incorporated with data on other transient tracers and hydrographic variables, and with ocean general circulation models, to determine the large-scale and long-term flow characteristics in the Pacific, with application to the role of the ocean in heat storage, heat transport, and the effects on climate variability.
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0.915 |
1994 — 1998 |
Quay, Paul Devol, Allan (co-PI) [⬀] Hedges, John (co-PI) [⬀] Richey, Jeffrey |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Towards a Model of the Biogeochemistry of Continental-Scale River Basins: An Amazon Case Study @ University of Washington
Richey Research is proposed her to consider the dynamics ogf large-scale drainage basins, using the Amazon Rivet system as a test case. The central question to be addressed in this proposal is, How does a large river system obtain and subsequently modify its biogeochemical composition? The question and hypothesis will be divided into parts: (1) How is the biogeochemical stay of the river system influenced by the land surfaces? (2) How are the land effects modified during transit through the river system? The summaty working hypothesis is that, "The quantity and composition of dissolved and particulate bioactive materials in a parcel of water at any downstreasm node in the river system is predictable as the product of a common set of processes which occur differentially according to upstream conditions of relative typography, soil organic content and texture, water and residence time, and floodplain extent." To test this hypothesis the research objectives are to: (1) Implement and carry out a field sampling program that will efficiently provide samples from throughout the basin, including from the mainstem, from transects along major tributaries, and into headwater regions of Peru and Bolivia. Ultrafiltration techniques will be used to process water across a spectrum of particle and molecular sizes. (2) Develop a quantitative model based on routing water and particulate and dissolved substances through the rivernetwork. This effort will couple the hydrology and chemistry models we have previously developed with our new information. (3) Conduct experiments to determine terrestial effects on organic matter composition. Using a modeling approach, upper bounds of fine organic material thwt exist in the fine particle fraction will be determined as will the chemical selectivity. Simulated absorption experiments will be the third test for active partioning within the drainage basin. (4) Controls on particulate export will be investigated using measurments and modeling of sediment mobil ization and routing. Isotopic tracers will be used to determine the location of material origin. (5)
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0.915 |
1994 — 1996 |
Quay, Paul |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Collaborative Research: Ams 14c Measurements During the Woce Indian Ocean Expedition @ University of Washington
9413163 Quay This project is a contribution to the US World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) Indian Ocean Hydrographic Program (IO WHP). The PI will carry out part of the sampling for Carbon 14 on WOCE lines I8S and I9S, which are essentially meridional lines along 115 degrees east, and 85 to 95 degrees east between about 30 degrees South and the Antarctic Continent. In addition, the PI will participate with other WOCE scientists in analyzing, interpreting and publishing the data. Specific objectives include study of the deep water circulation in the western South Australia Basin, and the formation of subantarctic Mode Water.
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0.915 |
1996 — 2000 |
Quay, Paul |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Acquisition of a Gas Chromatograph-Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer @ University of Washington
9601698 Quay The PI requests funds for the purchase of a new Gas Chromarograph-Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer (GC-IRMS). The PI presents three major reasons to support this request: 1) A GC0IRMS instrument, which uses a new technology coupling a continuous flow gas chromatograph with a traditional IRMS, and allows isotopic analysis on samples that are a 1000x times smaller in size than the minimum sample size required for their traditional static inlet; 2) currently their sample output for isotope ratio measurements is limited by available analysis time of their mass spectrometer; 3) and the requested GC-IRMS and two automated sample preparation devices will significantly reduce the technician time required for isotope ration measurements. The University of Washington is offering $234,950 of matching funds which represents a 49.7% cost share. ***
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0.915 |
1996 — 1999 |
Maccready, Parker (co-PI) [⬀] Quay, Paul |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Physical and Biological Controls of Co2 Levels in the Southern Ocean: a Multi-Tracer Approach @ University of Washington
9530824 Quay This research project is part of the US Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS) Southern Ocean Program aimed at (1) a better understanding of the fluxes of carbon, both organic and inorganic, in the Southern Ocean, (2) identifying the physical, ecological and biogeochemical factors and processes which regulate the magnitude and variability of these fluxes, and (3) placing these fluxes into the context of the contemporary global carbon cycle. This work is one of forty-four projects that are collaborating in the Southern Ocean Experiment, a threeyear effort south of the Antarctic Polar Frontal Zone to track the flow of carbon through its organic and inorganic pathways from the air-ocean interface through the entire water column into the bottom sediment. The experiment will make use of two ships, the RVIB Nathaniel B. Palmer and the R/V Thompson. The Southern Ocean has been implicated, by ocean models, as an important region of oceanic uptake of anthropogenically produced carbon dioxide. There is however, little data to corroborate these model predictions. There are three characteristics of the Southern Ocean that likely have a major impact on the strength of this region as a carbon dioxide sink: deep waters upwell close the surface, high wind speeds cause rapid air-sea exchange of heat and gases, and biological productivity occurs both in the open ocean and at the ice edge. The interplay between these three processes controls the surface carbon dioxide concentrations and thus the direction and magnitude of air- sea gas exchange. This project will use a combination of chemical measurements and a wind-driven circulation model to determine how deep water upwelling in this region exchanges carbon dioxide with the surface layer, and how air-sea exchange and biological productivity offset the effects of upwelling on the surface carbon dioxide levels. The measurement and modeling activities will yield a quantitative explan ation of how the air-sea flux of carbon dioxide in the Southern Ocean is affected by circulation, gas exchange and biological productivity. The model results will be used to predict how the surface carbon dioxide levels and the ratio of carbon isotopes in the dissolved inorganic carbon pool of the ocean respond to changes in circulation rates and pathways caused by different atmospheric conditions. These results will help reconstructions of past conditions of CO2 levels in the Southern Ocean that are based on proxy measurements in marine sediments and continental ice cores. ***
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0.915 |
1997 — 2000 |
Quay, Paul |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Sger: Carbon Isotopes of Salmon Scales: a Time History Reconstruction @ University of Washington
Abstract SGER Award- Paul Quay / UW The PI proposes a novel method to reconstruct the time history of the 14C and 13C/12C record of the dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in the surface waters of the subpolar North Pacific since 1900. The reconstruction is based upon C isotopic analysis of archived salmon scales. The overall goal of this work is to compare this reconstructed record to changes predicted by ocean general circulation models (GCM's) in order to better constrain the GCM fluxes and predicted rates of oceanic CO2 uptake. The proposal fits the category of high-risk interdisciplinary science, and as such is appropriate for SGER award. The most important first step is for the PI to demonstrate the reliability of this technique and thus recreate at least a partial historical C isotopic record. With such data in hand the PI will extend considerably our understanding of circulation and C inputs to the N. Pacific. In addition, the PI will be in a position to demonstrate the potential for applying this novel approach to future studies in ocean sciences.
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0.915 |
1997 — 2000 |
Quay, Paul |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Isotope Fractionation Effect During Soil Uptake of Methane, Carbon Monoxide, and Hydrogen @ University of Washington
Isotope fractionation effect during soil uptake of methane, carbon monoxide and hydrogen This proposal was submitted in response to the Environmental Geochemistry and Biogeochemistry (EGB) solicitation, NSF 06-152. It is being jointly funded by the Divisions of Ocean Sciences and Atmospheric Science. The objective of this proposal is to measure isotope fractionation during soil uptake of carbon monoxide (CO), methane (CH4) and hydrogen (H2). These fractionation effects are important to quantify so that continued atmospheric measurements of these greenhouse gases can take full advantage of isotopic data to fingerprint specific sources and sinks. This will allow for a significant advancement in our understanding of the global cycles of these radiatively important trace gases. The PI's propose to empirically measure the isotopic fractionation effect using soil enclosures and measuring air samples collected as a time-series in the headspace. The site specific data will be extrapolated to regional and global scales using soil characteristics (e.g. temperature, moisture, porosity, composition, etc.). Overall, the proposed measurements, when coupled with on-going time series measurements of the isotopic composition of CH4, CO and anticipated measurements of H2, will provide the framework needed to determine the influence of soil uptake on the seasonal changes in the concentration and isotopic composition of these gases in temperate northern latitudes and on the interhemispheric asymmetry of their isotopic composition.
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0.915 |
1999 — 2001 |
Quay, Paul Devol, Allan (co-PI) [⬀] Hedges, John (co-PI) [⬀] Richey, Jeffrey |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Biogeochemistry of the Amazon River: a Basin-Wide Perspective @ University of Washington
Abstract
98-15912 Richey
Biogeochemistry of the Amazon River: A Basin-wide perspective
This research effort focuses on synthesis of existing information on biogeochemical processes in the Amazon basin. Specifically, the investigators intend to lay the foundations of what may be the first biogeochemical river model based on state concepts of how river systems work, with an emphasis on using parameters that can actually be measured. The foundation of the model is a great deal of empirical work carried out by the PIs and others in the Amazon and other large river basins. Once the model modules are in place (basin structure, biogeochemical reactions and cycles, sediment transport, hydrology), the next level of synthesis is possible. The investigators will focus on how certain processes may control the co-evolution of dissolved nutrients, dissolved gases, and particulate and dissolved organic materials as they are transported from land and downstream. Ultimately, the team intends to test the model in other river basins, targeting southeast Asia (Mekong basin) and the Pacific Northwest U.S. (Puget Sound environs).
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0.915 |
2000 — 2002 |
Quay, Paul |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Validating Isotopic Measurements On Lipids as Paleoclimate Proxies @ University of Washington
This proposal seeks funds to support a study to test how well the isotopic composition of specific lipids track changes in the isotopic composition of water and dissolved inorganic carbon in lakes. The project will use analyses that require new and unproven analytical methods for measuring carbon and hydrogen isotopes on the extremely small samples involved. If successful, the project will provide a valuable new proxy measurement of isotopic compositions for paleoclimatic reconstructions.
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0.915 |
2000 — 2003 |
Quay, Paul |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Using 13c/12c Measurements to Trace the Ocean Carbon Cycle and Anthropogenic Co2 Uptake in the Subtropical Ocean @ University of Washington
ABSTRACT
OCE-9911913
The ocean is a major sink for CO2 produced by human activities, yet there are few sites where the oceanic CO2 increase is being measured at regular intervals over a long enough time to be detectable. Quantifying the increase in dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) concentrations at these time series sites caused by uptake of anthropogenic CO2 is complicated by the natural variability in the DIC budget caused by changes in physical forcing and biological productivity. Measurements of 13C/12C at the Hawaii Ocean Time Series (HOTS) site have been shown to provide a unique fingerprint of the primary processes affecting DIC concentrations in the surface ocean and an excellent proxy for tracking the increase in DIC due to uptake of anthropogenic CO2. Since 1995, the rate of increase in DICs (DIC normalized to constant salinity) and decrease in d13C-DIC has doubled relative to values obtained between 1990-1995. The PI proposes to continue making monthly profiles of 13C/12C and DIC at the HOTS site to determine whether the accelerated DICs increase and d13C-DIC decrease continues. In addition, the proponent also will measure the horizontal gradients of DIC and d13C-DIC of surface waters in the vicinity of HOTS to determine how much of the interannual increase in surface DICs at HOTS can be explained by changes in the advection of water masses and rates of biological carbon export versus uptake of anthropogenic CO2.
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0.915 |
2000 — 2005 |
Quay, Paul Hedges, John (co-PI) [⬀] |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Mechanisms of Organic Matter Preservation in Marine Sediments: a Focus On Black Carbon and Nonextractable Alkyl Components @ University of Washington
ABSTRACT
OCE-0002391
In this project, an marine organic geochemist at the University of Washington will continue his long-time program of research into the forms, distributions and preservation of major forms of organic matter in marine sediments. In particular, this present project has three major goals. In its principal initiative, the research team will characterize bulk sedimentary organic material by a combination of solid-state 13C NMR and other techniques. A special effort will be made to investigate the nature of the "black carbon" and the organic nitrogen abundant in sediments throughout the world ocean; despite their ubiquity, both are notoriously difficult to study. Secondly the team will study the forms and reactions of sedimentary organic matter that react with oxygen. Finally, a new molecular method for measuring tannins in the environment will be finished. Such studies are important for understanding how carbon is cycled in the present day ocean as well as in the longer geological context of burial, uplift, and re-exposure to weathering and exploitation by humans.
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0.915 |
2001 — 2005 |
Gammon, Richard (co-PI) [⬀] Quay, Paul |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Isotopic Measurements of Atmospheric Molecular Hydrogen (H2) @ University of Washington
This project is investigating the atmospheric hydrogen (H2) budget using isotopic measurements. H2 is the second most abundant reactive gas in the troposphere and is directly tied to the cycling of carbon monoxide (CO), methane (CH4), and non-methane hydrocarbons via the photochemical formation and destruction of formaldehyde (HCHO). Currently, the global H2 budget is balanced only to within about 50%. Measurements are being made of the ratio of deuterium to hydrogen (D/H) in marine locations, in areas during biomass burning, and in H2 produced by the photolysis of HCHO, and during soil uptake of H2. The degree of enrichment of deuterium in these samples will indicate the relative importance of the soil and the photochemical sinks for H2. This work is helping to resolve the current discrepancies in the global budget of H2 and contribute to the overall understanding of the importance of increasing concentrations of CO, CH4, and H2 in the troposphere. Also, if H2 becomes an important energy source in the future, it will become even more important to understand its global budget.
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0.915 |
2001 — 2006 |
Quay, Paul Thompson, Luanne [⬀] Emerson, Steven (co-PI) [⬀] |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Mechanisms Controlling the Biological Pump and Co2 Uptake Rates in the North Pacific @ University of Washington
ABSTRACT
OCE-0095106
In this project, investigators at the University of Washington will quantify the physical mechanisms controlling the rates of biological carbon export and the uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) in the North Pacific Ocean using a basin-wide general circulation model (GCM). The proposed model is operational and has already been used to evaluate mechanisms of subduction and water mass formation in the North Pacific and is currently being tested using chlorofluorocarbon tracers (CFCs).
The approach will be first to incorporate bomb-produced 14C into the model to validate its advective and diffusive fields. By adding this carbon-based tracer the model will then have been verified with both CFCs and 14C -- two tracers with different boundary conditions and time histories. Next, the three-dimensional distribution of biological carbon export and remineralization rates will be determined by using the observed distributions of several biological productivity tracers, specifically nitrate and phosphate (and their dissolved organic counterparts DON and DOP), three dissolved atmospheric gases (oxygen, argon, and nitrogen), and the 13C/12C ratio of the dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC). The PIs would then simulate the anthropogenic CO2 perturbation and utilize independent reconstructions of the anthropogenic DIC and 13C/12C changes in the North Pacific to validate model predictions. Finally, the model response to decadal variability in forcing would be examined.
There are several important reasons to choose the North Pacific Ocean as the site for a basin-scale modeling study. There are three JGOFS time-series sites that yield observed carbon fluxes and anthropogenic CO2 signals to compare to model predictions. The lack of deep-water formation at its poleward boundary simplifies the meridional circulation compared to the North Atlantic and southern oceans and justifies shorter model runs. Finally, the North Pacific has been the site of intensive chemical tracer measurements, specifically CFCs, 14C and 13C/12C, over the last 10 years.
The investigators will focus their modeling efforts on quantifying physical processes that likely control tracer, nutrient and CO2 fluxes in the upper ocean: 1) equatorial-subtropical and subtropical-subpolar exchange, 2) thermocline ventilation and isopycnal transport both with and without eddies, and 3) diapycnal mixing and the influence of eddies in the upper thermocline, and 4) the impact of decadal variability on biological carbon export.
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0.915 |
2001 — 2006 |
Quay, Paul |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Primary Production Rates in the N. Pacific From Oxygen Isotope Measurements @ University of Washington
ABSTRACT
OCE-0095534
In this study, researchers at the University of Washington will determine the in-situ rates of gross and net primary productivity in the North Pacific Ocean using measurements of the isotopic composition and saturation level of dissolved oxygen. Marine productivity affects a wide range of fundamental properties of the earth from, for example, the concentration of CO2 and O2 in the atmosphere to the magnitude of potential fisheries harvests. Within the near future, potential climate change-induced alterations of ocean productivity could feedback into changes in the rate of anthropogenic CO2 build up in the atmosphere. All in all our ability to quantify rates of marine productivity is critical to our understanding of how earth's carbon cycle has changed in the past and will change in the future.
Primary production (PP) rates in the ocean have historically been determined from rate measurements made in bottles. However, bottle measurements of PP suffer to an unknown extent from the inequality between in vitro and in situ conditions. Furthermore 14C uptake derived estimates of PP, by far the most common in vitro method, suffers an additional uncertainty about whether the rates represent gross or net PP. In a classic comparison, estimates of carbon export rates derived indirectly from subsurface estimates of oxygen utilization rates were twice the 14C-based measurements of primary production rates (Jenkins and Goldman, 1985). These uncertainties emphasize the need for PP rate determinations using methods that do not rely on bottle incubations.
Recently a new technique has been developed to estimate both gross and net PP in the ocean (Luz and Barkan, 2000). It depends on extremely precise measurements of the isotopic composition of dissolved O2. The advantage of this method is that it does not require bottle incubations. In this study, the principal investigator will use this oxygen isotope method to determine in situ rates of gross and net PP in the N. Pacific and compare these rates to bottle measurements of PP made using 14C and 18O labeling techniques. The research team will make these measurements at two JGOFS time series sites in the subtropical (Station ALOHA) and subpolar (Ocean Station Papa) North Pacific. Both these sites have 10 or more years of 14C-based productivity data with which to compare in situ PP estimates determined by this new method. The time history of PP rate measurements at these two sites, the several estimates of carbon export made at these sites over the years (e.g., sediment traps, O2 budgets, DIC budgets, 234 Th budgets, etc.), and the contrast in biogeochemical regimes of these two sites (high vs. low nutrient) make the North Pacific an excellent choice for extending the application of the oxygen isotope method.
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0.915 |
2002 — 2011 |
Quay, Paul |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Acquisition of An Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer @ University of Washington
ABSTRACT
OCE-0220868
Under this award, NSF will provide funding to the University of Washington to purchase a Finnigan MAT 253 Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer to replace the existing again instrument in the university's Stable Isotope Laboratory.
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0.915 |
2002 — 2006 |
Quay, Paul Devol, Allan (co-PI) [⬀] Hedges, John (co-PI) [⬀] Richey, Jeffrey |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Carbon Dioxide Evasion From Fluvial Environments of Amazonia: a Major Sink For Terrestrially Fixed Carbon and Tracer of Ecosystem Processes @ University of Washington
Determining the fate of CO2 has important consequences to the environment. Forests, particularly in the wet tropics may be very large carbon sinks. Recent evidence suggests that the Amazon may be a net sink of atmospheric CO2, storing 1-9 Mg C / ha/ yr. This project seeks to understand the role of CO2 outgassing, or evasion, from the Amazon River system in the carbon cycle of this important mosit tropical forest ecosystem. The working hypothesis of this research is that CO2 evasion returns as much carbon to the atmosphere as is sequestered in upland forests on an interannual basis. Export of organic material from upland forests to fluvial environments is the primary source of carbon that is eventually respired in rivers and evaded as CO2. The field work associated with this project will samplecharacteristic sub-basins of the Amazon to determine the spatial and temporal variation in CO emission. The 3-year project will be a joint effort between researchers at the University of Washington and the Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura and will model whole ecosystem carbon flux of the Amazon River system.
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0.915 |
2002 — 2006 |
Quay, Paul Mantua, Nathan Francis, Robert (co-PI) [⬀] Schindler, Daniel [⬀] |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Patterns of Variability in Alaskan Salmon Populations and Their Ecosystems During the Last Five Centuries @ University of Washington
Understanding the causes and manifestations of biological variability over long time scales remains a critical and elusive goal for ecosystem ecology. In the Northeast Pacific, long-term variation in atmosphere-ocean coupling appears to have organized biological production into a series of distinct interdecadal regimes during the last century. For instance, up to three-fold changes in salmon fishery catches in the Alaska Current were coindicent with shifts between interdecadal climate regimes. Despite this enormous temporal variability in fish population dynamics, we have only a weak understanding of the long-term climatic drivers that control biological productivity in this vast and important ecosystem. A key hypothesis proposes that the main drivers of biological change in the Northeast Pacific involve the interactive effects of pan-Pacific, bi-decadal and penta-decadal climate oscillations. Historical records of biological productivity prior to the 20th century have not been established for the Alaskan Current domain of the Northeast Pacific; their absence represents a major impediment towards understanding the temporal organization of biological productivity in this ecosystem. Here, the investigators propose to quantify the fundamental modes and magnitude of interdecadal variability in sockeye salmon populations of the Alaska Current during the last 500 years, to improve our understanding of the critical sources of temporal organization in the Northeast Pacific.
These scientists will use paleoecology to characterize the long-term patterns of biological variability in the Alaskan Current domain of the Northeast Pacific. Specifically, they will infer historical changes in populations of sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) by tracking variation of a natural geochemical tracer (15N) that accumulates in the sediments of spawning lakes in proportion to salmon density. High resolution dating of sedimentary sequences will be accomplished through detailed radio-isotope analyses of sediments and by identifying volcanic ash layers with known ages. Existing 35-to-100 year long historical records of salmon population dynamics, climatic conditions, and lake production will enable them to calibrate sedimentary chronologies of geochemical and biological markers. They will also use carbon stable isotopes and fossil algal pigments from sediments to quantify the impact of salmon-derived nutrients on lake productivity. They will use spectral analysis and temporal domain time-series models to quantify the frequency, duration, and magnitude of historical shifts in fish production, and how these relate to independent proxies of paleoclimatic conditions. They will then apply the time-series models developed from sedimentary and other existing paleoclimate records to forecast future changes in the biological productivity of the Northeast Pacific for the next century.
This synthesis of new and existing data will provide a high-resolution, concrete description of the long-term variability in the biological productivity of the Alaska Current domain of the Northeast Pacific. They will test the hypothesis that the biological productivity within this oceanic domain has been synchronized by inter-decadal climate regimes associated with bidecadal and pentadecadal climate oscillations. These data will provide the information needed to investigate the spatial and temporal coupling of biological productivity to climate oscillations throughout the Northeast Pacific. In particular, our work will provide the data needed to test the hypothesis that biological productivity in the Alaska and California current domains of the Northeast Pacific respond synchronously, but out of phase, to interdecadal climatic forcing. The synthesis of historical- and paleo-indicators of oceanic conditions, climatic conditions, and biological productivity will place the recent century of ecosystem dynamics in a substantially longer temporal context than is currently available. This knowledge will provide a scientific basis for adapting management to the time scales relevant to the coastal marine, freshwater and riparian ecosystems of the Northeast Pacific.
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0.915 |
2003 — 2007 |
Quay, Paul |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Time-Series Measurements of the 13c/12c of Dissolved Inorganic Carbon @ University of Washington
ABSTRACT
OCE-0327006
The 13C/12C isotopic ratio of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) has been shown to be a very useful tracer of anthropogenic CO2 uptake in the ocean (Quay et al., 1992; Heimann and Maier-Reimer, 1996; Sonnerup et al., 2000; Quay et al., 2003). Seasonal changes in the d13C of DIC, coupled with corresponding changes in DIC concentration and pCO2, have been used to close the surface ocean.s carbon budget (Zhang and Quay, 1997; Gruber et al., 1998, Quay and Stutsman, in press). Time- series measurements of d13C, DIC and pCO2, therefore, allow one to separate biological from physical causes for interannual variations in the rate of oceanic CO2 uptake as Gruber et al. (2002) recently demonstrated at BATS. Despite these advantages, there are only two sites in the subtropical N. Atlantic (BATS) and N. Pacific (HOT) oceans where such records exist. This lack of ocean time series records has severely limited our ability to understand the causes of interannual variations in the ocean uptake of anthropogenic CO2 (Quay, 2002). In stark contrast, continuous records of atmospheric CO2 and d13C are being measured at over 100 sites.
In this project, researchers at the University of Washington will initiate monthly d13C measurements at a third time-series site (ESTOC) in the eastern subtropical N. Atlantic. The d13C record at ESTOC, which will complement on-going measurements of DIC, pCO2 and alkalinity at the site, offers a very useful comparison to the BATS d13C record. Gruber et al. (2002) concluded that interannual variations in CO2 uptake at Bermuda correlated strongly with sea surface temperature (SST) and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index of atmospheric circulation. They used their d13C record at BATS to conclude that interannual variations in the rate of net community production (NCP) correlated with NAO. The researchers of this project intend to use the proposed d13C measurements at ESTOC to calculate NCP and determine whether interannual variations in the eastern subtropical N. Atlantic correlate with variations at Bermuda.
The research team will also continue its program of d13C measurements at HOT. Our decade-long d13C record at HOT shows that the d13C decrease rate in the surface ocean has doubled since 1995. The DIC increase rate has tripled since 1995. However, this apparent acceleration of anthropogenic CO2 uptake and d13C decrease occurred during a period (post 1998) when salinity is the highest ever measured at HOT and summertime SST has decreased significantly. These dramatic changes at HOT correlate with a shift in the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) climate index in 1998 from positive (since the late 1970s) to negative. This correlation suggests that changes in physical forcing (e.g., thermocline depth, mixed layer depth, gyre circulation rates) in the N. Pacific may have changed the subtropical ocean.s carbon budget. If so, the situation at HOT may be similar to that found by Gruber et al. (2002) at Bermuda. The team intends to use d13C measurements at HOT to determine whether the accelerated DIC increase is a result of changes in the NCP rate at HOT.
The proposed research addresses a major societal issue, that is, how natural variability affects the ocean.s uptake of anthropogenically produced CO2. The largest single human-controlled factor in future climate change is the production of CO2 from fossil fuel combustion and deforestation. The research is expected to yield an ocean d13C data set that will be made available to the broad scientific community and serve as a useful validation test for models predicting future atmospheric CO2 concentrations. The proposed research addresses one of the specific goals of the US Carbon Cycle Science Plan (1999), that is, to better quantify and understand the uptake of anthropogenic CO2 in the oceans. The proposed work enhances infrastructure for research and education in two ways. It establishes collaboration with scientists at the Universidad de Las Palmas in the Grand Canary Islands studying the ocean's carbon cycle. It tests equipment that could be broadly used by the oceanographic community to remotely collect seawater samples for carbon analysis.
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0.915 |
2005 — 2009 |
Quay, Paul |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
In-Situ Rates of Gross Primary Production, Respiration, and Net Community Production in the Subtropical N. Pacific @ University of Washington
ABSTRACT
OCE-0525843
Rates of primary production, community respiration, and net community production in the ocean are crucial underpinnings to understand the biological pump of carbon from the atmosphere to the deep sea. However, the inherent deficiencies with bottle incubation methods, especially the mismatch between the timescales of bottle incubations and the response of biological communities to changing conditions in the water column, has fueled an ongoing debate whether oligotrophic regions of the ocean are net autotrophic or heterotrophic. Since the in vitro techniques can miss episodes of high productivity, the inherent potential bias in bottle incubation methods is towards heterotrophy. A newly developed method, the oxygen isotope method (OIM) has the advantage of not requiring bottle incubations and thus is not sensitive to the in vitro versus in situ uncertainty inherent to the 14C and O2 bottle incubation methods traditionally used to estimate primary production and net community production in the ocean. Second, the OIM yields rates that integrate over the 10-20 day residence time of O2 in the mixed layer which means that the OIM is much less likely to miss primary production events compared to incubation methods.
In this study, a researcher from the University of Washington will use the OIM to improve our understanding of the temporal variability in primary production and net community production, and test the hypothesis of oceanic heterotrophy by estimating monthly rates of in situ gross primary production, community respiration, and net community production off Hawaii at station ALOHA using measurements of the natural abundance of oxygen isotopes and the ratio of dissolved O2/Ar gases. Based on the investigator's initial oxygen isotope and O2/Ar measurements at station ALOHA, in situ gross primary production measured by the oxygen isotope method was on average more than twice the 14C-based estimates of primary production. Annually integrated in situ gross primary production and net community production rates at ALOHA are therefore expected to exceed the in vitro rates of gross primary production and net community production and indicate net autotrophy. If so, this would be positive test of the hypothesis. Along with the OIM measurements, the PI will compare the OIM-based rates of gross primary production and net community production to independent primary production estimates determined from 14C bottle incubations, Fast Repetition Rate Fluorometry measurements, a bio-optical model, a continuous record of surface layer in situ O2 measured by a moored O2 sensor and satellite-based estimates of variability in chlorophyll and primary production to provide a complete intercalibration with extant techniques for primary production measurements.
Concerning the broader impacts, the proposed research will improve estimates of the ocean's biological pump, which if it should change in response to global warming, would affect the rate of atmospheric CO2 build-up. The proposed research will add a significant dataset of monthly estimates of primary production and net community production in the subtropical N. Pacific that can be used by the broad oceanographic community and compared to the decade-long dataset of 14C-primary production measured at ALOHA. There will be both undergraduate and graduate student involvement in the project. Equipment infrastructure will be enhanced through the automation of the isotope sample preparation system.
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0.915 |
2006 — 2010 |
Emerson, Steven [⬀] Eriksen, Charles (co-PI) [⬀] Quay, Paul |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Collaborative Reserach: Mechanisms Controlling Upper Ocean Carbon Fluxes in the North Pacific @ University of Washington
The annual CO2 flux into the ocean north of 14 degN in the Pacific is about equal to the annual flux to the atmosphere from the Equatorial Pacific (14 degN to 14 degS). The strongest region of CO2 uptake in the north Pacific is at the subtropical subarctic front. Although thermodynamic processes primarily control the air-sea CO2 flux in the subtropics, biological and physical mechanisms are much more important at the front and in the subarctic Pacific. Based on current understanding, it is uncertain whether alterations to these physical and biological processes in response to climate change could transform the north Pacific into a stronger source or even into a sink for anthropogenic CO2.
In this research, PIs from the University of Washington and Oregon State University, in close collaboration with scientists from NOAA's Pacific Marine Ecosystems Laboratory, will conduct field studies combined with satellite observations and a modeling investigation to identify the mechanisms controlling the air-sea CO2 flux at the subtropical subarctic front and in the eastern basin of the subarctic Pacific. The field studies comprise three separate components: (1) measurement of pCO2 and oxygen isotope tracers of biological productivity (delta17O, O2/Ar) using a Volunteer Observation Ship (VOS) that crosses the Pacific every other month; (2) determination of carbon fluxes and depth distributions not possible from a VOS using a research cruise between Hawaii and Seattle, and (3) in situ, continuous measurement of T, S, O2, chlorophyll, pCO2 and pH on a surface mooring in the eastern subarctic Pacific at Ocean Station P while simultaneously measuring the four dimensional distribution of T, S, and O2 using a Seaglider survey of the area. These autonomous measurements are focused on identifying the role of intermittency in the biological pump. The field observations will be placed in context by a study of satellite products that identify the role of intermittent forcing (e.g. sea-surface height, atmospheric dust levels) and subsequent productivity events (e.g. ocean color, coccolithophorid blooms). A circulation model of the north Pacific that includes modules for the biological ecosystem and the carbonate chemistry will be combined with the field and satellite data to help distinguish the importance of physical and biological processes in controlling the pCO2 of surface waters at the frontal region.
The most obvious broader impact is the participation of 10 - 15 undergraduate and graduate students on a research expedition between Hawaii and Seattle as part of a course for students of Oceanography at the University of Washington. This research will also support two and one half graduate students who will use the data derived here to complete their Ph.D. research. A greater understanding of carbon cycling in this critically important regime will provide societal benefits.
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0.915 |
2007 — 2012 |
Quay, Paul |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Primary Production Rates in the N. Atlantic For O2 Isotopes and O2/Ar @ University of Washington
Because of the mounting evidence that the ocean's biological pump changes with natural climate shifts, a major task of oceanographers over the coming decade is to separate natural from anthropogenic shifts in the strength of the ocean's biological pump. Despite its global importance, the ocean's biological pump rate is not really well known. Variability of primary production rates on short time and space scales makes difficult the accurate measurement of rates using traditional 14C-based methods. There is a clear need to use alternative primary production rate measurement methods that are more accurate, less time consuming to apply and can integrate over longer time/space scales. In this research, a scientist from the University of Washington will determine, on a detailed spatial and temporal scale, the annual cycle of gross primary production and net community production rates across the subarctic N. Atlantic Ocean. He will make almost monthly measurements (~50/month over 3 years) of both the triple isotopic composition of dissolved oxygen gas (17') and the dissolved oxygen and argon gas ratio (O2/Ar) on surface seawater samples collected during repeated container ship crossings of the N. Atlantic with ~1' of longitude resolution across the basin. These sample collections will be made as part of the CARBOOCEAN program through a collaboration with researchers at U. Kiel. Additionally, in collaboration with another NSF-funded expedition, he will measure the same rates in the subarctic N. Atlantic in Spring 2008 where floats, seagliders and satellites will be used to examine the biological response during the spring bloom to mesoscale physical forcing (e.g. fronts, storms, eddies). This suite of measurements will permit determination of the annual cycle of gross primary production and net community production across the subarctic N. Atlantic Ocean, clarify the impact that spatial and temporal variations of net community production have on surface pCO2 levels and net air-sea CO2 uptake, and examine the relationship between mesoscale variability in primary production rates and physical forcing during the spring bloom in the N. Atlantic.
The broader impacts of the proposed research include helping to improve predictions of future global warming due to atmospheric CO2 increases. The proposed work involves a substantial collaboration with the European oceanographic community and will support an undergraduate student in the research.
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0.915 |
2009 — 2012 |
Quay, Paul Sonnerup, Rolf |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Us Geotraces N. Atlantic: Measuring the δ13c-Dic Distribution and Quantifying the Impact of Organic Matter Export On δ13c, Nutrients and Biologically Active Trace Metals. @ University of Washington
This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
In this project, researchers at the University of Washington will address two of the overriding goals of the GEOTRACES program: advancing our understanding of the processes that control trace element distributions in the ocean, and understanding the processes that control the concentrations of geochemical species used for proxies of the past ocean environment. The overall goal is to improve our ability to use trace element and del13C proxies as indicators of past changes in ocean circulation and carbon cycling.
The research has three components: (1) to measure the 13C/12C of the dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) during the GEOTRACES cruise in the North Atlantic Ocean; (2) to estimate the rate of organic matter (OM) export from the surface layer; and (3) to quantify the impact that air-sea CO2 gas exchange, OM export, remineralization and circulation have on the modern distributions of bioactive trace elements, del 13C-DIC and nutrients in the Atlantic Ocean. Del13C-DIC will be measured at all stations for a total of ca. 600 samples with particular emphasis on improving the sampling coverage in intermediate waters and deep sea. Additionally, the team will measure the dissolved O2/Ar gas ratio in the surface layer using discrete and underway measurements.
The rates of OM export will be determined using two approaches. The first method relies on the air-sea disequilibrium of the ä13C-DIC; the second method relies on the air-sea disequilibrium of the dissolved oxygen gas. Air-sea gas exchange rates will be estimated from satellite-based wind speeds. The goal of this part of the project is to improve our understanding of the impact of OM export on bioactive trace elements.
Broader Impacts. This project is part of an international scientific program (GEOTRACES) and, thus, the data and research results will be broadly distributed to the international oceanographic community. Additionally, the results will be incorporated into the principal investigator's teaching curricula, specifically in an undergraduate course entitled Climatic Extremes and graduate course entitled Isotope Biogeochemistry. Third, there will be active undergraduate participation in preparing samples for del13C-DIC analyses during this project. Lastly, there are clear societal benefits from the GEOTRACES program goals that will improve predictions of future climate change under increasing atmospheric CO2 levels.
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0.915 |
2011 — 2013 |
Quay, Paul |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Rapid: Us Geotraces N. Atlantic: Measuring the 13c-Dic Distribution and Quantifying the Impact of Organic Matter Export On 13c, Nutrients and Biologically Active Trace Metals @ University of Washington
With funding through a Grant for Rapid Response Research (RAPID), a research team at the University of Washington will participate in an originally unplanned oceanographic cruise in autumn 2011, as part of the U.S. GEOTRACES North Atlantic campaign to study carbon and oxygen isotopic signatures in the oceanic water column. The original, incomplete cruise (in autumn 2010) was terminated prematurely because of failure of the ship's propulsion system. The forthcoming follow-up cruise in 2011 will follow a track between Woods Hole, MA and Cape Verde Islands. These RAPID funds are being will cover only the costs of preparing for sample collection during the future cruise and not for laboratory analysis of the seawater samples or synthesis of the data.
This team, originally supported through an ARRA award, will measure the same seawater characteristics on the future cruise as was proposed for the original cruise -- that is, the 13C/12C of dissolved inorganic carbon and the concentration of dissolved O2 and Ar gases. The scientific objectives have not changed; namely, they will quantify the rate of organic matter (OM) export using two separate methods that rely on the measured air-sea disequilibrium for del-13C and for dissolved O2 gas. The team will also determine the impact that OM export and its subsequent remineralization on the relationship between bioactive trace elements (BTE), del-13C-DIC and nutrient relationships in surface waters and at depth.
Broader Impacts: Because these ocean carbon system data will become part of a multi-investigator international study, they will be made available to a worldwide community involved in the study of ocean chemistry and its relationship to global climatic change. Project results will also be incorporated into the principal investigator's teaching curricula, and the project itself will make provision for the participation of idergraduate students in the laboratory analytical work.
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0.915 |
2012 — 2016 |
Quay, Paul |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Us Geotraces Pacific: Measuring the D13c-Dic Distribution and Quantifying the Impact of Organic Matter Export On D13c, Nutrients and Trace Metals @ University of Washington
The international GEOTRACES program has two major goals: (1) to determine global ocean distributions of selected trace elements and isotopes and evaluate the sources, sinks, and internal cycling of these species to characterize more completely the physical, chemical and biological processes regulating their distributions; and (2) to understand the processes that control the concentrations of geochemical species used for proxies of the past environment. Because the cycling of trace elements and isotopes in the sea is intimately connected with both the organic and the inorganic biogeochemical transformations of carbon, the achievement of the goals of GEOTRACES would be very difficult if not impossible unless synoptic measurements are also made on the organic and inorganic marine carbon system.
In this project, researchers at the University of Washington will participate in the U.S.GEOTRACES Pacific campaign in 2013 to characterize the regional ocean carbon system. They will use two approaches. First, they will measure the depth distribution of the 13C/12C stable carbon isotopic ratio of the dissolved inorganic carbon (del13C), which has been designated in the international GEOTRACES Science Plan as a key parameter and has the highest measurement priority. Second, they will estimate the rate of organic matter (OM) export from the surface layer based on dissolved O2/Ar gas ratios. Measurements of del13C will be made at about 22 stations for a total of ~525 samples. Additionally, they will measure the dissolved O2/Ar gas ratio at ~5 km spatial resolution in the surface layer using an underway measurement method that has been used extensively in other oceanic regions.
The cruise track will cross a wide range of biological productivity regimes from the coastal upwelling zone off Peru to the oligotrophic gyre surrounding Tahiti. The proposed high resolution O2/Ar-based OM export rates should clearly detect the expected offshore decrease in OM export and locate transition zones or fronts in productivity. The expected large offshore productivity gradient will provide the opportunity to determine the impact of OM export from the surface layer and OM degradation at depth on upper ocean depth distribution of del13C, trace elements (TEs), O2 and nutrients along the section.
The initial del13C and TE measurements during GEOTRACES illustrate the potential to improve our understanding of the processes that control del13C, TEs and nutrient distributions in the modern ocean and, as a result, improve the utility of del13C and TEs as tracers of past changes in the ocean circulation and carbon cycling, which is a long term goal of this research.
Broader Impacts. The data and research results will be broadly distributed to the international oceanographic and paleoclimate communities and incorporated into the PI's graduate and undergraduate teaching curricula. Additionally, there will be active undergraduate participation (5 students currently) in preparing samples for del13C analyses.
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0.915 |
2013 — 2016 |
Quay, Paul |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Closing the Surface Ocean Co2 Budget in the N Pacific Using Underway 13c/12c, Pco2, Dic and O2/Ar Measurements @ University of Washington
A fundamental question facing oceanographers is how the ocean carbon cycle will respond to future climate change and how this response will feed back on atmospheric CO2 levels, ocean acidification and climate. The response of the ocean carbon cycle to climate change will involve interactions between physical, biological and chemical processes. Yet for the most of the world ocean we do not understand well the links between these processes often because of a lack of observations. As a result, the magnitude or even direction of change expected for the ocean carbon cycle in the future is unclear. Furthermore, the lack of observations prevents us from validating carbon cycle models used to predict future changes in atmospheric and oceanic CO2 levels. The Ocean Carbon and Climate Change report (OCCC, 2004) specifically identified the North Pacific Ocean as a high priority region for focusing studies of the processes controlling ocean-atmosphere carbon fluxes.
In this project, a research team at the University of Washington will take a novel approach to increase the observational data on the spatial and temporal variations of the surface ocean pCO2, dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and 13C isotopic composition of CO2. They will use a new analytical technique, Cavity Ring Down Spectroscopy (CRDS), that allows for continuous measurement of the del13C and concentration of both dissolved CO2 gas and DIC. A container ship will be employed to make monthly underway measurements of pCO2, DIC and del13C along with O2/Ar, O2, pH, nitrate, chlorophyll and particles at 5-10 km resolution along a North Pacific transect from Hong Kong to Long Beach, California, in particular in the Transition Zone separating the subtropical and subarctic regimes where oceanic CO2 uptake rates are 5-20x higher than the global average. They will use the underway measurements of pCO2, DIC, del13C and O2/Ar to close the surface CO2 budget in the North Pacific and quantify the impact of sea surface temperature changes, organic carbon export and physical transport of DIC on the air-sea CO2 flux over an annual cycle.
Broader Impacts. The proposed application of multiple analytical methods to continuously measure air-sea CO2 flux, biological productivity, DIC and 13C using a container ship sampling platform is innovative and potentially will result in data that could significantly benefit the broader ocean communities involved in carbon cycle modeling and remote sensing. The project is expected to significantly help improve predictions of future climate change. Research results will be incorporated into both undergraduate and graduate course curricula, and there will be active graduate and undergraduate student participation. Project results will be incorporated into existing outreach talks using faculty and graduate students in the School of Oceanography coordinated through the Program on Climate Change at the University of Washington.
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0.915 |
2014 — 2018 |
Quay, Paul Sonnerup, Rolf |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Regional Air-Sea Co2 Fluxes From the Woce and Clivar 13c-Dic Dataset and in An Ocean Carbon Cycle Model @ University of Washington
Accurate model predictions of future atmospheric CO2 levels are critical for anticipating and planning for the impact of climate change. Since about one-quarter of fossil fuel combustion-derived CO2 is taken up by the ocean, accurate models of this uptake process are essential to accurately forecast the earth's climate. Models of the earth's carbon cycle are complex because of the many processes affecting atmospheric CO2 and its cycling between the atmosphere, terrestrial biota, and ocean. Thus, comparison between model output and observations is an essential step to evaluating model performance and improving climate predictions. In this study, researchers from the University of Washington will aim to improve the validity of the ocean component of the Earth System Model using new and historic datasets of a carbon tracer. Results from this study will increase the accuracy of the model's predicted cycling of anthropogenic CO2 in the ocean.
Broader Impacts: The research will provide a better understanding of, and improved model simulations and forecasts of the changing ocean carbon cycle, ultimately contributing to climate research. The project will support a postdoctoral researcher, who will further their expertise in carbon cycle research and advance their scientific career.
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0.915 |
2014 — 2017 |
Quay, Paul |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Us Geotraces Arctic: Measuring Stable Isotopes of Carbon in Dissolved Inorganic Carbon and Oxygen/Argon Gas Ratios to Show Impact of Organic Matter Export On Nutrient Distributions @ University of Washington
A scientist from the University of Washington will participate in the 2015 U.S. GEOTRACES Arctic Ocean cruise and measure the vertical distribution of the stable isotopes of carbon found in dissolved inorganic carbon (del13C), a tracer of biogeochemical cycling. In addition, he will determine the spatial variation in the ratio of oxygen gas to argon gas (O2/Ar) in surface water samples because this ratio can be used as a proxy for organic matter export. In common with other multinational initiatives in the International GEOTRACES Program, the goals of the U.S. Arctic expedition are to identify processes and quantify fluxes that control the distributions of key trace elements and isotopes in the ocean, and to establish the sensitivity of these distributions to changing environmental conditions. Some trace elements are essential to life, others are known biological toxins, and still others are important because they can be used as tracers of a variety of physical, chemical, and biological processes in the sea. Results from this study will further our understanding of the processes that control observed trace elements, nutrients, and the stable carbon isotopes in dissolved inorganic carbon in the present day ocean and use this information to gain information on past changes in ocean circulation on carbon cycling. This project will also provide training opportunities for undergraduate students, and results will be integrated into public outreach activities and material for class lectures.
A better understanding of the impact of physical and biological processes on the distribution of nutrient and trace elements in the modern ocean is critical to our interpretation of future changes in their distributions in the Arctic and their utility as proxies of circulation and biological pump conditions in the historic ocean. One key parameter needed to understand these processes is del13C of dissolved inorganic carbon, for which little to no data currently exists in the Arctic Ocean. This study will aim to measure the depth distribution of the del13C of dissolved inorganic carbon and the dissolved O2/Ar ratio in the surface layer of the ocean. These measurements will help to quantify the contributions of chemical processes and the biological pump on the spatial distribution of nutrients, trace elements, and del13C, as well as estimate organic matter export rates from the surface ocean.
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0.915 |
2015 — 2018 |
Quay, Paul |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Collaborative Research: Measuring Ocean Productivity From the Diurnal Change in Oxygen and Carbon @ University of Washington
The rate of primary production in the ocean is fundamental to the ocean's food web and the movement of carbon from surface waters to the deep ocean, known as the biological pump. Yet spatial and temporal variations in primary productivity are poorly known because the effort required for the current method of measuring primary productivity is significant, limiting its application, and the method has biases that are difficult to quantify. Using a novel combination of approaches, the investigators will estimate daily primary productivity in the ocean at three ecologically distinct sites. The research will significantly improve understanding of primary productivity variations and their impact on the ocean?s biological pump, which will benefit the broader ocean community involved in carbon cycle modeling and benefit society via the impact of ocean primary productivity on atmospheric carbon dioxide uptake and future climate change. The research results will be incorporated into both undergraduate and graduate course curricula and outreach talks at the two institutions. There will be active undergraduate student participation in the project at both Oregon State University and the University of Washington.
Within the last decade, an in-situ primary productivity method based on measuring the isotopic composition of dissolved oxygen (O2) gas has gained traction within the oceanographic community because it yields a primary production estimate from a simple water sample collection. This method has yielded basin-wide snapshots of primary productivity based on underway sampling of the surface ocean by ships of opportunity. However, accurate estimates of oxygen/particulate organic carbon (O2/POC) produced during primary productivity are needed to convert oxygen-based primary production rates to carbon production. In this project, daily in-situ rates of primary production in the surface ocean at three ocean sites will be estimated from continuous measurements of diurnal cycles in the oxygen/argon dissolved gas ratio and POC and compared to simultaneous in vitro primary productivity estimates. Variations in the O2/POC produced during primary production will be determined. Autonomous float-based estimates of primary production based on measurements of diurnal cycles in O2 and POC will be validated using ship based measurements. Estimates of primary production based on autonomous measurements resulting from this research have the potential to revolutionize our knowledge on the spatial and temporal variations in primary productivity in the ocean.
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0.915 |
2017 — 2020 |
Quay, Paul |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Collaborative Research: Us Geotraces Pmt: Measuring the D13c-Dic Distribution and Estimating Organic Matter Export Rates @ University of Washington
The concentration of carbon dioxide gas (CO2) in the ocean depends in part on the rate of photosynthesis in the ocean because CO2 is consumed by microscopic plants in surface ocean (phytoplankton). The photosynthesis reaction can be written as CO2 + H2O + light energy -> CH2O (sugar) + O2. During photosynthesis, the plankton preferentially consume CO2 molecules comprised of 12C atoms and less so CO2 molecules comprised of 13C atoms. Measuring the ratio of 13CO2 to 12CO2 dissolved in seawater provides a means to estimate the photosynthesis rate. Below the surface layer where photosynthesis occurs (the photic layer), bacteria use sinking plankton material for food and energy via a process called respiration (which is the reverse of the photosynthesis reaction). Respiration produces CO2 in the deeper layers of the ocean. The goal of our research is to measure the concentration of 13CO2 and 12CO2 in seawater from the surface to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean along a cruise path that starts in Seward, Alaska and goes southward to Tahiti. We will use these measurements to understand how photosynthesis, respiration and mixing in the ocean control the distributions of 13CO2 and 12CO2. The broader impact of our research is to determine how photosynthesis, respiration and mixing in the ocean affect the transfer rate of CO2 from the atmosphere to the ocean. This CO2 transfer rate is important because it affects the concentration of CO2, a greenhouse gas, in the atmosphere and the increasing acidity of the ocean. Other broader impacts include incorporating results from this study into classes taught by the researcher. One undergraduate student from the University of Washington would be supported and trained as part of this project.
The specific goal of our research is to measure the depth distribution of the 13C/12C of the dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) during the GEOTRACES PMT cruise (Seward, AK to Tahiti) in the N. Pacific Ocean. We intend to collect and measure d13C-DIC on ~850 seawater samples. The PMT section will cross a wide range of biological productive regimes from the oligotrophic gyres near Tahiti and Hawaii to the more productive HNLC regions in the equatorial and subarctic oceans. The expected meridional variations in productivity should provide the opportunity to determine the impact of organic matter (OM) export and subsequent degradation at depth on upper ocean distribution of d13C-IC, trace elements (TEs), and nutrients along the PMT section. We intend to determine how the meridional variations in productivity and proximity to outcropping water masses affect the distributions of d13C, PO4, NO3 and bioactive TEs (like Cadmium) throughout the thermocline and deep sea along the PMT cruise track. Improving our understanding of the processes that control d13C, TEs and nutrient distributions in the modern ocean will improve our ability to use d13C and TEs measurements in the sedimentary record as tracers of past changes in the ocean circulation and carbon cycling. From a broader impact perspective, our address research addresses two basic goals of the GEOTRACES program. First, to determine global ocean distributions of selected trace elements and isotopes and evaluate the sources, sinks, and internal cycling of these species to characterize more completely the physical, chemical and biological processes regulating their distributions. Second, to understand the processes that control the concentrations of geochemical species used for proxies of the ocean's past environment which will benefit the paleoceanography community.
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0.915 |
2018 — 2021 |
Quay, Paul Sonnerup, Rolf |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Decadal Trends in Oceanic Anthropogenic Co2 From the Clivar and Go-Ship D13c Datasets and in An Ocean Biogeochemistry Model @ University of Washington
The ocean has absorbed about a third of the fossil fuel carbon dioxide (CO2) that humans have emitted, slowing the accumulation of CO2 and its associated trapping of thermal energy in the atmosphere. The research aims to improve our understanding of how this ocean uptake of CO2 will change when ocean circulation responds to continuing changes in climate. Researchers will use observations of the isotopic ratio of carbon (13C/12C) of seawater and atmospheric samples, as a high signal/noise method to determine air-sea transfer rates and storage in the ocean interior of fossil-fuel CO2. Also, a state-of the art ocean C-cycling model will be used to validate the model's air-sea exchange rates and upper ocean storage of fossil-fuel CO2. The additional information provided by 13CO2 will establish important benchmarks on ocean-atmosphere and biosphere-atmosphere C exchanges in models used for forecasting future changes in climate. Results would be incorporated into an outreach program through the University of Washington's Program on Climate Change to educate the public on the impact of human activity and climate on the ocean, atmosphere, and earth. One postdoc would be supported and trained as part of this project.
To better understand the processes that control the evolution of the anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) signal in the ocean, we will utilize two characteristics of dissolved inorganic 13Carbon (DIC13) that distinguish it from DIC. First, the 10x longer air-sea equilibration time for DIC13 yields a well-constrained air-sea 13CO2 flux in all basins that is resolvable on decadal time scales. Second, the anthropogenic DIC13 accumulation in the ocean is quantifiable to better signal to noise than anthropogenic DIC itself. The availability of ocean del13C and DIC data from WOCE, CLIVAR and GO-SHIP provide the opportunity to quantify, based on observations alone, the evolution and transports of the anthropogenic DIC and DIC13 signal on regional and global scales in the ocean. Implementation of the anthropogenic DIC and DIC13 perturbations into an ocean model, driven by interannually varying winds, will yield simulations of the DIC and DIC13 evolution that we will compare to observations, helping to identify likely processes causing interdecadal shifts in the rate of this evolution. The combination of observations and model analysis tracking the decadal DIC13 and DIC perturbations are designed to improve our insight into the ocean's important role in modulating climate by taking up and storing anthropogenic CO2.
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.
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0.915 |