Articles | Volume 14, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1355-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1355-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
22 Feb 2021
Research article |
| 22 Feb 2021
| 22 Feb 2021
Introducing the extended volatility range proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometer (EVR PTR-MS)
Felix Piel
IONICON Analytik, Innsbruck, Austria
Institute for Ion Physics and Applied Physics, University of
Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
now at: Department of Chemistry, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Markus Müller
IONICON Analytik, Innsbruck, Austria
Klaus Winkler
IONICON Analytik, Innsbruck, Austria
Jenny Skytte af Sätra
Department of Chemistry, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
now at: Norwegian Environment Agency, Oslo, Norway
Armin Wisthaler
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Institute for Ion Physics and Applied Physics, University of
Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
Department of Chemistry, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
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Robert Wagner, Chao Yan, Katrianne Lehtipalo, Jonathan Duplissy, Tuomo Nieminen, Juha Kangasluoma, Lauri R. Ahonen, Lubna Dada, Jenni Kontkanen, Hanna E. Manninen, Antonio Dias, Antonio Amorim, Paulus S. Bauer, Anton Bergen, Anne-Kathrin Bernhammer, Federico Bianchi, Sophia Brilke, Stephany Buenrostro Mazon, Xuemeng Chen, Danielle C. Draper, Lukas Fischer, Carla Frege, Claudia Fuchs, Olga Garmash, Hamish Gordon, Jani Hakala, Liine Heikkinen, Martin Heinritzi, Victoria Hofbauer, Christopher R. Hoyle, Jasper Kirkby, Andreas Kürten, Alexander N. Kvashnin, Tiia Laurila, Michael J. Lawler, Huajun Mai, Vladimir Makhmutov, Roy L. Mauldin III, Ugo Molteni, Leonid Nichman, Wei Nie, Andrea Ojdanic, Antti Onnela, Felix Piel, Lauriane L. J. Quéléver, Matti P. Rissanen, Nina Sarnela, Simon Schallhart, Kamalika Sengupta, Mario Simon, Dominik Stolzenburg, Yuri Stozhkov, Jasmin Tröstl, Yrjö Viisanen, Alexander L. Vogel, Andrea C. Wagner, Mao Xiao, Penglin Ye, Urs Baltensperger, Joachim Curtius, Neil M. Donahue, Richard C. Flagan, Martin Gallagher, Armin Hansel, James N. Smith, António Tomé, Paul M. Winkler, Douglas Worsnop, Mikael Ehn, Mikko Sipilä, Veli-Matti Kerminen, Tuukka Petäjä, and Markku Kulmala
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Victor Lannuque, Barbara D'Anna, Evangelia Kostenidou, Florian Couvidat, Alvaro Martinez-Valiente, Philipp Eichler, Armin Wisthaler, Markus Müller, Brice Temime-Roussel, Richard Valorso, and Karine Sartelet
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Laura Tomsche, Felix Piel, Tomas Mikoviny, Claus J. Nielsen, Hongyu Guo, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Benjamin A. Nault, Melinda K. Schueneman, Jose L. Jimenez, Hannah Halliday, Glenn Diskin, Joshua P. DiGangi, John B. Nowak, Elizabeth B. Wiggins, Emily Gargulinski, Amber J. Soja, and Armin Wisthaler
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 2331–2343, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2331-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2331-2023, 2023
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Amir H. Souri, Matthew S. Johnson, Glenn M. Wolfe, James H. Crawford, Alan Fried, Armin Wisthaler, William H. Brune, Donald R. Blake, Andrew J. Weinheimer, Tijl Verhoelst, Steven Compernolle, Gaia Pinardi, Corinne Vigouroux, Bavo Langerock, Sungyeon Choi, Lok Lamsal, Lei Zhu, Shuai Sun, Ronald C. Cohen, Kyung-Eun Min, Changmin Cho, Sajeev Philip, Xiong Liu, and Kelly Chance
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 1963–1986, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1963-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1963-2023, 2023
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Francesca Gallo, Kevin J. Sanchez, Bruce E. Anderson, Ryan Bennett, Matthew D. Brown, Ewan C. Crosbie, Chris Hostetler, Carolyn Jordan, Melissa Yang Martin, Claire E. Robinson, Lynn M. Russell, Taylor J. Shingler, Michael A. Shook, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Elizabeth B. Wiggins, Edward L. Winstead, Armin Wisthaler, Luke D. Ziemba, and Richard H. Moore
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Alexander Håland, Tomáš Mikoviny, Elisabeth Emilie Syse, and Armin Wisthaler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 6297–6307, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6297-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6297-2022, 2022
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Therese S. Carter, Colette L. Heald, Jesse H. Kroll, Eric C. Apel, Donald Blake, Matthew Coggon, Achim Edtbauer, Georgios Gkatzelis, Rebecca S. Hornbrook, Jeff Peischl, Eva Y. Pfannerstill, Felix Piel, Nina G. Reijrink, Akima Ringsdorf, Carsten Warneke, Jonathan Williams, Armin Wisthaler, and Lu Xu
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Glenn M. Wolfe, Thomas F. Hanisco, Heather L. Arkinson, Donald R. Blake, Armin Wisthaler, Tomas Mikoviny, Thomas B. Ryerson, Ilana Pollack, Jeff Peischl, Paul O. Wennberg, John D. Crounse, Jason M. St. Clair, Alex Teng, L. Gregory Huey, Xiaoxi Liu, Alan Fried, Petter Weibring, Dirk Richter, James Walega, Samuel R. Hall, Kirk Ullmann, Jose L. Jimenez, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, T. Paul Bui, Glenn Diskin, James R. Podolske, Glen Sachse, and Ronald C. Cohen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 4253–4275, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4253-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4253-2022, 2022
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Smoke plumes are chemically complex. This work combines airborne observations of smoke plume composition with a photochemical model to probe the production of ozone and the fate of reactive gases in the outflow of a large wildfire. Model–measurement comparisons illustrate how uncertain emissions and chemical processes propagate into simulated chemical evolution. Results provide insight into how this system responds to perturbations, which can help guide future observation and modeling efforts.
Dongwook Kim, Changmin Cho, Seokhan Jeong, Soojin Lee, Benjamin A. Nault, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Douglas A. Day, Jason C. Schroder, Jose L. Jimenez, Rainer Volkamer, Donald R. Blake, Armin Wisthaler, Alan Fried, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Sally E. Pusede, Samuel R. Hall, Kirk Ullmann, L. Gregory Huey, David J. Tanner, Jack Dibb, Christoph J. Knote, and Kyung-Eun Min
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 805–821, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-805-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-805-2022, 2022
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CHOCHO was simulated using a 0-D box model constrained by measurements during the KORUS-AQ mission. CHOCHO concentration was high in large cities, aromatics being the most important precursors. Loss path to aerosol was the highest sink, contributing to ~ 20 % of secondary organic aerosol formation. Our work highlights that simple CHOCHO surface uptake approach is valid only for low aerosol conditions and more work is required to understand CHOCHO solubility in high-aerosol conditions.
Zachary C. J. Decker, Michael A. Robinson, Kelley C. Barsanti, Ilann Bourgeois, Matthew M. Coggon, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Frank M. Flocke, Alessandro Franchin, Carley D. Fredrickson, Georgios I. Gkatzelis, Samuel R. Hall, Hannah Halliday, Christopher D. Holmes, L. Gregory Huey, Young Ro Lee, Jakob Lindaas, Ann M. Middlebrook, Denise D. Montzka, Richard Moore, J. Andrew Neuman, John B. Nowak, Brett B. Palm, Jeff Peischl, Felix Piel, Pamela S. Rickly, Andrew W. Rollins, Thomas B. Ryerson, Rebecca H. Schwantes, Kanako Sekimoto, Lee Thornhill, Joel A. Thornton, Geoffrey S. Tyndall, Kirk Ullmann, Paul Van Rooy, Patrick R. Veres, Carsten Warneke, Rebecca A. Washenfelder, Andrew J. Weinheimer, Elizabeth Wiggins, Edward Winstead, Armin Wisthaler, Caroline Womack, and Steven S. Brown
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 16293–16317, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16293-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16293-2021, 2021
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To understand air quality impacts from wildfires, we need an accurate picture of how wildfire smoke changes chemically both day and night as sunlight changes the chemistry of smoke. We present a chemical analysis of wildfire smoke as it changes from midday through the night. We use aircraft observations from the FIREX-AQ field campaign with a chemical box model. We find that even under sunlight typical
nighttimechemistry thrives and controls the fate of key smoke plume chemical processes.
Duseong S. Jo, Alma Hodzic, Louisa K. Emmons, Simone Tilmes, Rebecca H. Schwantes, Michael J. Mills, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Weiwei Hu, Rahul A. Zaveri, Richard C. Easter, Balwinder Singh, Zheng Lu, Christiane Schulz, Johannes Schneider, John E. Shilling, Armin Wisthaler, and Jose L. Jimenez
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 3395–3425, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3395-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3395-2021, 2021
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Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) is a major component of submicron particulate matter, but there are a lot of uncertainties in the future prediction of SOA. We used CESM 2.1 to investigate future IEPOX SOA concentration changes. The explicit chemistry predicted substantial changes in IEPOX SOA depending on the future scenario, but the parameterization predicted weak changes due to simplified chemistry, which shows the importance of correct physicochemical dependencies in future SOA prediction.
Demetrios Pagonis, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Hongyu Guo, Douglas A. Day, Melinda K. Schueneman, Wyatt L. Brown, Benjamin A. Nault, Harald Stark, Kyla Siemens, Alex Laskin, Felix Piel, Laura Tomsche, Armin Wisthaler, Matthew M. Coggon, Georgios I. Gkatzelis, Hannah S. Halliday, Jordan E. Krechmer, Richard H. Moore, David S. Thomson, Carsten Warneke, Elizabeth B. Wiggins, and Jose L. Jimenez
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 1545–1559, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1545-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1545-2021, 2021
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We describe the airborne deployment of an extractive electrospray time-of-flight mass spectrometer (EESI-MS). The instrument provides a quantitative 1 Hz measurement of the chemical composition of organic aerosol up to altitudes of
7 km, with single-compound detection limits as low as 50 ng per standard cubic meter.
Betty Croft, Randall V. Martin, Richard H. Moore, Luke D. Ziemba, Ewan C. Crosbie, Hongyu Liu, Lynn M. Russell, Georges Saliba, Armin Wisthaler, Markus Müller, Arne Schiller, Martí Galí, Rachel Y.-W. Chang, Erin E. McDuffie, Kelsey R. Bilsback, and Jeffrey R. Pierce
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 1889–1916, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1889-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1889-2021, 2021
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North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems Study measurements combined with GEOS-Chem-TOMAS modeling suggest that several not-well-understood key factors control northwest Atlantic aerosol number and size. These synergetic and climate-relevant factors include particle formation near and above the marine boundary layer top, particle growth by marine secondary organic aerosol on descent, particle formation/growth related to dimethyl sulfide, sea spray aerosol, and ship emissions.
Amir H. Souri, Caroline R. Nowlan, Gonzalo González Abad, Lei Zhu, Donald R. Blake, Alan Fried, Andrew J. Weinheimer, Armin Wisthaler, Jung-Hun Woo, Qiang Zhang, Christopher E. Chan Miller, Xiong Liu, and Kelly Chance
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 9837–9854, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-9837-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-9837-2020, 2020
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For the first time, we provide a joint nonlinear optimal estimate of NOx and NMVOC emissions during the KORUS-AQ campaign by simultaneously incorporating SAO's new product of HCHO columns from OMPS and OMI tropospheric NO2 columns into a regional model. Results demonstrate a promising improvement in the performance of the model in terms of HCHO and NO2 concentrations, which in turn enables us to quantify the impact of the emission changes on different pathways of ozone formation and loss.
Joschka Pfeifer, Mario Simon, Martin Heinritzi, Felix Piel, Lena Weitz, Dongyu Wang, Manuel Granzin, Tatjana Müller, Steffen Bräkling, Jasper Kirkby, Joachim Curtius, and Andreas Kürten
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 2501–2522, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-2501-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-2501-2020, 2020
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Ammonia is an important atmospheric trace gas that affects secondary aerosol formation and, together with sulfuric acid, the formation of new particles. A measurement technique is presented that uses high-resolution mass spectrometry and protonated water clusters for the ultrasensitive detection of ammonia at single-digit parts per trillion by volume levels. The instrument is further capable of measuring amines and a suite of iodine compounds at sub-parts per trillion by volume levels.
Matthew M. Coggon, Christopher Y. Lim, Abigail R. Koss, Kanako Sekimoto, Bin Yuan, Jessica B. Gilman, David H. Hagan, Vanessa Selimovic, Kyle J. Zarzana, Steven S. Brown, James M. Roberts, Markus Müller, Robert Yokelson, Armin Wisthaler, Jordan E. Krechmer, Jose L. Jimenez, Christopher Cappa, Jesse H. Kroll, Joost de Gouw, and Carsten Warneke
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 14875–14899, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-14875-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-14875-2019, 2019
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Wildfire emissions significantly contribute to adverse air quality; however, the chemical processes that lead to hazardous pollutants, such as ozone, are not fully understood. In this study, we describe laboratory experiments where we simulate the atmospheric chemistry of smoke emitted from a range of biomass fuels. We show that certain understudied compounds, such as furans and phenolic compounds, are significant contributors to pollutants formed as a result of typical atmospheric oxidation.
Felix Piel, Markus Müller, Tomas Mikoviny, Sally E. Pusede, and Armin Wisthaler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 5947–5958, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5947-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5947-2019, 2019
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Herein we report on the first successful airborne deployment of a CHARON PTR–ToF–MS instrument aboard the NASA DC–8 research aircraft. The analyzer is capable of chemically characterizing submicrometer atmospheric particles in a quantitative manner, at the near–molecular level, in real time. This brings a new and unprecedented measurement capability to the airborne atmospheric science community.
Xin Chen, Dylan B. Millet, Hanwant B. Singh, Armin Wisthaler, Eric C. Apel, Elliot L. Atlas, Donald R. Blake, Ilann Bourgeois, Steven S. Brown, John D. Crounse, Joost A. de Gouw, Frank M. Flocke, Alan Fried, Brian G. Heikes, Rebecca S. Hornbrook, Tomas Mikoviny, Kyung-Eun Min, Markus Müller, J. Andrew Neuman, Daniel W. O'Sullivan, Jeff Peischl, Gabriele G. Pfister, Dirk Richter, James M. Roberts, Thomas B. Ryerson, Stephen R. Shertz, Chelsea R. Thompson, Victoria Treadaway, Patrick R. Veres, James Walega, Carsten Warneke, Rebecca A. Washenfelder, Petter Weibring, and Bin Yuan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 9097–9123, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-9097-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-9097-2019, 2019
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Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) affect air quality and modify the lifetimes of other pollutants. We combine a high-resolution 3-D atmospheric model with an ensemble of aircraft observations to perform an integrated analysis of the VOC budget over North America. We find that biogenic emissions provide the main source of VOC reactivity even in most major cities. Our findings point to key gaps in current models related to oxygenated VOCs and to the distribution of VOCs in the free troposphere.
John T. Sullivan, Thomas J. McGee, Ryan M. Stauffer, Anne M. Thompson, Andrew Weinheimer, Christoph Knote, Scott Janz, Armin Wisthaler, Russell Long, James Szykman, Jinsoo Park, Youngjae Lee, Saewung Kim, Daun Jeong, Dianne Sanchez, Laurence Twigg, Grant Sumnicht, Travis Knepp, and Jason R. Schroeder
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 5051–5067, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-5051-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-5051-2019, 2019
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During the May–June 2016 International Cooperative Air Quality Field Study in Korea (KORUS-AQ), pollution reached the remote Taehwa Research Forest (TRF) site. Two case studies are examined and observations clearly identify TRF and the surrounding rural areas as long-term receptor sites for severe urban pollution events. In summary, domestic emissions may be causing more pollution than by transboundary pathways, which have been historically believed to be the major source of air pollution.
Jin Liao, Thomas F. Hanisco, Glenn M. Wolfe, Jason St. Clair, Jose L. Jimenez, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Benjamin A. Nault, Alan Fried, Eloise A. Marais, Gonzalo Gonzalez Abad, Kelly Chance, Hiren T. Jethva, Thomas B. Ryerson, Carsten Warneke, and Armin Wisthaler
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 2765–2785, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-2765-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-2765-2019, 2019
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Organic aerosol (OA) intimately links natural and anthropogenic emissions with air quality and climate. Direct OA measurements from space are currently not possible. This paper describes a new method to estimate OA by combining satellite HCHO and in situ OA and HCHO. The OA estimate is validated with the ground network. This new method has a potential for mapping observation-based global OA estimate.
Barbara Ervens, Armin Sorooshian, Abdulmonam M. Aldhaif, Taylor Shingler, Ewan Crosbie, Luke Ziemba, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Jose L. Jimenez, and Armin Wisthaler
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 16099–16119, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-16099-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-16099-2018, 2018
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The paper presents a new framework that can be used to identify emission scenarios in which aerosol populations are most likely modified by chemical processes in clouds. We show that in neither very polluted nor in very clean air masses is this the case. Only if the ratio of possible aerosol mass precursors (sulfur dioxide, some organics) and preexisting aerosol mass is sufficiently high will aerosol particles show substantially modified physicochemical properties upon cloud processing.
Georgios I. Gkatzelis, Thorsten Hohaus, Ralf Tillmann, Iulia Gensch, Markus Müller, Philipp Eichler, Kang-Ming Xu, Patrick Schlag, Sebastian H. Schmitt, Zhujun Yu, Robert Wegener, Martin Kaminski, Rupert Holzinger, Armin Wisthaler, and Astrid Kiendler-Scharr
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 12969–12989, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-12969-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-12969-2018, 2018
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Defining the fundamental parameters that distribute organic molecules between the gas and particle phases is essential to understand their impact on the atmosphere. In this work, gas to particle partitioning of major biogenic oxidation products from monoterpenes and real plant emissions was investigated. While measurement results and theoretical calculation for most semi-volatile compounds are in good agreement, significant deviations are found for intermediate volatile organic compounds.
Jennifer Kaiser, Daniel J. Jacob, Lei Zhu, Katherine R. Travis, Jenny A. Fisher, Gonzalo González Abad, Lin Zhang, Xuesong Zhang, Alan Fried, John D. Crounse, Jason M. St. Clair, and Armin Wisthaler
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 5483–5497, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-5483-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-5483-2018, 2018
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Isoprene emissions from vegetation have a large effect on atmospheric chemistry and air quality. Here we use the adjoint of GEOS-Chem in an inversion of OMI formaldehyde observations to produce top-down estimates of isoprene emissions in the southeast US during the summer of 2013. We find that MEGAN v2.1 is biased high on average by 40 %. Our downward correction of isoprene emissions leads to a small reduction in modeled surface O3 and decreases the contribution of isoprene to organic aerosol.
Robert Wagner, Chao Yan, Katrianne Lehtipalo, Jonathan Duplissy, Tuomo Nieminen, Juha Kangasluoma, Lauri R. Ahonen, Lubna Dada, Jenni Kontkanen, Hanna E. Manninen, Antonio Dias, Antonio Amorim, Paulus S. Bauer, Anton Bergen, Anne-Kathrin Bernhammer, Federico Bianchi, Sophia Brilke, Stephany Buenrostro Mazon, Xuemeng Chen, Danielle C. Draper, Lukas Fischer, Carla Frege, Claudia Fuchs, Olga Garmash, Hamish Gordon, Jani Hakala, Liine Heikkinen, Martin Heinritzi, Victoria Hofbauer, Christopher R. Hoyle, Jasper Kirkby, Andreas Kürten, Alexander N. Kvashnin, Tiia Laurila, Michael J. Lawler, Huajun Mai, Vladimir Makhmutov, Roy L. Mauldin III, Ugo Molteni, Leonid Nichman, Wei Nie, Andrea Ojdanic, Antti Onnela, Felix Piel, Lauriane L. J. Quéléver, Matti P. Rissanen, Nina Sarnela, Simon Schallhart, Kamalika Sengupta, Mario Simon, Dominik Stolzenburg, Yuri Stozhkov, Jasmin Tröstl, Yrjö Viisanen, Alexander L. Vogel, Andrea C. Wagner, Mao Xiao, Penglin Ye, Urs Baltensperger, Joachim Curtius, Neil M. Donahue, Richard C. Flagan, Martin Gallagher, Armin Hansel, James N. Smith, António Tomé, Paul M. Winkler, Douglas Worsnop, Mikael Ehn, Mikko Sipilä, Veli-Matti Kerminen, Tuukka Petäjä, and Markku Kulmala
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 15181–15197, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-15181-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-15181-2017, 2017
Andreas Kürten, Anton Bergen, Martin Heinritzi, Markus Leiminger, Verena Lorenz, Felix Piel, Mario Simon, Robert Sitals, Andrea C. Wagner, and Joachim Curtius
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 12793–12813, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-12793-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-12793-2016, 2016
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Field measurements were conducted at a rural site in central Germany close to dairy farms to investigate if there is a connection between new particle formation and the presence of amines. A variety of trace gases were measured in addition to amines, like sulfuric acid, ammonia and highly oxygenated organic molecules (HOM). The results indicate that amines are very likely involved in the growth of aerosol particles and probably also in the nucleation process, although HOM could be relevant, too.
P. Kupiszewski, C. Leck, M. Tjernström, S. Sjogren, J. Sedlar, M. Graus, M. Müller, B. Brooks, E. Swietlicki, S. Norris, and A. Hansel
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 12405–12431, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-12405-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-12405-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Subject: Gases | Technique: In Situ Measurement | Topic: Instruments and Platforms
Simple water vapor sampling for stable isotope analysis using affordable valves and bags
On path length, beam divergence, and retroreflector array size in open-path FTIR spectroscopy
A modular approach to volatile organic compound samplers for tethered balloon and drone platforms
Performance validation and calibration conditions for novel dynamic baseline tracking air sensors in long-term field monitoring
Observation of greenhouse gas vertical profiles in the boundary layer of the Mount Qomolangma region using a multirotor UAV
Description and Validation of a Carbon Monoxide and Nitrous Oxide Instrument for High-Altitude Airborne Science (COMA)
Development of a portable laser-flash photolysis Faraday rotation spectrometer for measuring atmospheric total OH reactivity
Surface distributions and vertical profiles of trace gases (CO, O3, NO, NO2) in the Arctic wintertime boundary layer using low-cost sensors during ALPACA-2022
Advances in an OH reactivity instrument for airborne field measurements
The ASK-16 motorized glider: an airborne eddy covariance platform to measure turbulence, energy, and matter fluxes
Development of a Peltier-based chilled-mirror hygrometer, SKYDEW, for tropospheric and lower-stratospheric water vapor measurements
Vertical distribution of halogenated trace gases in the summer Arctic stratosphere determined by two independent in situ methods
Deployment and evaluation of an NH4+∕ H3O+ reagent ion switching chemical ionization mass spectrometer for the detection of reduced and oxygenated gas-phase organic compounds
An economical tunable diode laser spectrometer for fast-response measurements of water vapor in the atmospheric boundary layer
Eddy covariance with slow-response greenhouse gas analysers on tall towers: bridging atmospheric and ecosystem greenhouse gas networks
An overview of outdoor low-cost gas-phase air quality sensor deployments: current efforts, trends, and limitations
Multiphysical description of atmospheric pressure interface chemical ionisation in MION2 and Eisele type inlets
Improving raw readings from ozone low cost sensors using artificial intelligence for air quality monitoring
Development of a Forced Advection Sampling Technique (FAST) for Quantification of Methane Emissions from Orphaned Wells
A portable nitrogen dioxide instrument using cavity-enhanced absorption spectroscopy
Development and deployment of a mid-cost CO2 sensor monitoring network to support atmospheric inverse modeling for quantifying urban CO2 emissions in Paris
UAV-based in situ measurements of CO2 and CH4 fluxes over complex natural ecosystems
A new aerial approach for quantifying and attributing methane emissions: implementation and validation
Drone CO2 measurements during the Tajogaite volcanic eruption
Multi-decadal atmospheric carbon dioxide measurements in Hungary, central Europe
Reliable water vapour isotopic composition measurements at low humidity using frequency-stabilised cavity ring-down spectroscopy
A measurement system for CO2 and CH4 emissions quantification of industrial sites using a new in situ concentration sensor operated on board uncrewed aircraft vehicles
Using metal oxide gas sensors to estimate the emission rates and locations of methane leaks in an industrial site: assessment with controlled methane releases
Toward on-demand measurements of greenhouse gas emissions using an uncrewed aircraft AirCore system
Long-term evaluation of commercial air quality sensors: an overview from the QUANT (Quantification of Utility of Atmospheric Network Technologies) study
In-flight characterization of a compact airborne quantum cascade laser absorption spectrometer
Full characterization and calibration of a transfer standard monitor for atmospheric radon measurements
Observing low-altitude features in ozone concentrations in a shoreline environment via uncrewed aerial systems
An integrated uncrewed aerial vehicle platform with sensing and sampling systems for the measurement of air pollutant concentrations
Design and evaluation of a low-cost sensor node for near-background methane measurement
Development of a Multichannel Organics In situ enviRonmental Analyzer (MOIRA) for mobile measurements of volatile organic compounds
Evaluation of Aeris mid-infrared absorption (MIRA), Picarro CRDS (cavity ring-down spectroscopy) G2307, and dinitrophenylhydrazine (DNPH)-based sampling for long-term formaldehyde monitoring efforts
Performance characterization of a laminar gas inlet
Validation and field application of a low-cost device to measure CO2 and evapotranspiration (ET) fluxes
Identifying and correcting interferences to PTR-ToF-MS measurements of isoprene and other urban volatile organic compounds
Development of a continuous UAV-mounted air sampler and application to the quantification of CO2 and CH4 emissions from a major coking plant
Uptake behavior of polycyclic aromatic compounds during field calibrations of the XAD-based passive air sampler across seasons and locations
Effect of land–sea air mass transport on spatiotemporal distributions of atmospheric CO2 and CH4 mixing ratios over the southern Yellow Sea
HYPHOP: a tool for high-altitude, long-range monitoring of hydrogen peroxide and higher organic peroxides in the atmosphere
Portable, low-cost samplers for distributed sampling of atmospheric gases
SI-traceable validation of a laser spectrometer for balloon-borne measurements of water vapor in the upper atmosphere
Field evaluation of low-cost electrochemical air quality gas sensors under extreme temperature and relative humidity conditions
A novel, cost-effective analytical method for measuring high-resolution vertical profiles of stratospheric trace gases using a gas chromatograph coupled with an electron capture detector
Ethylene oxide monitor with part-per-trillion precision for in situ measurements
Development of an automated pump-efficiency measuring system for ozonesondes utilizing an airbag-type flowmeter
Adrian Dahlmann, John D. Marshall, David Dubbert, Mathias Hoffmann, and Maren Dubbert
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 2607–2618, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2607-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2607-2025, 2025
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Water-stable isotopes are commonly used in hydrological and ecological research. Until now, measurements have been obtained either destructively or directly in the field. Here, we present a novel, affordable, and easy-to-use approach to measure the stable isotope signatures of soil water. Our gas bag approach demonstrates a high accuracy and extends usability by allowing water vapor samples to be collected and stored in the field without the need for an instrument or a permanent power supply.
Cameron E. N. Power and Aldona Wiacek
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 2537–2552, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2537-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2537-2025, 2025
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The choice of path length and retroreflector array size in open-path Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy must be made with care. Longer paths increase target gas absorption (lowering detection limits), and larger retroreflector arrays increase the return signal (improving retrieved concentration precision), but there are limitations to both. An optimum array size and path combination exists in each specific observational environment and application, as explored in this work.
Meghan Guagenti, Darielle Dexheimer, Alexandra Ulinksi, Paul Walter, James H. Flynn III, and Sascha Usenko
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 2125–2136, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2125-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2125-2025, 2025
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A robust, automatic volatile organic compound (VOC) collection system was developed for vertical VOC sampling associated with the 2022 DOE ARM-program-led TRACER in Houston, Texas. This modular sampler has been developed to measure vertical profiles of VOCs to improve near-surface characterization. This article helps fill the current lack of commercially available options for aerial VOC sampling and serves to support and encourage researchers to build and develop custom samplers.
Han Mei, Peng Wei, Meisam Ahmadi Ghadikolaei, Nirmal Kumar Gali, Ya Wang, and Zhi Ning
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 1771–1785, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1771-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1771-2025, 2025
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Long-term field testing across diverse climatic environments is conducted to identify the optimized calibration conditions for NO2, NO, CO and O3 electrochemical sensors. The results uncovered three factors that influence calibration performance: calibration period, concentration range and time averaging. We developed a comprehensive framework for the best sensor calibration practices, which serves as a valuable reference for calibrating various sensor types used in air quality monitoring.
Ying Zhou, Congcong Qiao, Minqiang Zhou, Yilong Wang, Xiangjun Tian, Yinghong Wang, and Minzheng Duan
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 1609–1619, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1609-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1609-2025, 2025
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We developed an automated, flexible atmospheric sampling device for various platforms. During a 5 d field campaign in the Mount Qomolangma region, we performed 15 flights using the device mounted on a hexacopter unoccupied aerial vehicle (UAV). A total of 139 samples were analyzed using an Agilent 7890A gas chromatograph. Vertical profiles of four greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6)) were analyzed and discussed.
Emma L. Yates, Levi M. Golston, James R. Podolske, Laura T. Iraci, Kristen E. Okorn, Caroline Dang, Roy R. Johnson, James Eilers, Richard Kolyer, Ian Astley, and J. Brian Leen
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1081, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1081, 2025
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In this work, we describe the development of the Carbon monOxide Measurement from Ames (COMA) instrument for measurement of carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrous oxide (N2O) aboard NASA's WB-57 high altitude research aircraft. We detail the modifications and testing conducted as well as details of COMA's performance during research flights for NASA’s Asian summer monsoon Chemical & CLImate Project (ACCLIP) 2022 campaign.
Bo Fang, Nana Wei, Weixiong Zhao, Nana Yang, Hao Zhou, Heng Zhang, Jiarong Li, Weijun Zhang, Yanyu Lu, Zhu Zhu, and Yue Liu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 1243–1256, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1243-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1243-2025, 2025
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A portable laser-flash photolysis Faraday rotation spectrometer for measuring atmospheric total hydroxyl (OH) reactivity was developed, with optical box dimensions of 130 cm × 40 cm × 35 cm. It features a pump–probe multi-pass cell with a high overlapping factor of 75.4 %. The instrument’s precision and uncertainty are 1.0 s-1 (1σ, 300 s) and within 2 s-1, respectively. This portable, cost-effective instrument expands current measurement capabilities and is convenient for field applications.
Brice Barret, Patrice Medina, Natalie Brett, Roman Pohorsky, Kathy S. Law, Slimane Bekki, Gilberto J. Fochesatto, Julia Schmale, Steve R. Arnold, Andrea Baccarini, Maurizio Busetto, Meeta Cesler-Maloney, Barbara D'Anna, Stefano Decesari, Jingqiu Mao, Gianluca Pappaccogli, Joel Savarino, Federico Scoto, and William R. Simpson
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 1163–1184, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1163-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1163-2025, 2025
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The Fairbanks area experiences severe pollution episodes in winter because of enhanced emissions of pollutants trapped near the surface by strong temperature inversions. Low-cost sensors were deployed on board a car and a tethered balloon to measure the concentrations of gaseous pollutants (CO, O3, and NOx) in Fairbanks during winter 2022. Data calibration with reference measurements and machine learning methods enabled us to document pollution at the surface and power plant plumes aloft.
Hendrik Fuchs, Aaron Stainsby, Florian Berg, René Dubus, Michelle Färber, Andreas Hofzumahaus, Frank Holland, Kelvin H. Bates, Steven S. Brown, Matthew M. Coggon, Glenn S. Diskin, Georgios I. Gkatzelis, Christopher M. Jernigan, Jeff Peischl, Michael A. Robinson, Andrew W. Rollins, Nell B. Schafer, Rebecca H. Schwantes, Chelsea E. Stockwell, Patrick R. Veres, Carsten Warneke, Eleanor M. Waxman, Lu Xu, Kristen Zuraski, Andreas Wahner, and Anna Novelli
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 881–895, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-881-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-881-2025, 2025
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Significant improvements have been made to the instruments used to measure OH reactivity, which is equivalent to the sum of air pollutant concentrations. Accurate and precise measurements with a high time resolution have been achieved, allowing use on aircraft, as demonstrated during flights in the USA.
Inge Wiekenkamp, Anna Katharina Lehmann, Alexander Bütow, Jörg Hartmann, Stefan Metzger, Thomas Ruhtz, Christian Wille, Mathias Zöllner, and Torsten Sachs
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 749–772, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-749-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-749-2025, 2025
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Airborne eddy covariance platforms are crucial to measure three-dimensional wind and turbulent matter and energy transport between the surface and the atmosphere at larger scales. In this study, we introduce a new airborne eddy covariance platform (Schleicher ASK-16) and demonstrate that this platform is able to accurately measure turbulent fluxes and wind vectors. Data from this platform can help to build bridges between local tower measurements and remote-sensing-based products.
Takuji Sugidachi, Masatomo Fujiwara, Kensaku Shimizu, Shin-Ya Ogino, Junko Suzuki, and Ruud J. Dirksen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 509–531, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-509-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-509-2025, 2025
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A Peltier-based chilled-mirror hygrometer, SKYDEW, has been developed to measure tropospheric and stratospheric water vapor. Continuous accurate measurements of water vapor are essential for climate monitoring. More than 40 soundings with SKYDEW have been conducted since 2011 to evaluate the performance. The result of soundings at tropical and midlatitudes demonstrated that SKYDEW is able to measure up to an altitude of 20–25 km for daytime soundings and above 25 km for nighttime soundings.
Johannes C. Laube, Tanja J. Schuck, Huilin Chen, Markus Geldenhuys, Steven van Heuven, Timo Keber, Maria Elena Popa, Elinor Tuffnell, Bärbel Vogel, Thomas Wagenhäuser, Alessandro Zanchetta, and Andreas Engel
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-4034, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-4034, 2025
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A large balloon was launched in summer 2021 in the Arctic to carry instruments for trace gas measurements up to 32 km, above the reach of aircraft. The main aims were to evaluate different techniques and atmospheric processes. We focus on halogenated greenhouse gases and ozone-depleting substances. For this, air was collected with the AirCore technique and a cryogenic air sampler and measured after the flight. A companion paper reports observations of major greenhouse gases.
Cort L. Zang and Megan D. Willis
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 17–35, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-17-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-17-2025, 2025
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Atmospheric chemistry of the diverse pool of reactive organic carbon (ROC; all organic species excluding methane) controls air quality, both indoors and outdoors, and influences Earth's climate. However, many important ROC compounds in the atmosphere are difficult to measure. We demonstrate measurement of diverse ROC compounds in a single instrument at a forested site. This approach can improve our ability to measure a broad range of atmospheric ROC.
Emily D. Wein, Lars E. Kalnajs, and Darin W. Toohey
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 7097–7107, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-7097-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-7097-2024, 2024
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We describe a low-cost and small research-grade spectrometer for measurements of water vapor in the boundary layer. The instrument uses small Arduino microcontrollers and inexpensive laser diodes to reduce cost while maintaining high performance comparable to more expensive instruments. Performance was assessed with intercomparisons between commercially available instruments outdoors. The design's simplicity, performance, and price point allow it to be accessible to a variety of users.
Pedro Henrique Herig Coimbra, Benjamin Loubet, Olivier Laurent, Laura Bignotti, Mathis Lozano, and Michel Ramonet
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6625–6645, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6625-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6625-2024, 2024
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This study presents direct flux measurements in tall towers using existing slow-response analysers and adding 3D sonic anemometers. This way, we can significantly improve greenhouse gas monitoring with little extra instrumental effort. Slow-response analysers may be used here as the relevant frequency ranges depend on measuring height. Tall towers offer a large footprint, amplifying spatial coverage. The presented concept is a valuable bridge between atmospheric and ecosystem communities.
Kristen Okorn and Laura T. Iraci
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6425–6457, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6425-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6425-2024, 2024
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We reviewed 60 sensor networks and 17 related efforts (sensor review papers and data accessibility projects) to better understand the landscape of stationary low-cost gas-phase sensor networks deployed in outdoor environments worldwide. Gaps in monitoring efforts include the availability of gas-phase measurements compared to particulate matter (PM) and geographic coverage gaps (the Global South, rural areas). We conclude with a summary of cross-network unification and quality control efforts.
Henning Finkenzeller, Jyri Mikkilä, Cecilia Righi, Paxton Juuti, Mikko Sipilä, Matti Rissanen, Douglas Worsnop, Aleksei Shcherbinin, Nina Sarnela, and Juha Kangasluoma
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5989–6001, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5989-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5989-2024, 2024
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Chemical ionisation mass spectrometry is used in the atmospheric sciences to measure trace gas concentrations. Neutral gases require charging in inlets before the mass-to-charge ratio of the resulting ions can be analysed. This study uses multiphysics modelling to investigate how the MION2 and Eisele type inlets work and shows the effect of tuning parameters and their current limitations. The findings are helpful for inlet users and are expected to aid in developing improved inlets.
Guillem Montalban-Faet, Eric Meneses-Albala, Santiago Felici-Castell, Juan J. Perez-Solano, and Jaume Segura-Garcia
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-127, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-127, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
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WHO warns of ground-level ozone problems in urban areas, recommending increased monitoring for which low-cost sensors coupled with artificial intelligence are an excellent alternative.
Mohit L. Dubey, Andre Santos, Andrew B. Moyes, Ken Reichl, James E. Lee, Manvendra K. Dubey, Corentin LeYhuelic, Evan Variano, Emily Follansbee, Fotini K. Chow, and Sébastien C. Biraud
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3040, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3040, 2024
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Orphaned wells, meaning wells lacking responsible owners, pose a significant and poorly understood environmental challenge. We propose, develop, and test a novel method for estimating emissions from orphaned wells using a Forced Advection Sampling Technique (FAST) that can overcome many of the limitations in current methods (cost, accuracy, safety). Our results suggest that the FAST method can provide a low-cost alternative to existing methods over a range of leak rates.
Steven A. Bailey, Reem A. Hannun, Andrew K. Swanson, and Thomas F. Hanisco
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5903–5910, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5903-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5903-2024, 2024
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We have developed a portable, optically based instrument that measures NO2. It consumes less than 6 W of power, so it can easily run off a small battery. This instrument has made both balloon and UAV flights. NO2 measurement results compare favorably with other known NO2 instruments. We find this instrument to be stable with repeatable results compared with calibration sources. Material cost to build a single instrument is around USD 4000. This could be lowered with economies of scale.
Jinghui Lian, Olivier Laurent, Mali Chariot, Luc Lienhardt, Michel Ramonet, Hervé Utard, Thomas Lauvaux, François-Marie Bréon, Grégoire Broquet, Karina Cucchi, Laurent Millair, and Philippe Ciais
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5821–5839, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5821-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5821-2024, 2024
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We have designed and deployed a mid-cost medium-precision CO2 sensor monitoring network in Paris since July 2020. The data are automatically calibrated by a newly implemented data processing system. The accuracies of the mid-cost instruments vary from 1.0 to 2.4 ppm for hourly afternoon measurements. Our model–data analyses highlight prospects for integrating mid-cost instrument data with high-precision measurements to improve fine-scale CO2 emission quantification in urban areas.
Abdullah Bolek, Martin Heimann, and Mathias Göckede
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5619–5636, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5619-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5619-2024, 2024
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This study describes the development of a new UAV platform to measure atmospheric greenhouse gas (GHG) mole fractions, 2D wind speed, air temperature, humidity, and pressure. Understanding GHG flux processes and controls across various ecosystems is essential for estimating the current and future state of climate change. It was shown that using the UAV platform for such measurements is beneficial for improving our understanding of GHG processes over complex landscapes.
Jonathan F. Dooley, Kenneth Minschwaner, Manvendra K. Dubey, Sahar H. El Abbadi, Evan D. Sherwin, Aaron G. Meyer, Emily Follansbee, and James E. Lee
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5091–5111, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5091-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5091-2024, 2024
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Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas originating from both natural and human activities. We describe a new uncrewed aerial system (UAS) designed to measure methane emission rates over a wide range of scales. This system has been used for direct quantification of point sources and distributed emitters over scales of up to 1 km. The system uses simultaneous measurements of methane and ethane to distinguish between different kinds of natural and human-related emission sources.
John Ericksen, Tobias P. Fischer, G. Matthew Fricke, Scott Nowicki, Nemesio M. Pérez, Pedro Hernández Pérez, Eleazar Padrón González, and Melanie E. Moses
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4725–4736, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4725-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4725-2024, 2024
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Volcanic eruptions emit significant quantities of carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere. We present a new method for directly determining the CO2 emission from a volcanic eruption on the island of La Palma, Spain, using an unpiloted aerial vehicle (UAV). We also collected samples of the emitted CO2 and analyzed their isotopic composition. Together with the emission rate the isotopic data provide valuable information on the state of volcanic activity and the potential evolution of the eruption.
László Haszpra
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4629–4647, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4629-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4629-2024, 2024
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The paper evaluates a 30-year-long atmospheric CO2 data series from a mid-continental central European site, Hegyhátsál (HUN). It presents the site-specific features observed in the long-term evolution of the atmospheric CO2 concentration. Since the measurement data are widely used in atmospheric inverse models and budget calculations all around the world, the paper provides potentially valuable information for model tuning and interpretation of the model results.
Mathieu Casado, Amaelle Landais, Tim Stoltmann, Justin Chaillot, Mathieu Daëron, Fréderic Prié, Baptiste Bordet, and Samir Kassi
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4599–4612, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4599-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4599-2024, 2024
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Measuring water isotopic composition in Antarctica is difficult because of the extremely cold temperature in winter. Here, we designed a new infrared spectrometer able to measure the vapour isotopic composition during more than 95 % of the year in the coldest locations of Antarctica, whereas current commercial instruments are only able to measure during the warm summer months in the interior.
Jean-Louis Bonne, Ludovic Donnat, Grégory Albora, Jérémie Burgalat, Nicolas Chauvin, Delphine Combaz, Julien Cousin, Thomas Decarpenterie, Olivier Duclaux, Nicolas Dumelié, Nicolas Galas, Catherine Juery, Florian Parent, Florent Pineau, Abel Maunoury, Olivier Ventre, Marie-France Bénassy, and Lilian Joly
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4471–4491, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4471-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4471-2024, 2024
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We present a top-down approach to quantify CO2 and CH4 emissions at the scale of an industrial site, based on a mass balance model relying on atmospheric concentrations measurements from a new sensor embarked on board uncrewed aircraft vehicles (UAVs). We present a laboratory characterization of our sensor and a field validation of our quantification method, together with field application to the monitoring of two real-world offshore oil and gas platforms.
Rodrigo Rivera-Martinez, Pramod Kumar, Olivier Laurent, Gregoire Broquet, Christopher Caldow, Ford Cropley, Diego Santaren, Adil Shah, Cécile Mallet, Michel Ramonet, Leonard Rivier, Catherine Juery, Olivier Duclaux, Caroline Bouchet, Elisa Allegrini, Hervé Utard, and Philippe Ciais
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4257–4290, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4257-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4257-2024, 2024
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We explore the use of metal oxide semiconductors (MOSs) as a low-cost alternative for detecting and measuring CH4 emissions from industrial facilities. MOSs were exposed to several controlled releases to test their accuracy in detecting and quantifying emissions. Two reconstruction models were compared, and emission estimates were computed using a Gaussian dispersion model. Findings show that MOSs can provide accurate emission estimates with a 25 % emission rate error and a 9.5 m location error.
Zihan Zhu, Javier González-Rocha, Yifan Ding, Isis Frausto-Vicencio, Sajjan Heerah, Akula Venkatram, Manvendra Dubey, Don Collins, and Francesca M. Hopkins
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3883–3895, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3883-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3883-2024, 2024
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Increases in agriculture, oil and gas, and waste management activities have contributed to the increase in atmospheric methane levels and resultant climate warming. In this paper, we explore the use of small uncrewed aircraft systems (sUASs) and AirCore technology to detect and quantify methane emissions. Results from field experiments demonstrate that sUASs and AirCore technology can be effective for detecting and quantifying methane emissions in near real time.
Sebastian Diez, Stuart Lacy, Hugh Coe, Josefina Urquiza, Max Priestman, Michael Flynn, Nicholas Marsden, Nicholas A. Martin, Stefan Gillott, Thomas Bannan, and Pete M. Edwards
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3809–3827, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3809-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3809-2024, 2024
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In this paper we present an overview of the QUANT project, which to our knowledge is one of the largest evaluations of commercial sensors to date. The objective was to evaluate the performance of a range of commercial products and also to nourish the different applications in which these technologies can offer relevant information.
Linda Ort, Lenard Lukas Röder, Uwe Parchatka, Rainer Königstedt, Daniel Crowley, Frank Kunz, Ralf Wittkowski, Jos Lelieveld, and Horst Fischer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3553–3565, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3553-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3553-2024, 2024
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Airborne in situ measurements are of great importance to collect valuable data to improve our knowledge of the atmosphere but also present challenges which demand specific designs. This study presents an IR spectrometer for airborne trace-gas measurements with high data efficiency and a simple, compact design. Its in-flight performance is characterized with the help of a test flight and a comparison with another spectrometer. Moreover, results from its first campaign highlight its benefits.
Roger Curcoll, Claudia Grossi, Stefan Röttger, and Arturo Vargas
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3047–3065, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3047-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3047-2024, 2024
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This paper presents a new user-friendly version of the Atmospheric Radon MONitor (ARMON). The efficiency of the instrument is of 0.0057 s-1, obtained using different techniques at Spanish and German chambers. The total calculated uncertainty of the ARMON for hourly radon concentrations above 5 Bq m-3 is lower than 10 % (k = 1). Results confirm that the ARMON is suitable to measure low-level radon activity concentrations and to be used as a transfer standard to calibrate in situ radon monitors.
Josie K. Radtke, Benjamin N. Kies, Whitney A. Mottishaw, Sydney M. Zeuli, Aidan T. H. Voon, Kelly L. Koerber, Grant W. Petty, Michael P. Vermeuel, Timothy H. Bertram, Ankur R. Desai, Joseph P. Hupy, R. Bradley Pierce, Timothy J. Wagner, and Patricia A. Cleary
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2833–2847, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2833-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2833-2024, 2024
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The use of uncrewed aircraft systems (UASs) to conduct a vertical profiling of ozone and meteorological variables was evaluated using comparisons between tower or ground observations and UAS-based measurements. Changes to the UAS profiler showed an improvement in performance. The profiler was used to see the impact of Chicago pollution plumes on a shoreline area near Lake Michigan.
Chen-Wei Liang and Chang-Hung Shen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2671–2686, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2671-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2671-2024, 2024
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In the present study, a UAV platform with sensing and sampling systems was developed for 3D air pollutant concentration measurements. The sensing system of this platform contains multiple microsensors and IoT technologies for obtaining the real-time 3D distributions of critical air pollutants. The sampling system contains gas sampling sets and a 1 L Tedlar bag instead of a canister for the 3D measurement of VOC concentrations in accordance with the TO-15 method of the US EPA.
Daniel Furuta, Bruce Wilson, Albert A. Presto, and Jiayu Li
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2103–2121, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2103-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2103-2024, 2024
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Methane is an important driver of climate change and is challenging to inexpensively sense in low atmospheric concentrations. We developed a low-cost sensor to monitor methane and tested it in indoor and outdoor settings. Our device shows promise for monitoring low levels of methane. We characterize its limitations and suggest future research directions for further development.
Audrey J. Dang, Nathan M. Kreisberg, Tyler L. Cargill, Jhao-Hong Chen, Sydney Hornitschek, Remy Hutheesing, Jay R. Turner, and Brent J. Williams
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2067–2087, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2067-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2067-2024, 2024
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The Multichannel Organics In situ enviRonmental Analyzer (MOIRA) is a new instrument for measuring speciated volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the air and has been developed for mapping concentrations from a hybrid car. MOIRA is characterized in the lab and pilot field studies of indoor air in a single-family residence and outdoor air during a mobile deployment. Future applications include indoor, outdoor, and lab measurements to grasp the impact of VOCs on air quality, health, and climate.
Asher P. Mouat, Zelda A. Siegel, and Jennifer Kaiser
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1979–1994, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1979-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1979-2024, 2024
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Three fast-measurement formaldehyde monitors were deployed at two field sites in Atlanta, GA, over 1 year. Four different zeroing methods were tested to develop an optimal field setup as well as procedures for instrument calibration. Observations agreed well after calibration but were much higher compared to the TO-11A monitoring method, which is the golden standard. Historical HCHO concentrations were compared with measurements in this work, showing a 22 % reduction in midday HCHO since 1999.
Da Yang, Margarita Reza, Roy Mauldin, Rainer Volkamer, and Suresh Dhaniyala
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1463–1474, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1463-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1463-2024, 2024
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This paper evaluates the performance of an aircraft gas inlet. Here, we use computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and experiments to demonstrate the role of turbulence in determining sampling performance of a gas inlet and identify ideal conditions for inlet operation to minimize gas loss. Experiments conducted in a high-speed wind tunnel under near-aircraft speeds validated numerical results. We believe that the results obtained from this work will greatly inform future gas inlet studies.
Reena Macagga, Michael Asante, Geoffroy Sossa, Danica Antonijević, Maren Dubbert, and Mathias Hoffmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1317–1332, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1317-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1317-2024, 2024
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Using only low-cost microcontrollers and sensors, we constructed a measurement device to accurately and precisely obtain atmospheric carbon dioxide and water fluxes. The device was tested against known concentration increases and high-cost, commercial sensors during a laboratory and field experiment. We additionally tested the device over a longer period in a field study in Ghana during which the net ecosystem carbon balance and water use efficiency of maize cultivation were studied.
Matthew M. Coggon, Chelsea E. Stockwell, Megan S. Claflin, Eva Y. Pfannerstill, Lu Xu, Jessica B. Gilman, Julia Marcantonio, Cong Cao, Kelvin Bates, Georgios I. Gkatzelis, Aaron Lamplugh, Erin F. Katz, Caleb Arata, Eric C. Apel, Rebecca S. Hornbrook, Felix Piel, Francesca Majluf, Donald R. Blake, Armin Wisthaler, Manjula Canagaratna, Brian M. Lerner, Allen H. Goldstein, John E. Mak, and Carsten Warneke
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 801–825, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-801-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-801-2024, 2024
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Mass spectrometry is a tool commonly used to measure air pollutants. This study evaluates measurement artifacts produced in the proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometer. We provide methods to correct these biases and better measure compounds that degrade air quality.
Tianran Han, Conghui Xie, Yayong Liu, Yanrong Yang, Yuheng Zhang, Yufei Huang, Xiangyu Gao, Xiaohua Zhang, Fangmin Bao, and Shao-Meng Li
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 677–691, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-677-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-677-2024, 2024
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This study reported an integrated UAV measurement platform for GHG monitoring and its application for emission quantification from a coking plant. The key element of this system is a newly designed air sampler, consisting of a 150 m long tube with remote-controlled time stamping. When comparing the top-down results to those derived from the bottom-up inventory method, the present findings indicate that the use of IPCC emission factors for emission calculations can lead to overestimation.
Yuening Li, Faqiang Zhan, Yushan Su, Ying Duan Lei, Chubashini Shunthirasingham, Zilin Zhou, Jonathan P. D. Abbatt, Hayley Hung, and Frank Wania
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 715–729, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-715-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-715-2024, 2024
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A simple device for sampling gases from the atmosphere without the help of pumps was calibrated for an important group of hazardous air pollutants called polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs). While the sampler appeared to perform well when used for relatively short periods of up to several months, some PACs were lost from the sampler during longer deployments. Sampling rates that can be used to quantitatively interpret the quantities of PACs taken up in the device have been derived.
Jiaxin Li, Kunpeng Zang, Yi Lin, Yuanyuan Chen, Shuo Liu, Shanshan Qiu, Kai Jiang, Xuemei Qing, Haoyu Xiong, Haixiang Hong, Shuangxi Fang, Honghui Xu, and Yujun Jiang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4757–4768, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4757-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4757-2023, 2023
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Based on observed data of CO2 and CH4 and meteorological parameters over the Yellow Sea in November 2012 and June 2013, a data process and quality control method was optimized and established to filter the data influenced by multiple factors. Spatial and seasonal variations in CO2 and CH4 mixing ratios were mainly controlled by the East Asian Monsoon, while the influence of air–sea exchange was slight.
Zaneta Hamryszczak, Antonia Hartmann, Dirk Dienhart, Sascha Hafermann, Bettina Brendel, Rainer Königstedt, Uwe Parchatka, Jos Lelieveld, and Horst Fischer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4741–4756, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4741-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4741-2023, 2023
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Hydroperoxide measurements improve the understanding of atmospheric oxidation processes. We introduce an instrumental setup for airborne measurements. The aim of the work is the characterization of the measurement method with emphasis on interferences impacting instrumental uncertainty. Technical and physical challenges do not critically impact the instrumental performance. The instrument resolves dynamic processes, such as convective transport, as shown based on the CAFE-Brazil campaign.
James F. Hurley, Alejandra Caceres, Deborah F. McGlynn, Mary E. Tovillo, Suzanne Pinar, Roger Schürch, Ksenia Onufrieva, and Gabriel Isaacman-VanWertz
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4681–4692, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4681-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4681-2023, 2023
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Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have a wide range of sources and impacts on environments and human health that make them spatially, temporally, and chemically varied. Current methods lack the ability to collect samples in ways that provide spatial and chemical resolution without complex, costly instrumentation. We describe and validate a low-cost, portable VOC sampler and demonstrate its utility in collecting distributed coordinated samples.
Simone Brunamonti, Manuel Graf, Tobias Bühlmann, Céline Pascale, Ivan Ilak, Lukas Emmenegger, and Béla Tuzson
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4391–4407, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4391-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4391-2023, 2023
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The abundance of water vapor (H2O) in the upper atmosphere has a significant impact on the rate of global warming. We developed a new lightweight spectrometer (ALBATROSS) for H2O measurements aboard meteorological balloons. Here, we assess the accuracy and precision of ALBATROSS using metrology-grade reference gases. The results demonstrate the exceptional potential of mid-infrared laser absorption spectroscopy as a new reference method for in situ measurements of H2O in the upper atmosphere.
Roubina Papaconstantinou, Marios Demosthenous, Spyros Bezantakos, Neoclis Hadjigeorgiou, Marinos Costi, Melina Stylianou, Elli Symeou, Chrysanthos Savvides, and George Biskos
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3313–3329, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3313-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3313-2023, 2023
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In this paper, we investigate the performance of low-cost electrochemical gas sensors. We carried out yearlong measurements at a traffic air quality monitoring station, where the low-cost sensors were collocated with reference instruments and exposed to highly variable environmental conditions with extremely high temperatures and low relative humidity (RH). Sensors provide measurements that exhibit increasing errors and decreasing correlations as temperature increases and RH decreases.
Jianghanyang Li, Bianca C. Baier, Fred Moore, Tim Newberger, Sonja Wolter, Jack Higgs, Geoff Dutton, Eric Hintsa, Bradley Hall, and Colm Sweeney
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2851–2863, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2851-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2851-2023, 2023
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Monitoring a suite of trace gases in the stratosphere will help us better understand the stratospheric circulation and its impact on the earth's radiation balance. However, such measurements are rare and usually expensive. We developed an instrument that can measure stratospheric trace gases using a low-cost sampling platform (AirCore). The results showed expected agreement with aircraft measurements, demonstrating this technique provides a low-cost and robust way to observe the stratosphere.
Tara I. Yacovitch, Christoph Dyroff, Joseph R. Roscioli, Conner Daube, J. Barry McManus, and Scott C. Herndon
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1915–1921, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1915-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1915-2023, 2023
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Ethylene oxide is a toxic, carcinogenic compound used in the medical and bulk sterilization industry. Here we describe a precise and fast laser-based ethylene oxide monitor. We report months-long concentrations at a Massachusetts site, and we show how they suggest a potential emission source 35 km away. This source, and another, is confirmed by driving the instrument downwind of the sites, where concentrations were tens to tens of thousands of times greater than background levels.
Tatsumi Nakano and Takashi Morofuji
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1583–1595, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1583-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1583-2023, 2023
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We have developed a system that can automatically measure the pump efficiency of the ECC-type ozonesonde. Operational measurement for 13 years by this system revealed that the efficiency fluctuates in each and slightly increases over time. Those can affect the estimation of total ozone amount by up to 4 %. This result indicates that it is necessary to understand the tendency of the pump correction factor of each ozonesonde in order to detect the actual atmospheric change with high accuracy.
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Short summary
Proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS) instruments are widely used in the atmospheric community for measuring organic trace substances in the Earth's atmosphere. Some of these substances
stickonto and slowly come off surfaces in the PTR-MS analyzer, which makes it impossible to measure rapid changes in the atmosphere. Herein, we present a new type of PTR-MS instrument with a specially treated surface that mitigates this problem.
Proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS) instruments are widely used in the...
