ALBERT

Beschreibung: Due to its accurate and precise character, spectrophotometric pH detection is a common technique applied in measurement methods for carbonate system parameters. However, impurities in the used pH indicator dyes can influence the measurements quality. During our work described here, we focused on impacts of impurities in the pH indicator dye bromocresol green (BCG) on spectrophotometric seawater total alkalinity (AT) measurements. In order to evaluate the extent of such influences, purified BCG served as a reference. First, a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) purification method for BCG was developed as such a method did not exist at the time of this study. An analysis of BCG dye from four different vendors with this method revealed different types and quantities of impurities. After successful purification, AT measurements with purified and unpurified BCG were carried out using the novel autonomous analyzer CONTROS HydroFIA® TA. Long-term measurements in the laboratory revealed a direct influence of impurity types and quantities on the drift behavior of the analyzer. The purer the BCG, the smaller was the AT increase per measurement. The observed drift is generally caused by deposits in the optical pathway mainly generated by the impurities. However, the analyzers drift behavior could not be fully overcome. Furthermore, we could show that a certain impurity type in some indicator dyes changed the drift pattern from linear to nonlinear, which can impair long-term deployments of the system. Consequently, such indicators are impractical for these applications. Laboratory performance characterization experiments revealed no improvement of the measurement quality (precision and bias) by using purified BCG as long as the impurities of the unpurified dye do not exceed a quantity of 2 % (relationship of peak areas in the chromatogram). However, BCG with impurity quantities higher than 6 % provided AT values which failed fundamental quality requirements. In conclusion, to gain optimal AT measurements especially during long-term deployments, an indicator purification is not necessarily required as long as the purchased dye has a purity level of at least 98 % and is free of the named impurity type. Consequently, high-quality AT measurements do not require pure but the purest BCG that is purchasable.

Beschreibung: Surface current drifters were deployed east of Brava island (Cape Verde archipelago, Atlantic ocean) from the RV Meteor during the cruise M160, which took place between 22. November and 20. December 2019. The drifters were deployed in 3 clusters with 3 drifters per cluster. The utilized drifters are the MD03i from Albatros Marine Technologies, Spain. They have a cylinder shape with a 10 cm diameter and 32 cm length. About 8 cm protrude from the water surface and a drogue of both 50 cm length and diameter is attached to each drifter 50 cm below the sea surface so that difter represent currents in the upper 1 m surface layer. The drifter obtains the GPS position and transmits it via the satellite communication system Iridium to the vessel. The overall ratio of drag area inside to drag area outside the water is 33.2.

Beschreibung: Flow-through pCO2, Temp/Sal, and O2 measurements across the Atlantic (Meteor M133 cruise 2016/17) from Cape Town, SA to Stanley, The Falkland Islands. Surface water flow-through system set up on R.V. Meteor M133 (15.12.2016 - 13.01.2017), across the Atlantic. All sensors ran on the same water in a complete flow-through sensor set-up. Depth of pumps: 5.7m from the moon pool Flow rate: ~ 5-6 L/min All data was processed following Canning et al., 2020 (In Review). Sensor data in separate files. Sensors: pCO2: CONTROS HydroC CO2 FT - formerly Kongsberg Maritime Contros GmbH, Kiel, Germany; now -4H-JENA engineering GmbH, Jena, Germany O2: CONTROS HydroFlash O2 - formerly Kongsberg Maritime Contros GmbH, Kiel, Germany SBE 45 Micro Thermosalinograph - Sea-Bird Electronics, Bellevue, USA D-SHIP data from the ships SBE 38 and 21 for sea surface temperature and salinity. Latitude and longitude also from the D-SHIP. All sensors combined together in the same flow-through set-up.