Operation SWAB: Monitoring of Ship, Van, and Laboratory 14C and 3H Contamination

University Of Miami, Coral Gables FL

Investigators

Abstract

This proposal asks for 5 additional years of support for the SWAB program. The SWAB program has been going on for nearly 35 years as the mechanism for keeping tritium (3H) and radiocarbon (14C) contamination of ships and associated vans and laboratories to a minimum. The SWAB program proposes to continue operations in order to minimize contamination on ships involved in measuring natural abundances of 14C and 3H as part of global ocean programs such as CLIVAR and GEOTRACES. The University of Miami proposes to serve as an unbiased entity to help ensure that background levels of 14C and 3H can be measured with confidence by the oceanographic community with minimal risk of contamination, while allowing studies and experiments that require the use of these isotopes at elevated levels to continue. Both 14C and 3H serve as important tracers of ocean circulation and their successful measurement at background levels is crucial to understanding how the oceans affect climate. Recently there has been increased interest in oceanic carbon cycling, and natural abundance measurements of 14C are an important tool for studying the time scales of the carbon cycle. The assurance that these globally important climate-related studies can be carried out advances discovery and understanding, while promoting teaching and learning to a large segment of the oceanographic community. Additionally, the testing for trace levels of radioisotope contamination assures both the ships' crew and science members that adequate steps are being taken to minimize their exposure to radioisotopes. Broader Impacts: The principal impact of the present proposal is under criterion two, providing infrastructure support for scientists to use the vessel and its shared-use instrumentation in support of their NSF-funded oceanographic research projects (which individually undergo separate review by the relevant research program of NSF). 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.