Role of the oceans in the atmospheric cycle of carbonyl sulfide. Doctoral thesis

Technical Report · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1985

OSTI ID:5968568

Johnson, J E

Carbonyl sulfide (OCS) is both the dominant sulfur gas in the remote troposphere and, along with volcanoes, a major source of sulfur for the stratospheric sulfate layer. Prior to this work the ocean was regarded as a major sink for atmospheric OCS. The purpose of this study has been to assess the magnitude of the global air-sea flux of OCS. The author designed an analytical system which was centered around a Varian-3700 gas chromatograph with a flame-photometric detector. To increase the sensitivity of the detector, the hydrogen gas for the flame was doped with sulfur hexafloride. Air samples were concentrated in a liquid nitrogen cooled freeze-out loop, then injected into the gas chromatograph. Water samples purged with sulfur-free zero-air which was analyzed similarly. The author also built a permeation tube system for chemical standardization. This equipment was taken on two oceanographic cruises on the Pacific Ocean on board the NOAA ship DISCOVERER, one in the spring of 1983 and a second in the spring of 1984. Both of these cruises included measurements of air and sea-water concentrations of OCS.

• Research Organization: National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5968568
• Report Number(s): PB-86-144078/XAB; NCAR/CT-93
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

500200* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
520200 -- Environment
Aquatic-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AIR POLLUTION
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON CYCLE
CARBON OXYSULFIDE
CHROMATOGRAPHY
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
ELEMENTS
GAS ANALYSIS
GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY
NONMETALS
POLLUTION
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SULFUR
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
TROPOSPHERE
WATER POLLUTION