Highly-precise measurements of ambient oxygen using near-infrared cavity-enhanced laser absorption spectrometry

Highly precise measurements of ambient oxygen have been used to constrain the carbon budget, study photosynthesis, estimate marine productivity, and prescribe individual pollution events to their point of origin. These studies require analyzers that can measure ambient oxygen with ppm-level precision. In this work, we utilize near-infrared off-axis integrated cavity output spectroscopy (off-axis ICOS) to quantify ambient oxygen with a precision (1σ, 100s) of ±7 ppm. By periodically calibrating the instrument, the analyzer is capable of making oxygen measurements to better than ±1 ppm (1σ). The sensor is highly linear (R(2) > 0.9999) over a wide dynamic range (0-100% oxygen). The sensor was combined with a commercial CO(2)/CH(4)/H(2)O Analyzer, and used to make measurements of respiration and fossil fuel pollution events with oxidative ratios ranging from 1.15-1.60. Future improvements will increase the analyzer precision (1σ, 100s) to better than ±1.4 ppm, and decrease the periodic referencing interval to >1 h. By including an additional diode laser, the instrument can be extended to make simultaneous measurements of O(2), CO(2), and H(2)O to enable improved understanding of carbon dioxide production and loss.