Real-time monitoring of picomolar levels of iron(II) in marine waters using automated flow injection-chemiluminescence instrumentation

A shipboard-deployable, flow-injection (FI) based instrument for monitoring iron(II) in surface marine waters is described. It incorporates a miniature, low-power photon-counting head for measuring the light emitted from the iron(II)-catalyzed chemiluminescence (CL) luminol reaction. System control, signal acquisition, and data processing are performed in a graphical programming environment. The limit of detection for iron(II) is in the range 8-12 pmol L-1 (based on 3s of the blank), and the precision over the range 8-1000 pmol L-1 varies between 0.9 and 7.6% (n = 4). Results from a day-night deployment during a north-to-south transect of the Atlantic Ocean and a daytime transect in the Sub-Antarctic Front are presented together with ancillary temperature, salinity, and irradiance data. The generic nature of the components used to assemble the instrument make the technology readily transferable to other laboratories and the modular construction makes it easy to adapt the system for use with other CL chemistries

Atmospheric trace elements in aerosols observed over the Southern Ocean and coastal East Antarctica

Atmospheric aerosol samples were collected over the Southern Ocean (SO) and coastal East Antarctica (CEA) during the austral summer of 2010/11. Samples were analysed for trace elements, including Na, Mg, K, Al, Fe, Mn, Ni, Cd and Se, by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The mean atmospheric concentrations over the SO were 1100 ng m−3 for Na, 190 ng m−3 for Mg, 150 ng m−3 for Al, 14 ng m−3 for Fe, 0.46 ng m−3 for Mn and 0.25 ng m−3 for Se. Over CEA, the mean concentrations were 990 ng m−3 for Na, 180 ng m−3 for Mg, 190 ng m−3 for Al, 26 ng m−3 for Fe, 0.70 ng m−3 for Mn and 0.29 ng m−3 for Se. Particle size distributions, enrichment factors (EFs) and correlation analysis indicate that Na, Mg and K mainly came from the marine source, while Al, Fe and Mn were mainly from the crustal source, which also contributed to Mg and K over CEA. High EFs were associated with Ni, Cd and Se, suggesting likely contributions from mixed sources from the Antarctic continent, long-range transport, marine biogenic emissions and anthropogenic emissions. Sea-salt elements (Na, Mg, K) were mainly accumulated in the coarse mode, and crustal elements (Al, Fe, Mn) presented a bimodal size distribution pattern. Bioactive elements (Fe, Ni, Cd) were enriched in the fine mode, especially with samples collected over the SO, possibly affecting biogeochemical cycles in this oceanic region