2010 Ocean Science Meeting

2010 Ocean Sciences Meeting
Dates: 22 – 26 February
Location: Portland, Oregon

For further information: http://www.agu.org/meetings/os10/

Relevant sessions:

*C007: GEOTRACES in the International Polar Year

Convener: Rob Middag, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research; Delphine Lannuzel, University of Tasmania and Celia Venchiarutti, Alfred Wegener Institute.

Trace elements, such as iron, play a pivotal role in controlling ocean productivity and therefore global climate. Moreover several trace elements and isotopes serve as key tracers for unraveling processes and turnover rates in the oceans. The international GEOTRACES program pursues the characterization of marine biogeochemical cycles of Trace Elements and Isotopes (TEIs; stable or radioactive; natural or anthropogenic). In context of the International Polar Years (IPY) 2007-2009 the GEOTRACES program had its flying start with four Arctic and six Antarctic expeditions in order to study TEIs abundances, processes and fluxes in the polar oceans. The multi-tracer approaches and inter-calibration exercises carried out during IPY-GEOTRACES have produced novel relationships among TEIs and other tracers and improved methods for sampling and analyses. We seek topics on TEIs as controling elements as well as tracers of biogeochemical processes in the polar oceans in the context of IPY-GEOTRACES and other relevant projects.

*C009: Getting the Right Number: Precision and Accuracy in Chemical Oceanography

Convener: Gregory Cutter, Old Dominion University and Robert Sherrell, Rutgers University.

Accuracy and precision are essential for all biogeochemical studies. Some important chemical species are in extremely low concentration while others require high precision for optimal interpretation. Intercalibration is an active process among laboratories that includes all steps from sampling to analyses, with the goal of achieving the same accurate results regardless of the method or lab. Past intercalibration efforts included examinations of colloids and carbonate system parameters, and more recently the Sampling and Analysis of Iron (SAFe) experiment. The GEOTRACES intercalibration program is currently underway. This session seeks presentations focusing on methods to assess the accuracy and precision of determining various chemical parameters in the ocean (from organics to metals to isotopes in dissolved and particulate phases) and results from intercalibration programs. An important goal will be for attendees to discuss how best to assess accuracy from sampling to analysis when suitable certified reference materials are not available.