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New perspectives for noble gases in oceanography
Author(s) -
Aeschbach Werner
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: oceans
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-9291
pISSN - 2169-9275
DOI - 10.1002/2016jc012133
Subject(s) - noble gas , groundwater recharge , tracer , seawater , oceanography , environmental science , salinity , atmosphere (unit) , groundwater , geology , chemistry , meteorology , aquifer , physics , geotechnical engineering , organic chemistry , nuclear physics
Conditions prevailing in regions of deep water formation imprint their signature in the concentrations of dissolved noble gases, which are conserved in the deep ocean. Such “recharge conditions” including temperature, salinity, and interactions with sea ice are important in view of ocean‐atmosphere CO 2 partitioning. Noble gases, especially the temperature sensitive Kr and Xe, are well‐established tracers to reconstruct groundwater recharge conditions. In contrast, tracer oceanography has traditionally focused on He isotopes and the light noble gases Ne and Ar, which could be analyzed at the required high precision. Recent developments of analytical and data interpretation methods now provide fresh perspectives for noble gases in oceanography.