COST Action 735 Working Groups

• Working Group 1
• Working Group 2
• Working Group 3

Short Term Scientific Missions

 

 

 

 

Ms Marie Cheize
European Institute of Marine Studies, LEMAR-UMR 6539, Plouzané FRANCE

Topic: Organic speciation of iron in rainwater (report)
Host: Peter Croot, Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences, IFM-GEOMAR, Kiel, GERMANY
Date of STSM: 06/04/2009 to 30/05/2009
STSM code: 4298

Atmospheric inputs constitute one of the most important external sources of iron to the open ocean. Organic compounds (e.g. oxalate) in the atmosphere may play a significant role in organic iron speciation. I undertook my STSM at the IFM-GEOMAR (Kiel, Germany), under the supervision of Peter Croot, to develop a new method based on Cathodic Stripping Voltammetry for the measurement of iron organic complexation in rainwater. We tested nine competitive ligands likely to complex iron in rainwater, i.e. at low pH and low ionic strength. Results are promising for four ligands and analyses of natural samples will validate the method.