News

Much has happened in the world since our last news item in March. However, we have been able to continue our work, even experiments, and have made good progress over the spring and summer. First, a manuscript describing measurements of Tris buffer solubilities in various salt solutions, and measurements of water activities of aqueous Tris,…

The Working Group met for the fourth time on February 16th in San Diego, just before  AGU/ASLO Ocean Sciences in San Diego. This meeting, including notes summarising our discussions, is described under the Meetings link above. We were particularly pleased to talk with Associate Member Regina Easley about the possible participation of NIST in our…

Draft software for the calculation of pH in Tris buffers in artificial seawater and other solutions, and carbonate system K* in standard seawater and other natural waters, is now available here: MarChemSpec. It is easy to use, with both user input and results displayed on a single web page. Try it! The chemical speciation model…

The Working Group will hold a meeting at Ocean Sciences 2020 in San Diego (16-21 February), and will also host a lunchtime session on Thursday 20 February, 12.45-1.45pm. At this session we will describe our latest results, including some software that we have developed for the calculation of pH in Tris buffers in artificial seawater,…

Further experiments This month, Pablo Lodeiro and Eric Achterberg (GEOMAR, Kiel) are starting further solubility experiments to characterise the thermodynamic properties of the buffer substance Tris in aqueous solutions of the components of seawater. The work on Tris/NaCl solutions (referred to in the previous news item) is complete, and the new experiments will focus on…

New member of our team We are delighted to welcome postdoctoral scholar Dr Ellen Briggs to our group. She is employed at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), and will work with Andrew Dickson on the Harned cell experiments, and heat capacity determinations, that are a part of the joint project with Simon Clegg and…

Experiments We have now mostly completed a laboratory intercomparison exercise in which the electromotive forces of a series of test solutions are being measured using Harned Cells at the national metrology laboratories of Germany, France, and Japan; the National Institute of Standards and Technology; and the laboratory of WG 145 member Andrew Dickson at Scripps…

Experiments At GEOMAR the measurements of the solubility of Tris in aqueous NaCl solutions from 25 oC to 45 oC have now been completed, and the remaining set of experiments (for 0 oC to 20 oC) will begin shortly. As described in the news entry for April, the data will be used to help quantify…

This is a summary of news about our current activities. Experiments Pablo at GEOMAR has just completed the first of a series of measurements of the solubility of Tris in aqueous NaCl solutions at different temperatures. The data, together with the results of Harned Cell experiments to be carried by other WG 145 members, will…

Our third full Working Group meeting was held on Sunday 11 February, immediately preceding the AGU/ASLO Ocean Sciences meeting. Items for discussion included our survey of community needs for chemical speciation modelling programs, and progress in our funded project and the related experiments now being planned or carried out in several countries. The report on…