[Advances and Prospect of Sampling Techniques and Analytical Methods for Trace Elements in the Ocean: Progress of...

Trace elements, which are important chemical components in the ocean, generally refer to those chemical elements with concentrations below 10 μmol·kg^-1in seawater. Some trace elements, such as Fe and Zn, serve as essential micronutrients for marine organisms, which regulate marine primary productivity and are closely related to the biogeochemical cycle of carbon and nitrogen and therefore affect the global environment and climate change. In contrast, some elements, such as Pb, are anthropogenic pollutants largely released by human activities. In addition, some trace elements and their isotopes can be used as tracers for oceanographic processes and proxies for paleoceanography. However, the high saline matrix and extremely low trace element concentrations in seawater, as well as the contamination from research vessels, sampling equipment, and the surrounding environment during the process of sample collection, pretreatment, and analysis, have restricted researchers from obtaining reliable trace element data in the ocean for a long period of time. Nevertheless, high quality samples and accurate data are prerequisites for investigating the biogeochemical and environmental behavior of marine trace elements. This paper reviews the development of sampling techniques and analytical methods for trace elements in seawater, introduces the research history and platform construction activities in Xiamen University in this field, summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of various sampling and analytical techniques and methods, and presents the perspectives on future developments in the research on trace elements in the ocean.