MRI-R2: Acquisition of Stable Isotope Instrumentation for High Precision Paleoclimatic and Environmental Research at the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).

This award funds the acquisition of one Picarro L1102-ia analyzer (for wavelength-scanned cavity ring-down spectroscopy), two Thermo Delata V+ mass spectrometers, and one Elementar Isoprime with Dual Inlet and Multiprep systems to replace aging analytical equipment in the stable isotope facility at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO).

These new instruments will allow a broad array of researchers at the LDEO, and elsewhere, to continue their cutting-edge research involving high precision analysis of stable isotopes in water, carbonate samples, and organic samples, including tree-ring cellulose and compound-specific organic extracts.

Furthermore, the new instruments, while supporting existing researchers in climatology, will also new research endeavors in the field of biogeosciences. As currently envisioned, a new LDEO Biogeoscience Research Instrument Cluster would support research projects that serve to catalyze new avenues of collaborative and integrative research in paleoclimatology, hydrology, paleohydrology, paleoceanography, and biology.

The broader impacts involve maintaining a high quality national and international focal point for paleoclimate research as well as an extensive plan to involve a diverse cadre of undergraduate and graduate students in the research of the Observatory. There are plans to leverage another NSF-funded activity -- the Secondary School Field Research Program (SSFRP) -- to provide hand-on research and mentoring for dozens of underrepresented minority high-school students drawn from New York City borough high schools.