Shuji Aoki | PubMed Health

PubMed2005

A method for determination of methyl chloride concentration in air trapped in ice cores.

A method for measuring the concentration of methyl chloride (CH3Cl) in air trapped in an ice core was developed. The method combines the air extraction by milling the ice core samples under vacuum and the analysis of the extracted air with a cryogenic preconcentration/gas chromatograph/mass spectrometry system. The method was applied to air from Antarctic ice core samples estimated to have been formed in the pre-industrial and/or early industrial periods. The overall precision of the method deduced from duplicate ice core analyses was estimated to be better than +/-20 pptv. The measured CH3Cl concentration of 528+/-26 pptv was similar to the present-day concentration in the remote atmosphere as well as the CH3Cl concentration over the past 300 years obtained from Antarctic firn air and ice core analyses.

Air↗

PubMed2005

An analytical system for determining delta17O in CO2 using continuous flow-isotope ratio MS.

We developed a simple measurement system for delta17O in nanomole quantities of CO2 using continuous flow isotope ratio mass spectrometry (CF-IRMS). The analytical system consisted of a sample injection system, a helium-purged CO2 purification line, a capillary GC, a combustion unit, and CF-IRMS. A unique feature of the system is that we use molecular CO2 to determine the isotopic compositions including delta17O. The delta17O of CO2 in a sample is calculated from the mass ratios of both 45/44 and 46/44 of two different kinds of CO2, which have been purified quantitatively from different aliquots of a sample. While one aliquot (rCO2) flows into IRMS directly, the other (eCO2) flows through a CuO unit (900 degrees C) prior to injection into IRMS, to exchange oxygen atoms in the sample CO2 molecules with those in CuO for which we can assume Delta17O = 0. In our system, we introduce both rCO2 and eCO2 alternately to IRMS repeatedly by using an automatic multianalytical system to improve analytical precision statistically. The standard deviation of 0.35 per thousand for Delta17O can be realized using as little as 8.7 nmol CO2 in a approximately 3-h analysis. Based on this system, we have quantified delta17O in the stratospheric CO2 over Japan.

Journal Article↗