New Liquid Water Isotope Analyzer for measuring stable isotopes of liquid water

www.LGRinc.comAug 20 2009

Los Gatos Research (LGR), the leading innovator of cavity-enhanced laser-based instrumentation for analyses of gases and liquids, today announced the availability of the second-generation Liquid-Water Isotope Analyzer (LWIA). "Our new LWIA is the fastest, most accurate analyzer for measuring the isotopes of oxygen and hydrogen in liquid water on the market today," said Douglas Baer, Ph.D., president of Los Gatos Research (www.LGRinc.com). "In addition, it gives users the flexibility to select the mode of operation that best suits their needs--whether it be extremely fast time response or extraordinarily high measurement precision."

Used for measuring stable isotopes of liquid water, the new Liquid Water Isotope Analyzer provides major advances over existing technology, including:

• Speed (high-throughput mode provides 120 sample measurements per day with 6 injections per measurement)
• Precision/accuracy (high-precision mode provides extraordinary replicate precision with a throughput of 30 sample measurements per day)
• Stability (immunity to ambient temperature variations)
• Robustness (demonstrated long term measurements in the field)
• Low Power (entire system, including Autoinjector, requires only 150 watts)
• Increased functionality (enhanced software control and analysis provides simple, ease of use and numerous additional analytical capabilities)

According to Baer, the new Liquid Water Isotope Analyzer was recently deployed and field tested for four consecutive weeks in the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest Long Term Ecological Research site in Western Oregon, with Professor Jeff McDonnell at Oregon State University. The LWIA was used for real-time continuous measurements of the oxygen and hydrogen isotopes of precipitation and stream water during three large storm events. "We were able, for the first time, to document fine scale changes in rainfall composition and damping effects in the stream channel continuously through these periods," said Professor McDonnell, Richardson Chair in Watershed Science in the Department of Forest Engineering and head of Oregon State University's Hillslope and Watershed Hydrology group. "Our high-precision data showed remarkably fine scale patterns of internal rain-snow mixing--patterns we would not have been able to detect without such high-frequency sampling." McDonnell added, "Hydrologists will find LGR's new field analyzer a valuable tool for gaining new insight into water flow dynamics." These results will be published soon in the journal of Water Resources Research.

For users of earlier LWIA models, LGR is also making available hardware and software upgrades that will allow previous analyzers to meet the current specifications.