Elemental analyses of carbon and nitrogen in oceanographic research crosses the disciplines of biology, chemistry, and geology and involves a diverse array of sample types including laboratory-grown microbial (e.g. bacteria, phytoplankton, protozoa) and zooplankton biomass, water column particulates, sediment trap material, surface microlayer samples, and benthic core samples. For scientists at WHOI such measurements play pivotal roles in studies on phytoplankton and bacterial nutrient dynamics, primary production, water column nutrient cycling, microbial food chain dynamics, water column particulate transformations and fluxes, hydrothermal vent biology and chemistry, petroleum geochemistry, air-sea exchange processes, and benthic-water column interactions. We are requesting a new CHN elemental analyzer that will be shared by a diverse group of WHOI scientists from 4 different departments.
