The solubility of neon, nitrogen and argon in distilled water and seawater

Large discrepancies in published neon and nitrogen solubility data limit the interpretation of oceanic measurements of these gases. We present new solubility measurements for neon, nitrogen and argon in distilled water and seawater, over a temperature range of 1–30 oC. Water was equilibrated with air at measured temperatures, salinities and pressures. Dissolved Ne concentrations were then determined by isotope dilution using a quadrupole mass spectrometer. Ratios of O2/N2/Ar were measured on a stable isotope ratio mass spectrometer, from which absolute N2 and Ar concentrations were calculated using published O2 solubilities. We propose new equations, fitted to the data, for the equilibrium concentrations of Ne, N2 and Ar with estimated errors of 0.30%, 0.14% and 0.13%, respectively. The Ar results matched those of most previous researchers within 0.4%. However, the Ne and N2 results were greater than those of Weiss (1971b, 1970) by 1% or more.