Total particulate trace element concentrations from bulk aerosol samples collected during the US GEOTRACES EPZT section cruise (R/V Thomas G. Thompson TN303) in the Eastern Tropical Pacific from October to December 2013

Website: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/675632
Data Type: Cruise Results
Version: 2
Version Date: 2020-05-26

Project
» U.S. GEOTRACES East Pacific Zonal Transect (GP16) (U.S. GEOTRACES EPZT)
» GEOTRACES Pacific section: Collection and analysis of atmospheric deposition (EPZT Aerosol Collection)

Program
» U.S. GEOTRACES (U.S. GEOTRACES)
ContributorsAffiliationRole
Aguilar-Islas, AnaUniversity of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF)Principal Investigator, Contact
Buck, Clifton S.Skidaway Institute of Oceanography (SkIO)Co-Principal Investigator
Landing, William M.Florida State University (FSU - EOAS)Co-Principal Investigator
Rauch, ShannonWoods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI BCO-DMO)BCO-DMO Data Manager

Abstract
Atmospheric input is important to the biogeochemical cycling of trace metals in the ocean. This dataset provides total particulate trace metal values from bulk aerosols over the Equatorial Pacific along the US GEOTRACES EPTZ transect (TN303) from Peru to Tahiti. This region is characterized as one of the lowest atmospheric deposition regimes in the ocean. Bulk aerosols were collected from the boundary layer (~15 m above sea level) using a high-volume aerosol sampler drawing approximately 1.2 cubic meters of air per minute over Whatman 41 ash-less filter discs. Despite low aerosol loadings, triplicate agreement for most samples was good for Al, Ti, V, Mn, Fe, and Cu. Away from the coast, Cd and Pb values in most samples were close to, or below detection limit. Total digestions were carried out with a combination of hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, hydrofluoric acid, heat, and pressure. Total particulate trace metal concentrations were determined at the University of Alaska Fairbanks by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (Thermo Element-2) using external calibration curves.


Coverage

Spatial Extent: N:-4.07 E:-77.657 S:-16.0003 W:-152.0003
Temporal Extent: 2013-10-26 - 2013-12-16

Dataset Description

This dataset contains total particulate trace element concentrations from bulk aerosol samples collected during the 2013 US GEOTRACES EPZT section cruise, TN303, in the Eastern Tropical South Pacific.


Methods & Sampling

Samples were collected using Florida State University's high vol aerosol sampler (Tisch Environmental TSP TE5170V), located on the 03 deck, forward railings. Samples were collected at the rate of 1 cubic meter per minute on Whatman 41, 47 mm discs (cellulose esters; W41) and were acid cleaned. Methods are described in Morton et al. (2013).
 


Data Processing Description

Data have been corrected for field and analytical blank. All reported trace element concentration values have been normalized to the volume of air filtered during that sample collection. Each sample collection period (n = 17) produced 36 replicate filters. Three of those filters were digested with concentrated ultrapure nitric and hydrofluoric acids to produce three replicate measurements. In the majority of cases, the three replicates were above the field blank value and agreed well. Data from the three replicates were averaged and reported along with the standard deviation. Outliers and replicate samples that were below the field blank value were not included in the mean. Data are marked as described in the datasheet. 

Quality flag codes:
Codes follow the SeaDataNet scheme (https://www.geotraces.org/geotraces-quality-flag-policy/)
BDL = below detection limit;
0 = No QC performed;
1 = Good data;
2 = Probably good data;
3 = Probably bad data that is potentially correctable;
4 = Bad data;
5 = Value changed;
6 = Sample < blank;
8 = Interpolated value;
​9 = Missing value.

BCO-DMO Processing:
- modified parameter names to conform with BCO-DMO naming conventions;
- replaced missing data values of -999 and -9999 with "nd";
- added date-time columns in ISO8601 format.

Version History:
26 May 2020 (current version) - replaced entire dataset using GEOTRACES DOoR format.
12 Jul 2017 - replaced entire dataset. The previous version used the wrong volume of air to normalize the data.
23 Jan 2017 - original version.


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Data Files

File
TP_aerosols.csv
(Comma Separated Values (.csv), 4.65 KB)
MD5:9c685c21e45d6d02f4a3dd76d36a74e5
Primary data file for dataset ID 675632

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Related Publications

Kadko, D., Aguilar-Islas, A., Buck, C. S., Fitzsimmons, J. N., Landing, W. M., Shiller, A., … Anderson, R. F. (2020). Sources, fluxes and residence times of trace elements measured during the U.S. GEOTRACES East Pacific Zonal Transect. Marine Chemistry, 222, 103781. doi:10.1016/j.marchem.2020.103781
General
Morton, P. L., Landing, W. M., Hsu, S.-C., Milne, A., Aguilar-Islas, A. M., Baker, A. R., … Zamora, L. M. (2013). Methods for the sampling and analysis of marine aerosols: results from the 2008 GEOTRACES aerosol intercalibration experiment. Limnology and Oceanography: Methods, 11(2), 62–78. doi:10.4319/lom.2013.11.62
Methods

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Parameters

ParameterDescriptionUnits
Station_ID

Station number

unitless
Start_Date_UTC

Sampling date; format: DD/MM/YYYY

unitless
Start_Time_UTC

Sampling start time; format: hh:mm

unitless
Start_ISO_DateTime_UTC

Sampling start date and time (UTC) formatted to ISO8601 standard: YYYY-MM-DDThh:mmZ

unitless
End_Date_UTC

Sampling end date; format: DD/MM/YYYY

unitless
End_Time_UTC

Sampling end time; format: hh:mm

unitless
End_ISO_DateTime_UTC

Sampling end date and time (UTC) formatted to ISO8601 standard: YYYY-MM-DDThh:mmZ

unitless
Start_Latitude

Sampling start latitude

degrees North
Start_Longitude

Sampling start longitude

degrees East
End_Latitude

Sampling end latitude

degrees North
End_Longitude

Sampling end longitude

degrees East
Event_ID

Event number

unitless
Sample_ID

GEOTRACES sample number

unitless
Sample_Depth

Sample depth

meters (m)
air_vol_total

Total volume of air sampled

cubic meters (m3)
Al_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_o1yvlu

Total particulate aerosol Aluminium (Al) concentration, average of 3 replicates. Detection limit = 0.004 ng/m3.

nanograms per cubic meter (ng/m3)
SD1_Al_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_o1yvlu

One standard deviation of Al_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_o1yvlu

nanograms per cubic meter (ng/m3)
Flag_Al_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_o1yvlu

Quality flag for Al_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_o1yvlu

unitless
Cd_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_xyeo4t

Total particulate aerosol Cadmiuim (Cd) concentration, average of 3 replicates. Detection limit = 0.0004 ng/m3.

nanograms per cubic meter (ng/m3)
SD1_Cd_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_xyeo4t

One standard deviation of Cd_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_xyeo4t

nanograms per cubic meter (ng/m3)
Flag_Cd_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_xyeo4t

Quality flag for Cd_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_xyeo4t

unitless
Cu_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_oajco4

Total particulate aerosol Copper (Cu) concentration, average of 3 replicates. Detection limit = 0.001 ng/m3.

nanograms per cubic meter (ng/m3)
SD1_Cu_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_oajco4

One standard deviation of Cu_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_oajco4

nanograms per cubic meter (ng/m3)
Flag_Cu_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_oajco4

Quality flag for Cu_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_oajco4

unitless
Fe_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_qs0n83

Total particulate aerosol Iron (Fe) concentration, average of 3 replicates. Detection limit = 0.04 ng/m3.

nanograms per cubic meter (ng/m3)
SD1_Fe_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_qs0n83

One standard deviation of Fe_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_qs0n83

nanograms per cubic meter (ng/m3)
Flag_Fe_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_qs0n83

Quality flag for Fe_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_qs0n83

unitless
Mn_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_uvjvxi

Total particulate aerosol Manganese (Mn) concentration, average of 3 replicates. Detection limit = 0.0009 ng/m3.

nanograms per cubic meter (ng/m3)
SD1_Mn_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_uvjvxi

One standard deviation of Mn_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_uvjvxi

nanograms per cubic meter (ng/m3)
Flag_Mn_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_uvjvxi

Quality flag for Mn_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_uvjvxi

unitless
Pb_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_pswwpv

Total particulate aerosol Lead (Pb) concentration, average of 3 replicates. Detection limit = 0.00 ng/m3.

nanograms per cubic meter (ng/m3)
SD1_Pb_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_pswwpv

One standard deviation of Pb_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_pswwpv

nanograms per cubic meter (ng/m3)
Flag_Pb_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_pswwpv

Quality flag for Pb_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_pswwpv

unitless
Ti_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_rnntzq

Total particulate aerosol Titanium (Ti) concentration, average of 3 replicates. Detection limit = 0.002 ng/m3.

nanograms per cubic meter (ng/m3)
SD1_Ti_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_rnntzq

One standard deviation of Ti_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_rnntzq

nanograms per cubic meter (ng/m3)
Flag_Ti_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_rnntzq

Quality flag for Ti_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_rnntzq

unitless
V_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_nf4d1k

Total particulate aerosol Vanadium (V) concentration, average of 3 replicates. Detection limit = 0.00002 ng/m3.

nanograms per cubic meter (ng/m3)
SD1_V_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_nf4d1k

One standard deviation of V_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_nf4d1k

nanograms per cubic meter (ng/m3)
Flag_V_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_nf4d1k

Quality flag for V_A_T_CONC_HIVOL_nf4d1k

unitless


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Instruments

Dataset-specific Instrument Name
Tisch Environmental TSP TE5170V
Generic Instrument Name
Aerosol Sampler
Generic Instrument Description
A device that collects a sample of aerosol (dry particles or liquid droplets) from the atmosphere.


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Deployments

TN303

Website
Platform
R/V Thomas G. Thompson
Report
Start Date
2013-10-25
End Date
2013-12-20
Description
A zonal transect in the eastern tropical South Pacific (ETSP) from Peru to Tahiti as the second cruise of the U.S.GEOTRACES Program. This Pacific section includes a large area characterized by high rates of primary production and particle export in the eastern boundary associated with the Peru Upwelling, a large oxygen minimum zone that is a major global sink for fixed nitrogen, and a large hydrothermal plume arising from the East Pacific Rise. This particular section was selected as a result of open planning workshops in 2007 and 2008, with a final recommendation made by the U.S.GEOTRACES Steering Committee in 2009. It is the first part of a two-stage plan that will include a meridional section of the Pacific from Tahiti to Alaska as a subsequent expedition. Figure 1. The 2013 GEOTRACES EPZT Cruise Track. [click on the image to view a larger version] Additional cruise information is available from the Rolling Deck to Repository (R2R): http://www.rvdata.us/catalog/TN303


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Project Information

U.S. GEOTRACES East Pacific Zonal Transect (GP16) (U.S. GEOTRACES EPZT)


Coverage: Eastern Tropical Pacific - Transect from Peru to Tahiti (GP16)


From the NSF Award Abstract
The mission of the International GEOTRACES Program (https://www.geotraces.org/), of which the U.S. chemical oceanography research community is a founding member, is "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" (GEOTRACES Science Plan, 2006). In the United States, ocean chemists are currently in the process of organizing a zonal transect in the eastern tropical South Pacific (ETSP) from Peru to Tahiti as the second cruise of the U.S.GEOTRACES Program. This Pacific section includes a large area characterized by high rates of primary production and particle export in the eastern boundary associated with the Peru Upwelling, a large oxygen minimum zone that is a major global sink for fixed nitrogen, and a large hydrothermal plume arising from the East Pacific Rise. This particular section was selected as a result of open planning workshops in 2007 and 2008, with a final recommendation made by the U.S.GEOTRACES Steering Committee in 2009. It is the first part of a two-stage plan that will include a meridional section of the Pacific from Tahiti to Alaska as a subsequent expedition.

This award provides funding for management of the U.S.GEOTRACES Pacific campaign to a team of scientists from the University of Southern California, Old Dominion University, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The three co-leaders will provide mission leadership, essential support services, and management structure for acquiring the trace elements and isotopes samples listed as core parameters in the International GEOTRACES Science Plan, plus hydrographic and nutrient data needed by participating investigators. With this support from NSF, the management team will (1) plan and coordinate the 52-day Pacific research cruise described above; (2) obtain representative samples for a wide variety of trace metals of interest using conventional CTD/rosette and GEOTRACES Sampling Systems; (3) acquire conventional JGOFS/WOCE-quality hydrographic data (CTD, transmissometer, fluorometer, oxygen sensor, etc) along with discrete samples for salinity, dissolved oxygen (to 1 uM detection limits), plant pigments, redox tracers such as ammonium and nitrite, and dissolved nutrients at micro- and nanomolar levels; (4) ensure that proper QA/QC protocols are followed and reported, as well as fulfilling all GEOTRACES Intercalibration protocols; (5) prepare and deliver all hydrographic-type data to the GEOTRACES Data Center (and US data centers); and (6) coordinate cruise communications between all participating investigators, including preparation of a hydrographic report/publication.

Broader Impacts: The project is part of an international collaborative program that has forged strong partnerships in the intercalibration and implementation phases that are unprecedented in chemical oceanography. The science product of these collective missions will enhance our ability to understand how to interpret the chemical composition of the ocean, and interpret how climate change will affect ocean chemistry. Partnerships include contributions to the infrastructure of developing nations with overlapping interests in the study area, in this case Peru. There is a strong educational component to the program, with many Ph.D. students carrying out thesis research within the program.

Figure 1. The 2013 GEOTRACES EPZT Cruise Track. [click on the image to view a larger version]


GEOTRACES Pacific section: Collection and analysis of atmospheric deposition (EPZT Aerosol Collection)

Coverage: Eastern Tropical South Pacific


During the 2013 GEOTRACES Eastern Pacific zonal transect, a gradient in aerosol inputs to surface waters will be encountered with higher inputs near Peru and decreasing offshore. This zonal section contrasts sharply to the high aerosol deposition areas found and sampled during the GEOTRACES North Atlantic Zonal Section in the fall of 2010 and 2011. As such, this Pacific section represents a unique opportunity to characterize aerosol and rainfall chemistry in a low deposition environment. Scientists from the University of Alaska and Florida State University plan to collect and characterize aerosol and rainfall samples along this transect, as well as distribute samples to the community. Bulk and size-fractionated aerosol samples collected on a 24 to 48-hour integrated basis and event-based rain samples will be analyzed for trace elements and isotopes (TEIs) to quantify their atmospheric input. The TEIs to be analyzed will be aluminum, vanadium, chromium, manganese, iron, cobalt, nickel, copper, zinc, cadmium, lead, and thorium, as well as the major ions sodium, magnesium, potassium, calcium, nitrate, phosphate, chlorine, and fluorine. Other efforts to be carried out as part of this study include (1) aerosol leaches to determine seawater-soluble and ultrapure-water-soluble TEI fractions: (2) determine the size fractionation and redox speciation of seawater-soluble iron: (3) obtain subsamples of water column samples from other GEOTRACES scientists for the analysis of the TEIs of interest to help interpret the atmospheric deposition data; and (4) collaborate with researchers from other institutions to characterize and constrain estimates of atmospheric deposition. This project will contribute towards the overall goal of the GEOTRACES Program by establishing the range of fractional aerosol solubility and better quantify deposition across the global ocean.

One graduate student from the University of Alaska would be supported and trained as part of this project. Relying on a cruise blog, email, and project website updates, the scientist from the University of Alaska plans to continue her interactions with students in Alaska, Arizona, and Florida and results from the study would be incorporated into class curricula, as well as disseminated via public outreach and web dissemination.



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Program Information

U.S. GEOTRACES (U.S. GEOTRACES)


Coverage: Global


GEOTRACES is a SCOR sponsored program; and funding for program infrastructure development is provided by the U.S. National Science Foundation.

GEOTRACES gained momentum following a special symposium, S02: Biogeochemical cycling of trace elements and isotopes in the ocean and applications to constrain contemporary marine processes (GEOSECS II), at a 2003 Goldschmidt meeting convened in Japan. The GEOSECS II acronym referred to the Geochemical Ocean Section Studies To determine full water column distributions of selected trace elements and isotopes, including their concentration, chemical speciation, and physical form, along a sufficient number of sections in each ocean basin to establish the principal relationships between these distributions and with more traditional hydrographic parameters;

* To evaluate the sources, sinks, and internal cycling of these species and thereby characterize more completely the physical, chemical and biological processes regulating their distributions, and the sensitivity of these processes to global change; and

* To understand the processes that control the concentrations of geochemical species used for proxies of the past environment, both in the water column and in the substrates that reflect the water column.

GEOTRACES will be global in scope, consisting of ocean sections complemented by regional process studies. Sections and process studies will combine fieldwork, laboratory experiments and modelling. Beyond realizing the scientific objectives identified above, a natural outcome of this work will be to build a community of marine scientists who understand the processes regulating trace element cycles sufficiently well to exploit this knowledge reliably in future interdisciplinary studies.

Expand "Projects" below for information about and data resulting from individual US GEOTRACES research projects.



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Funding

Funding SourceAward
NSF Division of Ocean Sciences (NSF OCE)
NSF Division of Ocean Sciences (NSF OCE)

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