This award will provide one-half of the funds required to purchase a precision isotope ratio mass spectrometer for the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California in San Diego. The instrument will be housed and operated in the Scripps Analytical Facility where it will be available for research use by members of the UC-San Diego campus. The Principal Investigator and her colleagues at Scripps are at the forefront of research on stable isotope variations in submarine hydrothermal vents and gases dissolved in sea water, natural ice and sediments. The isotope analyses made possible by this equipment acquisition will lead to knowledge about the deep origins of gases and their role in ocean, sedimentary basin, and atmospheric chemistry.
