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Research Objectives:
Oxygen, the most abundant element on the Earth, comprises about a fifth of the atmosphere. But much of the Earth's oxygen resides in other chemical species (in water, rocks, and minerals) and, of course, in flora and fauna that recycle it (both directly and as carbon dioxide) through the processes of photosynthesis and respiration. Thus scientists are interested in measuring the concentration of molecular oxygen and carbon dioxide in air samples. This project includes a subset of sample collections being made at a series of baseline sites around the world.
These data should help to improve estimates of the processes whereby oxygen is cycled throughout the global ecosystem, specifically, through photosynthesis and atmospheric mixing rates. They improve predictions of the net exchange rates of carbon dioxide with biota, on land and in the oceans. An important part of the measurement program entails developing absolute standards for oxygen-in-air, to ensure stable long-term calibration. This group will also conduct surveys of the oxidative oxygen/carbon ratios of both terrestrial- and marine-based organic carbon, hoping to improve the quantitative basis for linking the oxygen and carbon dioxide geochemical cycles.
These results should help enhance understanding of the processes that regulate the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and of the change processes -- especially climate change -- that regulate ecological functions on land and in the sea.
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