D3.5 Report on Nutrient pilot activities

Making measurements for inorganic nutrients, salinity, and inorganic carbon in the ocean are essential for understanding the ocean’s role in local and global climate, and any data produced needs to be of the highest quality and traceable, especially where the data feeds into climate models and global databases. The demand for this data is ever increasing, as is the need to recommend updated best practices and advice in achieving the highest quality data. As part of EuroGO-SHIP’s aim to advance best practices, a pilot evaluation was held to compare and recommend methods for the preservation of seawater samples for nutrient analysis—stored for up to 12 months. The dissolved inorganic nutrients that were studied in this deliverable were specifically: Nitrate, Nitrite, Silicate, Phosphate and Ammonium.