This award provides one-half of the funding required to purchase a gas source isotope ratio mass spectrometer to be installed and operated in the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado. The University is committed to providing the remaining half of the funds necessary for the purchase and will house and maintain the equipment. The new instrument will provide direct analytical support for two research projects: (1) Stable hydrogen isotope ratios and deuterium excess in snow and polar ice, and (2) Stable carbon isotope ratios measured in atmospheric carbon dioxide collected as part of the world-wide sampling network. Additional projects that will be supported by the new equipment include the application of deuterium excess in coastal ice in Greenland and Antarctica to the study of sea ice extent; studies of hydrogen and oxygen isotope ratios in groundwaters, surface waters and air vapor; reconstruction of paleotemperatures from isotopes in ice cores and tree rings; and the application of nitrogen isotope ratios to specific problems in the nitrogen cycle.
