CEFAS24-114 Contract for carbon analysis (including Thermogravimetric analysis)

Background: The marine Natural Capital Ecosystem Assessment (m-NCEA) programme, in collaboration with Defra and the JNCC aims to contribute to improved understanding of ecosystem services provided by seabed habitat assets, including providing evidence on the effectiveness of fisheries management measures and natural capital condition monitoring, by taking sediment samples along a chronic trawling gradient in Farnes area.

Ecosystem services provided by the seabed includes climate regulation, which is linked to carbon storage and sequestration. The ability of sediments to store carbon depends on several interlinked factors including the condition of the carbon, so several different carbon measurements are needed to provide an overall picture of the function and condition of carbon within the sediments.

As part of this programme, sediment samples were collected using a NIOZ core during surveys in the North and Celtic Seas onboard the RV Cefas Endeavour. 455 samples were collected in total.

Requirement: Cefas require the Supplier to analyse 455 freeze dried sediment core slice samples from Farnes and Celtic Sea as per below Deliverables. Cefas require the data to be provided in an appropriate format (industry standard Excel spreadsheet).

Deliverables:

Following analysis completed on all samples:

(TC) Total Carbon

(TN) Total Nitrogen

(OC) Organic Carbon

Stable Isotopes

(TGA) Thermogravimetric analysis

Soli-Toc Total Organic Carbon Analysis