New CRP on Isotopes in Precipitation and Paleoclimatic Archives in Tropical Areas
Posted
7
feb
2013
A new Coordinated Research Project (CRP) on Stable Isotopes in Precipitation and Paleoclimatic Archives in Tropical Areas to Improve Regional Hydrological and Climatic Impact Models is to be implemented by the IAEA from 2013-2016. CRPs provide an opportunity to work with and learn from colleagues around the world on common isotopic research topics. The final product is an IAEA technical document, and peer reviewed papers or symposia proceedings wherever possible. For more details and application forms, please consult the IAEA website Coordinated Research Activities.
For further information please contact Dagnachew Legesse Belachew.
Announcement: 9th IAEA Tritium Intercomparison (TRIC2012)
Posted
14
dec
2012
The Isotope Hydrology Laboratory (IHL) is conducting the 9th International Tritium Intercomparison (TRIC2012) for the performance assessment of tritium (3H) assays in water at low level environmental concentration levels. We invite all laboratories using conventional liquid scintillation and gas proportional decay counting, as well as newer mass-spectrometry-3He accumulation methods to participate. For technical details and to register your laboratory, please visit the TRIC2012 website.
For further information please contact the TRIC team tric@iaea.org
New Software: Laboratory Information Management System for Water Isotope Laser Spectroscopy
Posted
02
nov
2012
The Isotope Hydrology Laboratory (IHL) has partnered with the USGS to develop a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) for water oxygen and hydrogen isotopes specifically for users of new laser absorption spectrographs (LIMS for Lasers). Laser spectroscopy has recently revolutionized the analysis of the stable isotopes of water through easy-to-use and robust instrumentation; however the data has not been so easy to work with due to inter-sample memory artefacts, uncontrolled instrumental drift, overwhelming amounts of data, and improper user calibration of results. These problems are overcome by the adoption of LIMS for Lasers, which automates many of these processes, and using systematic approaches has the effect of improving quality assurance, increasing laboratory efficiency, and decreasing laboratory errors. The software is available cost-free from the IAEA - Water Resources Programme and USGS websites.
For further information please contact Len Wassenaar
Isotope Hydrology Laboratory - Final WICO 2011 Report
Posted
15
MAY
2012
The final WICO 2011 report is now available for download. The report provides the outcome of a world-wide proficiency test for 137 laboratories conducting routine analysis of δ2H and δ18O in water by isotope-ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) and laser absorption spectroscopy (LAS). This test revealed that >90 % of laboratory submissions provided acceptable results within ± 2 ‰ for δ2H and ± 0.2 ‰ for δ18O of the established reference values for test waters, and no difference in outcomes based on IRMS vs. LAS technology was found.
However, when including each laboratory's stated precision as an assessment criterion, over 30 % of laboratories had overstated their precision or had very poor precision. The primary cause of outliers appeared to be improper calibration or compromised storage of laboratory standard and primary reference waters, so the importance of proper storage and handling of lab standards cannot be understated. The poor practice of single standard normalization was also identified as a problem for some laboratories. We recommend laboratories strive to report long-term precisions based upon control standards. A synthesis of the WICO report is currently in press in Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry.
For further information please contact Len Wassenaar.



























