MRI: Acquisition of Continuous Flow Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer (IRMS) for Climate Change and Environmental Research at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

D’Andrea EAR-2117745

This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program grant supports acquisition of a mass spectrometer for study of stable isotopies proxies of climate and environmental processes as recorded in organic molecules in ocean and lake sediments and tree rings. The instrument will support the research of over twelve scientists at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) and the educational program that impacts many undergraduate and graduate students trained at LDEO annually.

The instrument will also support students at Barnard College that will gain hand-on experiential learning in methods of stable isotope mass spectrometry through an extant summer internship Program at LDEO.

A Thermo DELTA V Plus Mass Spectrometer with gas chromatograph and liquid chromatograph front ends will be acquired enabling carbon and hydrogen isotopic analysis of polar and thermo-labile compounds including organic acids, carbohydrates, amino acids, phospholipids, and glycolipids and analysis of carbon and hydrogen stable isotopes in specific lipids. The instrument would support interdisciplinary research including studies of the degradation of petroleum products in the ocean, contamination processes in groundwater aquifers, metabolic pathways within harmful algal and bacterial taxa, microbial controls on methane production in ocean margin sediments, paleoclimate and the evolution of terrestrial plants.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.