• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.205-211
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• 2011

On board comparison of pH and total alkalinity measurement in seawater was carried out during the JES expedition on R/V Roger Revelle in the East Sea using 550 real seawater samples from the surface to the bottom. Spectrophotometry and potentiometry without liquid junction were compared for pH measurement. The pH values of two methods are generally in a good agreement. Spectrophotometry with a pipette provides higher value compare with the potentiometry in the deep layer, where pH values are lower. However, spectrophotometry without a pipette shows same values with potentiometry within their precision range. The pipetting procedure may remove of $CO_2$ in the sample, which causes increase of pH. Potentiometric titration methods using a closed-cell and an open-cell were compared for the total alkalinity measurement. Values from open cell method are smaller by about 5~10 ${\mu}mol\;kg^{-1}$ than those from closed cell method. This may be caused by the bubble formed in the closed cell during the experiment. Although any analytical method compared in this study for the pH or TA measurement can be applied, special attentions should be paid for satisfactory results.