Effect of ocean environmental factors on sound absorption by boric acid relaxation in sea water

By using the expressions for the maximum absorption per wavelength (αλ),and the relaxation frequency fr of the boric acid relaxation derived previously by the author and employing the related oceanographic literatures, the effects of pressure, temperature, pH and salinity on (αλ)r and ∫r of the boric acid relaxation in sea water have been estimated. Results show that ( αλ), not only increases with pH but also increases approximately linearly with pressure and temperature, and is nearly proportional to the 1. 35 power of salinity. However, pressure, pH and salinity have negligible effect on ∫r; therefore, ∫r, can be approximately expressed as a function of temperature only. Comparisons of the predicted with the measured ( αλ)r and ∫r in different ocean areas are given.

Effect of environmental factors on the complexation of iron and humic acid

A method of size exclusion chromatography coupled with ultraviolet spectrophotometry and off-line graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry was developed to assess the complexation properties of iron（Fe） and humic acid（HA） in a water environment. The factors affecting the complexation of Fe and HA, such as ionic strength, pH, temperature and UV radiation, were investigated. The Fe–HA complex residence time was also studied. Experimental results showed that pH could influence the deprotonation of HA and hydrolysis of Fe, and thus affected the complexation of Fe and HA. The complexation was greatly disrupted by the presence of NaCl. Temperature had some influence on the complexation. The yield of Fe–HA complexes showed a small decrease at high levels of UV radiation, but the effect of UV radiation on Fe–HA complex formation at natural levels could be neglected. It took about 10 hr for the complexation to reach equilibrium, and the Fe–HA complex residence time was about 20 hr.Complexation of Fe and HA reached a maximum level under the conditions of pH 6, very low ionic strength, in the dark and at a water temperature of about 25°C, for 10 hr. It was suggested that the Fe–HA complex could form mainly in freshwater bodies and reach high levels in the warm season with mild sunlight radiation. With changing environmental parameters, such as at lower temperature in winter or higher pH and ionic strength in an estuary, the concentration of the Fe–HA complex would decrease.

NitroMAC：An instrument for the measurement of HONO and intercomparison with a long-path absorption photometer

Nitro MAC（French acronym for continuous atmospheric measurements of nitrogenous compounds） is an instrument which has been developed for the semi-continuous measurement of atmospheric nitrous acid（HONO）. This instrument relies on wet chemical sampling and detection using high performance liquid chromatography（HPLC）-visible absorption at540 nm. Sampling proceeds by dissolution of gaseous HONO in a phosphate buffer solution followed by derivatization with sulfanilamide/N-（1-naphthyl）-ethylenediamine. The performance of this instrument was found to be as follows： a detection limit of around 3 ppt with measurement uncertainty of 10% over an analysis time of 10 min. Intercomparison was made between the instrument and a long-path absorption photometer（LOPAP） during two experiments in different environments. First, air was sampled in a smog chamber with concentrations up to 18 ppb of nitrous acid. Nitro MAC and LOPAP measurements showed very good agreement. Then, in a second experiment, ambient air with HONO concentrations below250 ppt was sampled. While Nitro MAC showed its capability of measuring HONO in moderate and highly polluted environments, the intercomparison results in ambient air highlighted that corrections must be made for minor interferences when low concentrations are measured.