Optical Techniques for Remote and In-Situ Characterization of Particles Pertinent to GEOTRACES
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UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Previously Published Works Title Optical techniques for remote and in-situ characterization of particles pertinent to GEOTRACES Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8sd2044w Authors Boss, E Guidi, L Richardson, MJ et al. Publication Date 2015-04-01 DOI 10.1016/j.pocean.2014.09.007 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Progress in Oceanography 133 (2015) 43–54 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Progress in Oceanography journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/pocean Optical techniques for remote and in-situ characterization of particles pertinent to GEOTRACES ⇑ Emmanuel Boss a, , Lionel Guidi b, Mary Jo Richardson c, Lars Stemmann d, Wilford Gardner c, James K.B. Bishop e, Robert F. Anderson f, Robert M. Sherrell g a School of Marine Sciences, 5706 Aubert Hall, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04473, USA b Laboratoire d’Oceanographie de Villefranche (CNRS), Observatoire Océanographique de Villefranche, 181, Chemin du Lazaret, 06234 Villefranche sur mer, France c Texas A&M University, 3146 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843, USA d Sorbonne Universités (Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris 6), Observatoire Océanologique de Villefranche-sur-Mer, 06230 Villefranche-sur-Mer, France e University of California Berkley, 499 McCone Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA f Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, 231 Comer, 61 Route 9W, PO Box 1000, Palisades, NY 10964, USA g Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, 71 Dudley Rd., New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA article info abstract Article history: Field and laboratory characterization of marine particles is laborious and expensive. Proxies of particle Available online 14 October 2014 properties have been developed that allow researchers to obtain high frequency distributions of such properties in space or time. We focus on optical techniques used to characterize marine particles in-situ, with a focus on GEOTRACES-relevant properties, such as bulk properties including particle mass, cross- sectional area, particle size distribution, particle shape information, and also single particle optical prop- erties, such as individual particle type and size. We also address the use of optical properties of particles to infer particulate organic or inorganic carbon. In addition to optical sensors we review advances in imaging technology and its use to study marine particles in situ. This review addresses commercially available technology and techniques that can be used as a proxy for particle properties and the associated uncertainties with particular focus to open ocean environments, the focus of GEOTRACES. Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Introduction to the role of particles in GEOTRACES and temporal limitations of discrete sampling potentially intro- duce a bias into the interpretation of the results due to an incom- Riverine particles and atmospheric aerosols serve as input of plete description of the particle field. trace elements to seawater. Trace elements are removed from sea- Optical techniques allow for sampling at much greater spatial water by active uptake by phytoplankton, subsequent grazing and and temporal resolution, providing a more informed context for sedimentation as well as via adsorption to particles. They are also interpreting the results from discrete samples as documented below internally recycled within the ocean through physical and biogeo- (Fig. 1). In addition, preliminary application of optical techniques chemical processes (for recent summaries, see Anderson and during early GEOTRACES cruises has helped to establish an impor- Hayes, 2014; Jeandel et al., 2015). Consequently, an accurate tant role for intermediate and benthic nepheloid layers particles in knowledge of the abundance, distribution and composition of par- the removal of radionuclides and, presumably, of other trace ele- ticles in the ocean is essential to the mission of the GEOTRACES ments from seawater (Deng et al., 2014; Hayes et al., in press). Infor- program, an international study of the marine biogeochemical mation presented in this review will facilitate the incorporation of cycles of trace elements and their isotopes <www.geotraces.org>. additional sophisticated optical techniques in future GEOTRACES Collection of particles in discrete samples, followed by the chemi- expeditions. This information will also be of value in planning other cal characterization of particle composition, is widely used in programs, such as those studying the marine biogeochemical cycles GEOTRACES to define the role of particles in trace element cycles of carbon, of major nutrients, and of anthropogenic contaminants. (Lam et al., 2015; McDonnell et al., 2015). The inherent spatial ⇑ Corresponding author. Optical properties and their sensitivity to mass, size, E-mail addresses: [email protected] (E. Boss), [email protected] composition, shape, and packing of marine particles (L. Guidi), [email protected] (M.J. Richardson), [email protected] (L. Stemmann), [email protected] (W.D. Gardner), [email protected] (J.K.B. Bishop), [email protected] (R.F. Anderson), [email protected]. Inherent optical properties (IOP) of seawater and its constitu- edu (R.M. Sherrell). ents are independent of sun illumination and can be measured in http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2014.09.007 0079-6611/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 44 E. Boss et al. / Progress in Oceanography 133 (2015) 43–54 the laboratory and the field. Absorption and angular scattering are the processes through which monochromatic (i.e. narrow wave- length band) and collimated (i.e. highly directional) light from a source is lost out of a light beam through annihilation or redirec- tion, respectively. The attenuation coefficient (c) is the sum of the absorption coefficient (a) and the scattering coefficient (b), which is the integral of all directions of angular scattering. An addi- tional IOP is inelastic scattering; the process whereby light absorbed at one wavelength is emitted at another wavelength. To first order, optical properties of particles vary with concen- tration. To second order, they vary with size, shape, internal struc- ture and packing. While the interaction of matter with light is complicated (e.g. Jonasz and Fournier, 2007, and Sosik, 2008, for recent reviews), some generalizations can be made, in particular with respect to the effect of particle size. For particles much smal- ler than the wavelength, scattering is fore-aft symmetric and Fig. 1. Example of a section of beam attenuation coefficient due to particles (cp) decreases as wavelength to the negative 4th power, whereas collected during the South Atlantic Ventilation Experiment (SAVE) in February, absorption for such particles is proportional to their volume. For 1989. Shows location of section (red) from North to South. A 25-cm path-length particles much larger than the wavelength, absorption, scattering SeaTech transmissometer (acceptance angle 1.03°). Note bottom expansion of the and attenuation correlate with cross-sectional area (i.e. their sha- depth scale for higher resolution. Concentrations of resuspended boundary sedi- ments exceeded 1500 lglÀ1 in the Argentine Basin (Wood, 1993; Gardner et al., dow, e.g. Jonasz and Fournier, 2007), exhibiting relatively little 2014) but were seldom greater than 100 lglÀ1 in the Brazil basin (Richardson et al., spectral variations in scattering, and hence are relatively insensi- 1990). (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader tive to composition. To first order, the mass normalized optical is referred to the web version of this article.) property of a single particle can be predicted by the ratio of its size (e.g. the diameter of a sphere with a similar cross-section) to the wavelength of light times the difference between its index of scattered in the same direction the light is propagating. Composi- refraction and that of water (e.g. Figs. 3–6 in Stemmann and tion effects are mediated through the index of refraction of the Boss, 2012). While mass normalized absorption decreases approx- material particles that are composed of both organic (lipids, sugar, imately monotonically with particle size (Duysens, 1956), mass proteins, starch) and inorganic materials (opal, calcite, clay miner- normalized scattering exhibits a resonance behavior as a function als). These materials have indices of refraction that are significantly of size. Scattering reaches a maximum for particles of a few different from water (n>1.12, Aas, 1996, where n is measured rel- microns, then decreases as diameterÀ1 for larger solid particles ative to water), and hence cause the particles to interact signifi- (Baker et al., 2001; Fig. 2). cantly with light (the more different the index of refraction of a Because particulate matter (PM) concentrations within the particle relative to water, the more intense the scattering from that water column change over four orders of magnitude (e.g. PM vary- particle). Because phytoplankton and other organic particles (such ing from 5 to >12,000 lgkgÀ1 as a function of depth and location in as bacteria) often have a large fraction of their volume occupied by the open ocean, Brewer et al., 1976; Gardner et al., 1985), the pri- fluid, their ‘effective’ index of refraction (that is if we model them mary variability in optical properties in the ocean (from the seawa- as homogeneous particles) is quite similar