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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">EGUsphere</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>EGUsphere</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub"></issn>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/egusphere-2026-4405</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>High-precision gravimetric primary standards for atmospheric Ar/N&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; measurements and redetermination of atmospheric Ar abundance</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Aoki</surname>
<given-names>Nobuyuki</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2814-9048</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Ishidoya</surname>
<given-names>Shigeyuki</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7448-2899</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Matsumoto</surname>
<given-names>Nobuhiro</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8029-0233</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Integrated Research Center for Nature Positive Technology, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology,  Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8567, Japan</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Global Zero Emission Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (GZR/AIST), Tsukuba  305-8569, Japan</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff3">
<label>3</label>
<addr-line>National Metrology Institute of Japan, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (NMIJ/AIST), Tsukuba 305-8563, Japan</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff4">
<label>4</label>
<addr-line>Research Institute for Environmental Management Technology, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology  (EMRI/AIST), Tsukuba 305-8569, Japan</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>28</day>
<month>09</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2026</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>28</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Nobuyuki Aoki et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-4405/">This article is available from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-4405/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-4405/egusphere-2026-4405.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-4405/egusphere-2026-4405.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>Accurate determination of atmospheric Ar/N&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; ratios requires primary standard gases with well-characterized uncertainties. However, an initial preparation approach based on the transfer of premixed gases introduced systematic deviations caused by transfer-induced composition changes, which limited the achievable accuracy. In this study, we developed an improved gravimetric preparation method for highly precise Ar standards (HPAs), in which CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;, Ar, O&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;, and N&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; are introduced independently from source gases. This approach eliminates transfer-induced compositional changes and allows the Ar amount to be determined directly with high precision. The resulting uncertainty in Ar/N&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; was reduced to approximately 5 per meg, corresponding to an Ar molar fraction of 0.05 &amp;micro;mol mol&lt;sup&gt;&amp;minus;1&lt;/sup&gt;. Validation confirmed that the gravimetric and measured values for CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;, O&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;/N&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;, and Ar/N&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; agreed within their uncertainties. Using the validated HPAs, the absolute Ar/N&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; ratio of the AIST reference air was redetermined as 0.01195567 &amp;plusmn; 0.000000011, a 8-fold reduction in uncertainty relative to the previous value. Application to atmospheric observations yielded an absolute Ar/N&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; ratio of 0.01195497 &amp;plusmn; 0.00000013 and an Ar mole fraction of 9335.71 &amp;plusmn; 0.10 &amp;micro;mol mol&lt;sup&gt;&amp;minus;1&lt;/sup&gt; in 2021. The numbers following the symbol &amp;plusmn; represent the standard uncertainty. These results establish a metrologically traceable framework for high-precision atmospheric Ar measurements.</p>
</abstract>
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<funding-group>
<award-group id="gs1">
<funding-source>Japan Society for the Promotion of Science</funding-source>
<award-id>22H05006</award-id>
<award-id>26K03079</award-id>
</award-group>
</funding-group>
</article-meta>
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