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History

The Marine and Freshwater Chemistry Research Group (MFC) was established in the Chemistry Department, University of Otago in the early 1980's. It has grown from those modest early days to become one of the largest research groups in Australasia in this scientific area, comprising three academic staff members, 5 full-time researchers and a large number of graduate students. It is now one of the three designated research themes in the Chemistry Department, and was chosen as an Area of Research Excellence by the University of Otago in 1998.

The Chemistry Department's main building.

The group has carried out a large number of research projects funded by government agencies. In the 1980's, the New Zealand Energy Research & Development Committee (NZERDC) funded a large-scale investigation of chemical water quality in the Manuherikia River, part of the Hawkdun-Home Hills catchments, a major NZ lignite resource. During the same period, the MFC group mounted an international research cruise of the then DSIR vessel, R/V Tangaroa which investigated the chemical oceanography of the region around Cape Reinga and the northeastern Tasman Sea. This project formed part of the international Sea-Air Exchange (SEAREX) research program funded mainly by the United States National Science Foundation. In 1989, scientists of the group took a leading role in a joint cruise with CSIRO Oceanography Divsion, Australia, that explored the chemical oceanography of the Southern Ocean south of New Zealand using the Australian vessel R/V Frank'in..

Following the entry of the universities into the Public Good Science Fund (PGSF) in the mid-1990's, the research group secured PGSF funding for studies of the chemical composition of New Zealand lakes and rivers, with particular reference to trace metals and their bioavailability (speciation). This programme progressed from a detailed study of the chemical composition of many rivers and lakes to, in 1998, a specific investigation of trace metal speciation and bio-availability in pristine lakes such as Manapouri and Hayes. The programme is ongoing, and is currently concerned with trace metal speciation and bio-availability in estuaries.

In 1996, the MFC group entered into a collaboration with the National Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), one of the Crown Research Institutes, to establish a Centre for Chemical and Physical Oceanography. This is one of 5 Centres of Excellence established by NIWA in different universities to foster scientific collaboration. From that time, MFC became involved in a joint University of Otago-NIWA research programme entitled Ocean-Atmosphere Interactions which is focused on undertsanding the ocean-atmosphere exchange of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide. As part of this programme, MFC scientists are making detailed measurements of the carbon dioxide chemistr of New Zealand ocean waters.

In 1999, the MFC group secured its first grant from the highly-competitive Marsden Fund. This project concerns the process of colloid aggregation, which is important in both natural systems and in water and waste water treatment. Our project uses the sophisticated technology of atomic force micriscopy to measure the attrative and repulsive forces between individual colloid particles.

For more details on these research activities, see Research Programmes.

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Last Modified: 19 July, 2006
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