A request is made to fund additional and back-up instrumentation for the R/V Pelican, a 116 foot Coastal vessel operated by the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON) as part of the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) research fleet. The award includes one:
Triathler Multilabel Counter
Broader Impacts: The acquisition, maintenance and operation of shared-use instrumentation allows NSF-funded researchers from any US university or lab access to working, calibrated instruments for their research, reducing the cost of that research, and expanding the base of potential researchers.
2010 Oceanographic Instrumentation Final Report In April 2010, the Oceanographic Instrumentation panel recommended funding a Triathler Multilabel Counter for use in the RAD van aboard the R/V PELICAN. The counter and supplies were ordered from IN/US Systems and Fisher Scientific Supplies. The counter was received and immediately put into service in September during a cruise for Dr. Nancy Rabalais and during an October cruise for Dr. Cynthia Heil. In 2011 the counter has been used on three cruises including two for Dr. Steven DiMarco and one for Dr. Ron Kiene. The R/V PELICAN had a Tricarb 2100 series scintillation counter until it was deemed unfit for repair by a Perkins Elmer field evaluation. The evaluation stated that "this instrument is full of corrosion, beyond the point of rebuilding, and beyond the point of repairing." The scintillation counter would not initialize during start-up, the elevator was jammed and the load chamber was completely corroded due to salt water and humidity. The internal components of this instrument were corroded as well. The instrument was 11 years old and had reached its life expectancy. The replacement cost for this type of instrument was currently over 40K. The Triathler counter had been selected as the replacement of the shipboard scintillation counter. The Triathler scintillation counter is a single sample counter which provides fast and accurate counts of all radioisotopes including tritium in a variety of sample formats. The unit is small and light weight and can be remove from our radiation van and stored in a safe environment when not in use. The Triathler is able to perform luminescent, liquid scintillation and gamma counting and thus enhances the capabilities of scientists from a variety of disciplines to examine key biogeochemical processes central to cutting edge oceanographic research. The ability to measure 3H, 14C, 32P, 35S provides the ability to measure the rates of key biological processes such as bacterial production rates (3H), phytoplankton productivity and carbon cycling (e.g. exudation of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from phytoplankton with 14C as well as P cycling with 32P. The ability to perform gamma counting extends the utility to geological oceanographers measuring U/Th series radionuclides and other particle reactive radionuclides that can trace sediment dynamics on seasonal (7Be, 234Th), decadal and centential time scales (210Pb, 137Cs). The alpha-beta separation electronics also make this instrument ideal to detect alpha isotopes such as radon 222Rn which has been used as a ground water tracer and of significant importance in the continental shelf of in the Gulf of Mexico. The diverse uses of the Triathler counter make it a cost efficient replacement for the scintillation counter that has been used aboard the R/V PELICAN to examine a variety of biogeochemical processes critical to oceanographic research. The award was obligated as follows: Triathler Multilabel Counter $14,946 Supplies from Fisher $554 Total $15,500 Joseph D. Malbrough, Jr.
