Rapid and total automation of shipboard ¹⁵N analysis: examples from the North Sea

A fully automated system for the simultaneous analysis of nitrogen and atom% ¹⁵N has been successfully deployed at sea. The system is an elemental analyser interfaced to a triple collector isotope mass spectrometer. The apparatus is rapid and precise under typical shipboard conditions. The advantages and potential for these analyses to become routine measurements at sea are demonstrated by an extensive data set from nitrogen assimilation incubations carried out on a research cruise in the North Sea.