The amount of nitrogen in the biotic and abiotic systems at Cape Bird measured from evaporated water samples and wind blown inputs

About 10L of water was evaporated per day and the 50 samples created per day (~1400 in total) were tested for total mineral N, NH4, NO3, NO2 and pH using the steam distillation method. Samples were collected from ice cap ice (top and bottom), freshly fallen snow, snowbank snow (1 year old), Keble Valley (top, middle and bottom), a penguin colony (top, middle and bottom), soil above Keble Valley and ornithogenic soil.

Water flows were determined from streams in the study area using a V-notch weir and from these results the volume of water per day could be calculated and the amount of nutrients in meltwater. The weight of ice in one hectare of the ice cap to 1m depth was calculated from volume, density measurements. The weights of soils per hectare to 5 or 10 cms depth were calculated from bulk density measurements.