| Number: | 2003-031-2-200 |
|---|---|
| Start: | 01 January 2004 |
To design, compile and produce a new Report on the Isotopic Compositions of selected Elements, containing updated data with uncertainties that conform to ISO 9001 requirements.
The Commission on Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights (CIAAW) has produced in the past (last one in 2001) several tables emphasizing the isotopic abundances of the elements. The evaluated data provided on these tables has usually been selected to represent a) the best available measurements and b) that present in representative materials which do not always correspond to the Commission's recommended standard atomic weights for each element. The inconsistencies between some of the recommended isotopic abundances and atomic weights has been requiring our attention for some time which this proposal aims to correct.
The second major aim of this project is to address the increasing importance of isotope ratio measurements in chemistry, geological, environmental sciences, product authentication, forensic and life sciences. This project recognizes the primary source of isotopic data reported in the literature is as ratios and the urgent need for an expanded and revised database listing isotopic ratios and isotopic abundances in normal terrestrial materials and associated reference materials to suit the majority of user communities.
For this reason CIAAW proposes to issue a new authoritative document to update and disseminate this information. This is a major modification and expansion of the present compilations and will include a simple spreadsheet type data base from which a variety of reports can be extracted and to facilitate future updates.
A major requirement of this project is to re-evaluate the uncertainties associated with the original data, which necessitates revisiting all of the original literature, and the development of new data evaluation guidelines. Because of the time required to re-evaluate all elements only a set of elements of immediate interest to the isotope user community will be published in the first instance. In the first set of elements, iron, tin, europium, dysprosium, and erbium will be evaluated.
The task group will
- develop and implement new guidelines for data evaluation and presentation
- review and evaluate the isotope ratio data publications for +AH4-10 selected elements
- prepare a new layout of the spread sheet style data base and sample extracted tables
- issue the new tables and widely distribute it using suitable channels