Iron(II) measurements on water column samples collected on the SIPEX II voyage of the Aurora Australis, 2012

Brief description

Water samples for dissolved trace metal measurements were collected from the surface (15m) down to the 1000m using an autonomous intelligent rosette system (General Ocanics, USA) specially adapted for trace metal work and deployed on a Dyneema rope. The rosette was equipped with 12x10-L Niskin-1010X bottles specially modified for trace metal water sampling. This system has been successfully deployed on the RSV Aurora Australis during voyages au0703 and au0806. Care was taken to avoid any contamination from the ship and the operating personnel. Water samplers were processed aboard under an ISO class 5 trace-metal-clean laminar flow bench in to a trace-metal-clean laboratory container on the ship's trawl deck. All transfer tubes, filtering devices and sample containers were rinsed liberally with sample before final collection. Samples were then drawn through C-Flex tubing (Cole Parmer) and filtered in-line through 0.2 micron pore-size acid-washed capsules (Pall Supor membrane, Acropak 200). Regular sampling depths were as follows: 1000m, 750m, 500m, 300m, 200m, 150m, 125m, 100m, 75m, 50m, 30m, 15m. Samples were analysed within a minute of filtration. Iron(II) was detected with the luminol method combining the experimental set-up of Hansard et al. (2009) with the chemistry as described by Croot and Laan (2002). Samples were not acidified prior to analysis and were pumped directly into the flow cell without an injection valve. Care was taken to maintain a stable light field during measurements as the luminol reagent was found to be extremely sensitive to changes in light intensity. Photons from the reaction of luminol with iron(II) were counted with a Hamamatsu photomultiplier tube housed in a light-tight box. The signal was recorded using FloZ software (GlobalFIA) and the data for each run is stored in a separate file. There is a folder for each profile that contains all the files (automatically generated by the software), which are numbered. The file numbers (e.g. sample1, sample2,...) correspond to the runs as noted in the lab book (see scans). P.L. Croot, P. Laan (2002). Analytica Chimica Acta 466: 261-273. S.P. Hansard et al. (2009). Deep-Sea Res. I 56: 1117-1129.

Lineage

Progress Code: completed

Statement: Sub-optimal calibration curves earlier in the cruise (and low sensitivity of the luminol), but things improved over the course of the voyage. Luminol has been previously found to 'age well', so that might account for the improved sensitivity, but there is no apparent reason for the improved calibration curves. Maybe the trace metal container is becoming cleaner with time.