This is a request for funds for the purchase of an automated nutrient analysis system. This would be a multi-user instrument, and would be housed in a shared-use analytical and instrumentation facility at UCSB's Marine Science Institute (MSI). The new analyzer would replace a ten-year-old system that no longer has the capabilities required to support current and proposed research projects. Knowledge of the concentrations of dissolved inorganic nutrients in aquatic systems is of fundamental importance to a wide range of biological studies. Areas of interest to researchers at MSI encompass both fresh and salt water systems, and have included such diverse areas as hydrological and ecological studies of Amazonian lake and river systems, nutrient dynamics in areas of merging water masses and coastal upwelling, biogeochemical processes in California's Sierra Nevada watershed, water quality and nutrient cycling studies in coastal estuaries, and ecological studies in both northern and southern polar regions. A11 of these studies have required the analysis of large numbers of water samples for up to five nutrient species. Nutrient analyses have been done using an analyzer system that is now over 10 years old, and which suffers from various problems, including unstable detectors, relatively poor detection limits, and general obsolescence. Some of the aforementioned projects are ongoing, while new projects requiring nutrient analyses are starting up and/or being proposed almost continuously. A feature they all have in common is the need for better and faster nutrient analysis. In the nutrient cycling studies of coastal marshes and estuaries, for example, a system is required that can automaticallv handle the wide range of concentrations (1 to 1000 uM) and salinities (O to 34 ppt) that are routinely encountered (error-prone manual dilutions and salini ty adjustments having been necessary in the past). In the programs dealing with polar systems, sample size (for logistical reasons) and analysis time (because of sample stability) are critical. And in a recently initiated long-term program to monitor the chemical, physical, and biological parameters influencing sedimentation in a coastal area featuring a high-resolution sedimentary record, the rapidly changing oceanographic conditions require timely nutrient analyses (to provide quick feedback to the project), with both high sensitivity (to detect depleted waters), and high precision (to follow subtle long-term changes). The requested analyzer system would fill all of these requirements. The system we are requesting is the Perstorp Flow Solution III, a continuous-flow analyzer with capabilities for both flow injection and segmented flow technologies. It would be configured for the simultaneous analysis of up to five nutrient species (phosphate, nitrate, nitrite, silica, and ammonia), and would include a random-access autosarnpler, peristaltic pump, injection valves, analysis cartridges for the , five nutrients, double-beam photometric detectors, and a PC-type computer/controller with Windows-based software.
