Date of Award

2018

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Oceanography

Specialization

Marine and Atmospheric Chemistry

Department

Oceanography

First Advisor

Brice Loose

Abstract

The Underwater Mass Spectrometer (UMS) provides unprecedented resolution and measurement detail for volatile compounds, including dissolved gases. However, interpretation of the measurements requires attention to several instrumental and environmental effects. We have developed a new calibration method to measure and correct for the influence of hydrostatic pressure, instrument internal temperature, electronic noise, sample temperature, water vapor, and external water temperature changes. We use an in-situ calibration method that samples continuously from a dissolved gas standard; the UMS and in-situ calibration were twice deployed on a submersible tow vehicle to capture profiles throughout the euphotic zone. The primary atmospheric gases – N2, O2, Ar and CO2 - were measured while sampling from the calibration system to examine how independent variables (pressure, internal temperature, electronic noise baseline, sample temperature, water vapor pressure, and in-situ water temperature) cause variability in the UMS readings. Principal Component Analysis was used to evaluate sources of variability and generalized additive models were used to correct the UMS output. These models successfully correct UMS readings to calibrate for ambient sampling within 1% error. In-situ calibration allows for continuous, high fidelity measurements and better tracing of dissolved gases in the ocean.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.