Dataset: GP17-OCE Water Column Radium Isotopes

Name: Measurements of the dissolved isotope radium-226 from samples collected on the US GEOTRACES GP17-OCE cruise on R/V Roger Revelle (RR2214) in the South Pacific and Southern Oceans from December 2022 to January 2023
Published: 2024-12-11
Keywords: Radium isotopes, South Pacific, GEOTRACES, oceans

Cite This Dataset

DOI:10.26008/1912/bco-dmo.944841.1

Spatial Extent: N:-19.999869 E:-75.097157 S:-67.000234 W:-152.000281

South Pacific and Southern Ocean

Temporal Extent: 2022-12-04 - 2023-01-24

Project:

US GEOTRACES GP17 Section: South Pacific and Southern Ocean (GP17-OCE) (GP17-OCE)

US GEOTRACES GP17-OCE and GP17-ANT: Sources and Rates of Trace Element and Isotope Cycling Derived from the Radium Quartet (GP17-OCE and GP17-ANT Radium Isotopes)

US GEOTRACES GP17-OCE: Investigating the role of the Southern Ocean's biogeochemical divide in shaping the global distributions of radium and barium isotopes (GP17-OCE Ra and Ba isotopes)

Program:

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

Principal Investigator:

Matthew A. Charette (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, WHOI)

Co-Principal Investigator:

Tristan J. Horner (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, WHOI)

Scientist:

Margot C.F. Debyser (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, WHOI)

Technician:

Paul B. Henderson (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, WHOI)

BCO-DMO Data Manager:

Shannon Rauch (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, WHOI BCO-DMO)

Version:

Version Date:

2024-12-11

Restricted:

Yes

Release Date:

2026-09-13

Validated:

Yes

Current State:

Final no updates expected

Measurements of the dissolved isotope radium-226 from samples collected on the US GEOTRACES GP17-OCE cruise on R/V Roger Revelle (RR2214) in the South Pacific and Southern Oceans from December 2022 to January 2023

Abstract:

This dataset includes measurements of the dissolved isotope radium-226 in the South Pacific and Southern Ocean. Samples were collected on the US GEOTRACES GP17-OCE cruise (Papeete, Tahiti to Punta Arenas, Chile) on R/V Roger Revelle from December 2022 to January 2023. Radium-223, radium-224, and radium-228 data will be made available in the future.

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Archival Copy

Version Date	Archive	Persistent Identifier (PID)	Date PID Issued
2024-12-11	Marine Biological Laboratory/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Library (MBLWHOI DLA)	10.26008/1912/bco-dmo.944841.1	2025-01-06

Methods & Sampling

At sea, Radium-226 samples were collected following the GEOTRACES cookbook. Samples were collected from a 30-liter (L) Niskin mounted directly above a McLane large volume in situ pump WTS-LV (>1000 meters) or on the ODF CTD Rosette (<1000 meters). These samples (10-25 L) were recirculated through 20 grams (g) of manganese (Mn) oxide impregnated acrylic fiber at approximately <1 liter per minute (L/min) using small pumps. The Mn fibers from the Niskin bottles were rinsed with deionized water back at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), partially dried, and sealed within a fiber holder after being flushed with helium equivalent to 30 column volumes. Samples were stored for a minimum of 12 days and analyzed for 226Ra via 222Rn ingrowth using alpha scintillation counting (Key et al., 1979). Samples were counted for 1-20 hours depending on the activity on the fiber, which resulted in counting uncertainties of ~2% dependent upon 226Ra content on the fiber and sample volume.

Problems/Issues

Pump failures and loss during sampling resulted in some gaps in data, these samples have been flagged as missing values (quality flag 9). In cases where low volumes (<600L) were filtered due to pump malfunctions, data has been flagged as questionable (quality flag 3). Samples with activities below detection limits have also been flagged (quality flag 6), and no value is reported for those samples.

Data Processing Description

The data were corrected for decay from the time of sampling. 223Raxs was corrected for 227Ac, 224Raxs was corrected for 228Th. The radium activity of the water samples (cartridges) were corrected from the measured radium on acrylic fiber (<1L/min) using the emanation technique. Data is originally calculated in disintegrations per minute per liter (dpm/L) and is converted to milli-Becquerels per kilogram (mBq/kg) using the in situ density (rho) from the deployment at time of sampling (ODF) or the nearest available depth for the station (surface and McLane pumps).

Quality Flags:
Data were flagged using the SeaDataNet quality flag scheme. For more information on SeaDataNet flags, see: https://www.geotraces.org/geotraces-quality-flag-policy/ and https://www.seadatanet.org/Standards/Data-Quality-Control.

Quality flag definitions:
0 = No quality control;
1 = Good value;
2 = Probably good value;
3 = Probably bad value;
4 = Bad value;
5 = Changed value;
6 = Value below detection;
7 = Value in excess;
8 = Interpolated value;
9 = Missing value.

Supplemental File: The attached supplemental file, "226Ra_dpm101224.csv", contains the same data with 226Ra reported in units of dpm/100L.

BCO-DMO Processing

- Imported original file "226Ra.csv" into the BCO-DMO system.
- Renamed fields to comply with BCO-DMO naming conventions.
- Converted flag columns to integers (i.e. removed the trailing ".00").
- Saved the final file as "944841_v1_gp17-oce_radium_isotopes.csv"

Data Files

File
944841_v1_gp17-oce_radium_isotopes.csv (Comma Separated Values (.csv), 52.58 KB) MD5:9074c7e804a8cded556aef0cc9afec56 Primary data file for dataset ID 944841, version 1. This copy of the data reports 226Ra in units of milliBecquerels per kilogram (mBq/kg).

Supplemental Files

File
226Ra_dpm101224.csv (Comma Separated Values (.csv), 54.42 KB) MD5:52fe6c7aa4a4b60bffe1d49c9babefb7 Supplemental file for dataset ID 944841, version 1. This copy of the data reports 226Ra in units of dpm/100L.

More Information about this dataset

Funding Sources

Funding Source	Award Number
NSF Division of Ocean Sciences	OCE-2048604
NSF Division of Ocean Sciences	OCE-2048067

Deployments

Deployment	Synonyms	Start Date	Platform	Investigator
RR2214	GP17 GP17-OCE 33RR20221201	2022-12-01	R/V Roger Revelle	Benjamin Twining (Chief Scientist) Gregory A. Cutter (Co-Chief Scientist) Jessica N. Fitzsimmons (Co-Chief Scientist)	data info

Instruments

CTD Sea-Bird SBE 911plus

Supplied Name: ODF CTD Rosette

Supplied Description:

Instrument Type

Generic Name: CTD Sea-Bird SBE 911plus

Acronym: CTD SBE 911plus

Community Identifier: http://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/L22/current/TOOL0058/

Generic Description:

The Sea-Bird SBE 911 plus is a type of CTD instrument package for continuous measurement of conductivity, temperature and pressure. The SBE 911 plus includes the SBE 9plus Underwater Unit and the SBE 11plus Deck Unit (for real-time readout using conductive wire) for deployment from a vessel. The combination of the SBE 9 plus and SBE 11 plus is called a SBE 911 plus. The SBE 9 plus uses Sea-Bird's standard modular temperature and conductivity sensors (SBE 3 plus and SBE 4). The SBE 9 plus CTD can be configured with up to eight auxiliary sensors to measure other parameters including dissolved oxygen, pH, turbidity, fluorescence, light (PAR), light transmission, etc.). more information from Sea-Bird Electronics

McLane Large Volume Pumping System WTS-LV

Supplied Description:

Instrument Type

Generic Name: McLane Large Volume Pumping System WTS-LV

Acronym: WTS-LV

Generic Description:

The WTS-LV is a Water Transfer System (WTS) Large Volume (LV) pumping instrument designed and manufactured by McLane Research Labs (Falmouth, MA, USA). It is a large-volume, single-event sampler that collects suspended and dissolved particulate samples in situ.

Ambient water is drawn through a modular filter holder onto a 142-millimeter (mm) membrane without passing through the pump. The standard two-tier filter holder provides prefiltering and size fractioning. Collection targets include chlorophyll maximum, particulate trace metals, and phytoplankton. It features different flow rates and filter porosity to support a range of specimen collection. Sampling can be programmed to start at a scheduled time or begin with a countdown delay. It also features a dynamic pump speed algorithm that adjusts flow to protect the sample as material accumulates on the filter. Several pump options range from 0.5 to 30 liters per minute, with a max volume of 2,500 to 36,000 liters depending on the pump and battery pack used. The standard model is depth rated to 5,500 meters, with a deeper 7,000-meter option available. The operating temperature is -4 to 35 degrees Celsius.

The WTS-LV is available in four different configurations: Standard, Upright, Bore Hole, and Dual Filter Sampler. The high-capacity upright WTS-LV model provides three times the battery life of the standard model. The Bore-Hole WTS-LV is designed to fit through a narrow opening such as a 30-centimeter borehole. The dual filter WTS-LV features two vertical intake 142 mm filter holders to allow simultaneous filtering using two different porosities.

Niskin bottle

Supplied Name: 30-liter (L) Niskin

Supplied Description:

Instrument Type

Generic Name: Niskin bottle

Community Identifier: http://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/L22/current/TOOL0412/

Generic Description:

A Niskin bottle (a next generation water sampler based on the Nansen bottle) is a cylindrical, non-metallic water collection device with stoppers at both ends. The bottles can be attached individually on a hydrowire or deployed in 12, 24, or 36 bottle Rosette systems mounted on a frame and combined with a CTD. Niskin bottles are used to collect discrete water samples for a range of measurements including pigments, nutrients, plankton, etc.

Radium Delayed Coincidence Counter

Supplied Name: Radium Delayed Coincidence (RaDeCC) counters

Supplied Description:

Samples were analyzed using Radium Delayed Coincidence (RaDeCC) counters and high-purity, well-type germanium detectors.

Instrument Type

Generic Name: Radium Delayed Coincidence Counter

Acronym: RaDeCC

Generic Description:

The RaDeCC is an alpha scintillation counter that distinguishes decay events of short-lived radium daughter products based on their contrasting half-lives. This system was pioneered by Giffin et al. (1963) and adapted for radium measurements by Moore and Arnold (1996).

References:
Giffin, C., A. Kaufman, W.S. Broecker (1963). Delayed coincidence counter for the assay of actinon and thoron. J. Geophys. Res., 68, pp. 1749-1757.
Moore, W.S., R. Arnold (1996). Measurement of 223Ra and 224Ra in coastal waters using a delayed coincidence counter. J. Geophys. Res., 101 (1996), pp. 1321-1329.
Charette, Matthew A.; Dulaiova, Henrieta; Gonneea, Meagan E.; Henderson, Paul B.; Moore, Willard S.; Scholten, Jan C.; Pham, M. K. (2012). GEOTRACES radium isotopes interlaboratory comparison experiment. Limnology and Oceanography - Methods, vol 10, pg 451.

Parameters

Date and time formats are described in python strftime() syntax.

Supplied Name	Supplied description	Supplied Units	Standard Name
Cruise_ID	GEOTRACES cruise name	unitless	cruise_id
Station_ID	GEOTRACES station number	unitless	station
GEOTRC_CASTNO	GEOTRACES cast number	unitless	cast
GEOTRC_INSTR	Sampling method	unitless	instrument
Start_Date_UTC	Date (UTC) at start of sample collection Format: %d/%m/%Y	unitless	date
Start_Time_UTC	Time (UTC) at start of sample collection Format: %H:%M:%S	unitless	time
Start_ISO_DateTime_UTC	Date and time (UTC) at start of sample collection in ISO 8601 format Format: %Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S	unitless	ISO_DateTime_UTC
End_Date_UTC	Date (UTC) at end of sample collection Format: %d/%m/%Y	unitless	date
End_Time_UTC	Time (UTC) at end of sample collection Format: %H:%M:%S	unitless	time
End_ISO_DateTime_UTC	Date and time (UTC) at end of sample collection in ISO 8601 format Format: %Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S	unitless	ISO_DateTime_UTC
Start_Latitude	Sample collection start Latitude; negative values = South	decimal degrees	lat
Start_Longitude	Sample collection start Longitude; negative values = West	decimal degrees	lon
End_Latitude	Sample collection end Latitude; negative values = South	decimal degrees	lat
End_Longitude	Sample collection end Longitude; negative values = West	decimal degrees	lon
Event_ID	GEOTRACES event number	unitless	event
Sample_ID	GEOTRACES sample number	unitless	sample
Sample_Depth	Depth of sample collection	meters (m)	depth
Ra_226_D_CONC_BOTTLE_xuuvtd	Dissolved Radium-226 activity from Niskin bottles	milliBecquerels per kilogram (mBq/kg)	Ra226
SD1_Ra_226_D_CONC_BOTTLE_xuuvtd	One standard deviation of Ra_226_D_CONC_BOTTLE_xuuvtd	milliBecquerels per kilogram (mBq/kg)	Ra226
Flag_Ra_226_D_CONC_BOTTLE_xuuvtd	Quality flag for Ra_226_D_CONC_BOTTLE_xuuvtd; refer to 'Data Processing' section of metadata for flag definitions	unitless	q_flag
Ra_226_D_CONC_PUMP_faz5oh	Dissolved Radium-226 activity from pumps	milliBecquerels per kilogram (mBq/kg)	Ra226
SD1_Ra_226_D_CONC_PUMP_faz5oh	One standard deviation of Ra_226_D_CONC_PUMP_faz5oh	milliBecquerels per kilogram (mBq/kg)	Ra226
Flag_Ra_226_D_CONC_PUMP_faz5oh	Quality flag for Ra_226_D_CONC_PUMP_faz5oh	unitless	q_flag
Ra_226_D_CONC_UWAY_0nplfd	Dissolved Radium-226 activity from the ship's underway system	milliBecquerels per kilogram (mBq/kg)	Ra226
SD1_Ra_226_D_CONC_UWAY_0nplfd	One standard deviation of Ra_226_D_CONC_UWAY_0nplfd	milliBecquerels per kilogram (mBq/kg)	Ra226
Flag_Ra_226_D_CONC_UWAY_0nplfd	Quality flag for Ra_226_D_CONC_UWAY_0nplfd	unitless	q_flag

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Dataset: GP17-OCE Water Column Radium Isotopes