9413837 Hart This award provides partial funding for the modernization of a 1975, "home-built", thermal ionization mass spectrometer in the Department of Geology and Geophysics at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The Institution is committed to providing the remaining funds necessary for this instrument upgrade project. The instrumental upgrade includes a refit of the vacuum system, power supplies, magnet control system, ion detection system, and a new oxygen leak valve. The spectrometer system is used by the Principal Investigator and colleagues at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in numerous research projects requiring accurate isotopic analyses for applications in measuring the temporal variation of osmium isotopes in sea water, investigation of the osmium-rhenium isotope systematics in organic-rich marine sediments, use of osmium isotopes as tracers of anthropogenic metals in the marine environment, and basic research for a better general understanding of the factors affecting the geochemical behavior of osmium in the environment. ***
