Research vessels

FIGURE F.l The research vessel Alpha Helix is used by chemists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to search for marine organisms that contain compounds of medicinal value. Compounds found to have antifungal or antiviral properties are then subjected to the kinds of analvses described in this section. 

Surface-water samples are usually collected manually in precleaned polyethylene bottles (from a rubber or plastic boat) from the sea, lakes, and rivers. Sample collection is performed in the front of the bow of boats, against the wind. In the sea, or in larger inland lakes, sufficient distance (about 500 m) in an appropriate wind direction has to be kept between the boat and the research vessel to avoid contamination. The collection of surface water samples from the vessel itself is impossible, considering the heavy metal contamination plume surrounding each ship. Surface water samples are usually taken at 0.3-1 m depth, in order to be representive and to avoid interference by the air/water interfacial layer in which organics and consequently bound heavy metals accumulate. Usually, sample volumes between 0.5 and 21 are collected. Substantially larger volumes could not be handled in a sufficiently contamination-free manner in subsequent sample pretreatment steps. 

Reliable deep-water sampling is a special and demanding art. It usually has to be done from the research vessel. Special devices and techniques have been developed to provide reliable samples. 

Mass spectrometers have been used at some level in all of these types of investigations because of their unsurpassed sensitivity and specificity, their multicomponent analytical capability and, in some cases, their ability to provide precise and accurate isotope ratios. Traditional methods of analysis typically involve the collection of water and sediment samples, or biological specimens, during field expeditions and cmises on research vessels (R/Vs), and subsequent delivery of samples to a shore-based laboratory for mass spectrometric analyses. The recent development of field-portable mass spectrometers, however, has greatly facilitated prompt shipboard analyses. Further adaptation of portable mass spectrometer technology has also led to construction of submersible instruments that can be deployed at depth for in situ measurements. 

Most of our understanding of the marine chemistry of trace metals rests on research done since 1970. Prior to this, the accuracy of concentration measurements was limited by lack of instrumental sensitivity and contamination problems. The latter is a consequence of the ubiquitous presence of metal in the hulls of research vessels, paint, hydrowires, sampling bottles, and laboratories. To surmount these problems, ultra-clean sampling and analysis techniques have been developed. New methods such as anodic stripping voltammetry are providing a means by which concentration measurements can be made directly in seawater and pore waters. Most other methods require the laborious isolation of the trace metals from the sample prior to analysis to eliminate interferences caused by the highly concentrated major ions. 

Chromatographic systems are inexpensive, and are generally rugged enough to be operated on a research vessel or could be modified relatively easily for this purpose. It is possible to pass large volumes of water through an adsorbent in a device that is the size of an double-A battery, for preconcentration and separation. 

In the Soviet Union, the research institutes and organizations of Sevastopol had at their disposal well-equipped research vessels and played a leading role in the studies of the Black Sea. These were, first of all, the Marine Hydrophysical Institute (R/V Mikhail Lomonosov , R/V Akademik Vernadsky , R/V Professor Kolesnikov and the Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas (R/V Akademik Kovalevsky , R/V Professor Vodyanitsky ) of the USSR Academy of Sciences, now the National Academy of Sciences of the Ukraine. In addition, there were the bases of research vessels of the Sevastopol Branch of the State Oceanographic Institute (SB SOI) and the Hydrographic Service of the Black Sea Navy. Sevastopol was also a port of registration for re-... 

Turkish oceanographers study the vast zone along the southern Anatolian coast and also water exchange in the Bosphorus Strait. They have at their disposal the research vessels Piri Reis of the Institute of Marine Sciences and Technology in Izmir, Bilim of the Institute of Marine Sciences, Middle East... 

AWS) on board the research vessels or on top of the institute building. Wind speed was measured using Young s wind monitor (model 05103). The wind speeds were normalized for 10 m height and corrected for direction. 

A research vessel on Lake Ontario had a slow leak of diesel fuel as it cruised around the lake sampling sediment. Over a few days, this vessel lost 50 gal of diesel fuel. The research scientists on this vessel patched the leak, and then, being a conscientious group, they began to wonder about the environmental ramifications of this spill. They assumed that diesel fuel was composed entirely of n-hexadecane (C16H34), and looking... 

Figure 14.3 Vertical sections of (B) temperature, (C) salinity, (D) O2, (E) N02 and (F) NOs", extending from Oman to India, constructed using data collected by the Research Vessels Sagar Kanya andThomas G. Thompson during June-September, 1995. Locations of stations comprising the section are shown in (A) with reference to the secondary nitrite maximum zone (after Naqvi, 1991) and the zone of minimum (Winkler) O2 at 300 m as demarcated by the 0.25 ml L contour (dotted curve) (Wyrtki,1971).

It has been observed that the surface deposits in marine cores do not have the expected age of zero. This disparity has been ascribed to loss of core tops at time of core recovery and the reservoir effect discussed above. It has also been discovered that the dominant control of the apparently constant dates in the top 8 cm of a core is bioturbation. Nozaki et al. (1977) studied a core obtained by a submersible research vessel and therefore exempt from the artifact of mixing or loss of the top of the sediment pile, which commonly occurs during piston coring and recovery. They measured and °Pb, using the latter to determine that bioturbation has indeed occurred and establish its rate constant (Figures 4 and 5). Clearly biomrbation has occurred to a depth of 8 cm, below that depth the absence of bioturbation permits the use of to determine an accumulation rate and establish a chronology. The relationship between depth of bioturbation... 

Tem-Press—They are the best source for research vessels of all kinds, including test tube bombs and gas intensiliers for specialized gases such as argon, hydrogen, oxygen, ammonia, etc. 

Open Ocean Mercury Determinations. In our initial studies concerned with the marine geochemistry of mercury, we obtained open ocean smrface samples by hand from a small work boat away from any adverse influence of the oceanographic research vessel. The concentrations of mercury in the open-ocean surface waters (western Sargasso Sea) were small (ca. 10 ng/1.) and rather imiformly distributed (26). However, to collect seawater to determine the concentrations of mercury at other depths, we needed an artifact-free sampling procedure. 

Sampling from Oceanographic Research Vessel. In sampling from oceanographic vessels, surface samples were taken with a bucket, as was done from tankers. Samples were taken from the windward side after the vessel had left a station and was imder way at 2-3 knots. 

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