{"id":1187,"date":"2026-06-18T16:52:36","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T16:52:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.ps.uci.edu\/kccams\/?page_id=1187"},"modified":"2026-06-18T16:52:36","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T16:52:36","slug":"instrumentation","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.ps.uci.edu\/kccams\/instrumentation\/instrumentation\/","title":{"rendered":"Instrumentation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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THE KCCAMS FACILITY<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The KCCAMS facility consists of the KCCAMS laboratory and four research laboratories in UC Irvine\u2019s Earth System Science Department dedicated to terrestrial\/atmospheric, marine, and paleoclimate research. The facility was established in 2001 by UC Irvine faculty Ellen Druffel, John Southon, and Susan Trumbore with a $2 million gift from the W. M. Keck Foundation to advance our understanding of the carbon cycle and its role in the climate system. It was expanded in 2021 with a $2 million grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation (EAR-2117634) awarded to UC Irvine faculty Claudia Czimczik and James Randerson, KCCAMS scientist Guaciara Santos, NASA-JPL scientist Charles Miller, and UC Riverside faculty Francesca Hopkins to support climate change and air quality research.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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KCCAMS Sample Preparation Laboratory<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The KCCAMS Sample Preparation Laboratory<\/strong> accepts a variety of samples in a range of preparation stages to support researchers at all University California campus locations as well as U.S. and international researchers not affiliated with the UC system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its operation is dedicated to supporting carbon cycle research. Samples are also prepared in four associated research laboratories in the Department of Earth System Science led by UC Irvine faculty Ellen Druffel, Susan Trumbore, Claudia Czimczik, Kathleen Johnson, and Brett Walker, supported by KCCAMS staff scientists Drs. Xiaomei Xu, Guaciara Santos, and Zicheng Wang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Plant Fragments being treated with NaOH<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Various Samples post-combustion<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Graphitization line<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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CO2 frozen in liquid nitrogen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The 0.5 MV Accelerator Mass Spectrometer<\/strong> (1.5SDH-2, National Electrostatics Corporation) has an in-house designed 60-sample MC-SNICS cesium sputter ion source. While it is optimized for regular-sized (100\u20131000 \u00b5g C) bulk samples, the KCCAMS facility also works with interested researchers to process smaller samples (15-100 \u00b5g C).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The EA\/Cracker-GIS-MICADAS \u201cTerra\u201d<\/strong> is a 0.2 MV accelerator mass spectrometer that was added to UC Irvine\u2019s KCCAMS user facility to support climate change and air quality research in December 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With its hybrid ion source and high-degree of automation, the MICADAS enables (a) the rapid analysis of size-limited samples in the form of carbon dioxide gas (organic solids or purified carbon dioxide in ampoules, 3-200 \u03bcg C) and (b) the comprehensive analysis of regular-sized samples in form of solid graphite (all sample types, 200-1000 \u03bcg C), that are simultaneously analyzed for their %C and %N via a coupled elemental analyzer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The associated laboratory also houses a modified Sunset OC\/EC analyzer for the separation of organic and elemental carbon from bulk carbonaceous aerosol for radiocarbon analysis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Elemental and stable isotope analyses
<\/strong>Alongside the measurement of radiocarbon, the KCCAMS facility offers the analysis of carbon and nitrogen contents (%C, %N, C:N-ratio) and stable isotope ratios (\u03b413C, \u03b415N). These data can provide information about the sources of C and N in a sample and, or the cycling of C and N in the environment. For certain sample types (e.g. bone), C and N data are used to determine the degree of environmental degradation and thus its suitability for radiocarbon analysis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The facility operates two elemental analyzers coupled with continuous flow stable isotope mass spectrometers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. An EA\/GasBench-IRMS (Flash IRMS EA Isolink CNS, GasBench Plus, DELTA Q; Thermo) is used to measure %C, %N, C:N-ratio, \u03b413C, and \u03b415N of organic solids and \u03b413C of carbon dioxide. This system replaced the previous EA\/GB-IRMS (Fisons EA, GasBench II, Finnigan Delta+) in 2025.
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  2. An EA\/IRMS (Vario EL-Isoprime PrecisION, Elementar) coupled to an Automated Graphitization Equipment (AGE3, Ionplus AG) is used to convert organic solids into graphite targets for radiocarbon analysis, while also measuring the %C, %N, C:N-ratio, \u03b413C, and \u03b415N.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
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    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    THE KCCAMS FACILITY The KCCAMS facility consists of the KCCAMS laboratory and four research laboratories in UC Irvine\u2019s Earth System Science Department dedicated to terrestrial\/atmospheric, marine, and paleoclimate research. The facility was established in 2001 by UC Irvine faculty Ellen Druffel, John Southon, and Susan Trumbore with a $2 million gift from the W. M. Keck Foundation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":0,"parent":256,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1187","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.ps.uci.edu\/kccams\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.ps.uci.edu\/kccams\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.ps.uci.edu\/kccams\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.ps.uci.edu\/kccams\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.ps.uci.edu\/kccams\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1187"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.ps.uci.edu\/kccams\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1190,"href":"https:\/\/sites.ps.uci.edu\/kccams\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1187\/revisions\/1190"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.ps.uci.edu\/kccams\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.ps.uci.edu\/kccams\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}