Last month I performed a research stay at the Department of Environmental Sciences of Jožef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana (Slovenia). This institute is the largest research institute in Slovenia. The main research areas are physics, chemistry, molecular biology, biotechnology, information technologies, reactor physics, energy and environment. I was hosted by a Prof. Dr. Sonja Lojen, Head of the Isotopic biogeochemistry group at Reactor Center Podgorica where research facilities and equipment are located.

The goal of the COSKA project is to explore the variability of CO2 concentration of karst underground not affected by forced ventilation and establish its relationship with soil CO2 signal. Therefore, each month in Eagle cave we collect water samples to analyse dissolved inorganic carbon (d¹³C_DIC), while gas samples from the external, soil and cave atmospheres are collected to analyse carbon isotopes in CO2 (d¹³C_CO2). During my research stay at Jožef Stefan Institute I analysed those samples using EUROPA-20 IRMS.

The institute’s Podgorica Reactor Center is as well home to a 250 kW TRIGA Mark II nuclear reactor and during my stay I was allowed to visit this facility while it was operating.