Influence of sample temperature and environmental humidity on measurements of benzene in ambient air by transportable GC-PID

Romero-Trigueros, Cristina; Doval Miñarro, Marta; González Duperón, Esther; González Ferradás, Enrique

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-4013-2017

Articles | Volume 10, issue 10

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-4013-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-4013-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 10, issue 10

Research article

|

27 Oct 2017

Research article |

| 27 Oct 2017

Influence of sample temperature and environmental humidity on measurements of benzene in ambient air by transportable GC-PID

Cristina Romero-Trigueros, Marta Doval Miñarro, Esther González Duperón, and Enrique González Ferradás

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Final revised paper (published on 27 Oct 2017)
Preprint (discussion started on 23 May 2017)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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- Supplement

RC1: 'Review of the manuscript titled "Influence of environmental humidity on measurements of benzene in ambient air by transportable GC-PID", by Romero-Trigueros et al.', Anonymous Referee #1, 02 Jun 2017
- AC1: 'Reply to Anonimous Referee #1', Marta Doval Miñarro, 28 Jun 2017
  - RC3: 'relevant information', Anonymous Referee #2, 11 Jul 2017
    - AC3: 'Reply to RC3', Marta Doval Miñarro, 13 Jul 2017
RC2: 'Referee commenst to Influence of environmental humidity on measurements of benzene in ambient air by transportable GC-PID', Anonymous Referee #2, 22 Jun 2017
- AC2: 'Response to Reviewer#2', Marta Doval Miñarro, 13 Jul 2017

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

AR by Marta Doval Miñarro on behalf of the Authors (24 Aug 2017) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (25 Aug 2017) by Hendrik Fuchs

RR by Anonymous Referee #1 (01 Sep 2017)

Suggestions for revision or reasons for rejection

Review of the manuscript titled "Influence of sample temperature and environmental humidity on measurements of benzene in ambient air by transportable GC-PID", by Romero-Trigueros et al.

General comments.

The manuscript by Romero-Trigueros et al. adress an important issue regarding air quality monitoring of benzene by transportable GC-PID. The tests are reported clearly and the implications discussed appropriately. My main concerns have been addressed in an appropriate way. I recommend the manuscript in its present form for publication in AMT, even
if I spotted a few instances where the manuscript could still be improved slighltly. See my comments below.

Specific comments.

- page 2, lines 6-7: I suggest to use "selective" rather than "specific".
- page 3, line 23 (equation (1)): What are the numbers 28.8 and 18 and what are their units?
- page 6, section 3.2: Because b_rh is defined twice, I suggest for clarity to rename the latter one b_rh(new) or at least differentiate it in some way (also the units are different).
- page 6, lines 17-19: Is there any reason why the suggested test has not been performed?
- page 15, Table 1: The given benzene concentrations in the first column are calculated from the standard concentration and dilution (nominal). What is the uncertainty on these values?
- page 16, Table 2: The authors could consider introducing the newer b_rh values as well.

Technical corrections
- page 2, lines 6-7: Fix the use of hyphens/dashes.
- page 2, line 7: Fix the reference ("Liaud et al. (2014) recently...").
- page 5, line 5: No comma after "(AH)" and replace "from 0 and 32" by "from 0 to 32".
- page 6, line 16: Missing full stop after first parenthesis.
- page 9, line 15, Fix the use of hyphens/dashes.
- page 9, lines 18-19: Avoid paragraphs with only one sentence.
- page 10, lines 20/30: Use a consistent abbreviation for "AIHAJ" (page 12, lines 7-8).
- page 11, line 11: Is there also a link available? (state the date of last access).
- page 11, line 13: State the date of last access.
- page 12, line 20: Fix the name "Mar??nez".
- page 14, Figure 2: I suggest to use E and AH for the equations, as in the main text, and to use the same amount of significant digits.
- page 18, Table 3: Include the name of the variables in the table caption.

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RR by Anonymous Referee #2 (05 Sep 2017)

ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (Editor review) (06 Sep 2017) by Hendrik Fuchs

AR by Marta Doval Miñarro on behalf of the Authors (14 Sep 2017) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (18 Sep 2017) by Hendrik Fuchs

AR by Marta Doval Miñarro on behalf of the Authors (21 Sep 2017) Author's response Manuscript

Short summary

Benzene is a well-known carcinogen which is present in ambient air. Its concentrations have to be continuosly monitored by law. To obtain reliable and comparable measurements, benzene analysers have to be calibrated with standards. These standards are usually prepared without humidity. However, real measurements can be influenced by it. In this work we have found that ambient humidity has an effect on measurements, which depends on both the absolute humidity and the benzene concentration.