Articles | Volume 15, issue 10
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3261-2022
© Author(s) 2022. 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-15-3261-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
01 Jun 2022
Research article |
| 01 Jun 2022
Machine learning techniques to improve the field performance of low-cost air quality sensors
Tony Bush
Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Parks Road,
Oxford, OX1 3PJ, UK
Apertum Consulting, Harwell, Oxfordshire, UK
Nick Papaioannou
Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Parks Road,
Oxford, OX1 3PJ, UK
Felix Leach
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Parks Road,
Oxford, OX1 3PJ, UK
Francis D. Pope
School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of
Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
Ajit Singh
School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of
Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
G. Neil Thomas
Institute of Applied Health Research, University of Birmingham,
Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
Brian Stacey
Ricardo Energy & Environment, The Gemini Building, Fermi Avenue,
Harwell, Didcot, OX11 0QR, UK
Suzanne Bartington
Institute of Applied Health Research, University of Birmingham,
Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
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Sophie A. Mills, Adam Milsom, Christian Pfrang, A. Rob MacKenzie, and Francis D. Pope
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4885–4898, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4885-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4885-2023, 2023
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Pollen grains are important components of the atmosphere and have the potential to impact upon cloud processes via their ability to help in the formation of rain droplets. This study investigates the hygroscopicity of two different pollen species using an acoustic levitator. Pollen grains are levitated, and their response to changes in relative humidity is investigated. A key advantage of this method is that it is possible study pollen shape under varying environmental conditions.
Andrea Mazzeo, Michael Burrow, Andrew Quinn, Eloise A. Marais, Ajit Singh, David Ng'ang'a, Michael J. Gatari, and Francis D. Pope
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 10677–10701, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10677-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10677-2022, 2022
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A modelling system for meteorology and chemistry transport processes, WRF–CHIMERE, has been tested and validated for three East African conurbations using the most up-to-date anthropogenic emissions available. Results show that the model is able to reproduce hourly and daily temporal variabilities in aerosol concentrations that are close to observations in both urban and rural environments, encouraging the adoption of numerical modelling as a tool for air quality management in East Africa.
Dimitrios Bousiotis, David C. S. Beddows, Ajit Singh, Molly Haugen, Sebastián Diez, Pete M. Edwards, Adam Boies, Roy M. Harrison, and Francis D. Pope
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 4047–4061, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4047-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4047-2022, 2022
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In the last decade, low-cost sensors have revolutionised the field of air quality monitoring. This paper extends the ability of low-cost sensors to not only measure air pollution, but also to understand where the pollution comes from. This "source apportionment" is a critical step in air quality management to allow for the mitigation of air pollution. The techniques developed in this paper have the potential for great impact in both research and industrial applications.
Aileen B. Baird, Edward J. Bannister, A. Robert MacKenzie, and Francis D. Pope
Biogeosciences, 19, 2653–2669, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2653-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2653-2022, 2022
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Forest environments contain a wide variety of airborne biological particles (bioaerosols) important for plant and animal health and biosphere–atmosphere interactions. Using low-cost sensors and a free-air carbon dioxide enrichment (FACE) experiment, we monitor the impact of enhanced CO2 on airborne particles. No effect of the enhanced CO2 treatment on total particle concentrations was observed, but a potential suppression of high concentration bioaerosol events was detected under enhanced CO2.
Leigh R. Crilley, Louisa J. Kramer, Francis D. Pope, Chris Reed, James D. Lee, Lucy J. Carpenter, Lloyd D. J. Hollis, Stephen M. Ball, and William J. Bloss
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 18213–18225, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18213-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18213-2021, 2021
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Nitrous acid (HONO) is a key source of atmospheric oxidants. We evaluate if the ocean surface is a source of HONO for the marine boundary layer, using measurements from two contrasting coastal locations. We observed no evidence for a night-time ocean surface source, in contrast to previous work. This points to significant geographical variation in the predominant HONO formation mechanisms in marine environments, reflecting possible variability in the sea-surface microlayer composition.
Dimitrios Bousiotis, Francis D. Pope, David C. S. Beddows, Manuel Dall'Osto, Andreas Massling, Jakob Klenø Nøjgaard, Claus Nordstrøm, Jarkko V. Niemi, Harri Portin, Tuukka Petäjä, Noemi Perez, Andrés Alastuey, Xavier Querol, Giorgos Kouvarakis, Nikos Mihalopoulos, Stergios Vratolis, Konstantinos Eleftheriadis, Alfred Wiedensohler, Kay Weinhold, Maik Merkel, Thomas Tuch, and Roy M. Harrison
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 11905–11925, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-11905-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-11905-2021, 2021
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Formation of new particles is a key process in the atmosphere. New particle formation events arising from nucleation of gaseous precursors have been analysed in extensive datasets from 13 sites in five European countries in terms of frequency, nucleation rate, and particle growth rate, with several common features and many differences identified. Although nucleation frequencies are lower at roadside sites, nucleation rates and particle growth rates are typically higher.
Dimitrios Bousiotis, Ajit Singh, Molly Haugen, David C. S. Beddows, Sebastián Diez, Killian L. Murphy, Pete M. Edwards, Adam Boies, Roy M. Harrison, and Francis D. Pope
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 4139–4155, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4139-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4139-2021, 2021
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Measurement and source apportionment of atmospheric pollutants are crucial for the assessment of air quality and the implementation of policies for their improvement. This study highlights the current capability of low-cost sensors in source identification and differentiation using clustering approaches. Future directions towards particulate matter source apportionment using low-cost OPCs are highlighted.
Dimitrios Bousiotis, James Brean, Francis D. Pope, Manuel Dall'Osto, Xavier Querol, Andrés Alastuey, Noemi Perez, Tuukka Petäjä, Andreas Massling, Jacob Klenø Nøjgaard, Claus Nordstrøm, Giorgos Kouvarakis, Stergios Vratolis, Konstantinos Eleftheriadis, Jarkko V. Niemi, Harri Portin, Alfred Wiedensohler, Kay Weinhold, Maik Merkel, Thomas Tuch, and Roy M. Harrison
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 3345–3370, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3345-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3345-2021, 2021
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New particle formation events from 16 sites over Europe have been studied, and the influence of meteorological and atmospheric composition variables has been investigated. Some variables, like solar radiation intensity and temperature, have a positive effect on the occurrence of these events, while others have a negative effect, affecting different aspects such as the rate at which particles are formed or grow. This effect varies depending on the site type and magnitude of these variables.
Louisa J. Kramer, Leigh R. Crilley, Thomas J. Adams, Stephen M. Ball, Francis D. Pope, and William J. Bloss
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 5231–5248, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-5231-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-5231-2020, 2020
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HONO is a large source of OH radicals, which can drive VOC oxidation, leading to the formation of ozone and secondary organic aerosols. Here we investigate primary vehicle emissions of HONO from measurements in a road tunnel in Birmingham, UK. A HONO/NOx emission ratio was detemined and compared to previous studies. Results indicate HONO/NOx has not varied much over the last two decades and technologies aimed at reducing NO2 may have also resulted in a reduction in direct HONO vehicle emissions.
Leigh R. Crilley, Ajit Singh, Louisa J. Kramer, Marvin D. Shaw, Mohammed S. Alam, Joshua S. Apte, William J. Bloss, Lea Hildebrandt Ruiz, Pingqing Fu, Weiqi Fu, Shahzad Gani, Michael Gatari, Evgenia Ilyinskaya, Alastair C. Lewis, David Ng'ang'a, Yele Sun, Rachel C. W. Whitty, Siyao Yue, Stuart Young, and Francis D. Pope
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 1181–1193, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-1181-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-1181-2020, 2020
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There is considerable interest in using low-cost optical particle counters (OPCs) for particle mass measurements; however, there is no agreed upon method with respect to calibration. Here we exploit a number of datasets globally to demonstrate that particle composition and relative humidity are the key factors affecting measured concentrations from a low-cost OPC, and we present a simple correction methodology that corrects for this influence.
Dimitrios Bousiotis, Manuel Dall'Osto, David C. S. Beddows, Francis D. Pope, and Roy M. Harrison
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 5679–5694, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-5679-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-5679-2019, 2019
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New particle formation events are identified at three sites in southern England, including a roadside and urban background site within London and a rural regional background site. The conditions favouring new particle formation events are identified and compared between the sites. Although a higher degree of pollution presents a greater condensation sink, it appears to be largely compensated for by faster particle growth rates.
Roy M. Harrison, David C. S. Beddows, Mohammed S. Alam, Ajit Singh, James Brean, Ruixin Xu, Simone Kotthaus, and Sue Grimmond
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 39–55, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-39-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-39-2019, 2019
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Particle number size distributions were measured simultaneously at five sites in London during a campaign. Observations are interpreted in terms of both evaporative shrinkage of traffic-generated particles and condensational growth, probably of traffic-generated particles under cool nocturnal conditions, as well as the influence of particles emitted from Heathrow Airport at a distance of about 22 km. The work highlights the highly dynamic behaviour of nanoparticles within the urban atmosphere.
Francis D. Pope, Michael Gatari, David Ng'ang'a, Alexander Poynter, and Rhiannon Blake
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 15403–15418, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-15403-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-15403-2018, 2018
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Low- and middle-income countries face an increasing threat from poor air quality, stemming from rapid urbanization, population growth, and rises in fuel and motorization use. This paper presents high temporal resolution particulate matter (PM) data, using low-cost sensors, for the exemplar city of Nairobi, Kenya, where PM levels are found to be much greater than WHO recommendations. The study shows that calibrated low-cost sensors can be successfully used to measure PM in cities like Nairobi.
Leigh R. Crilley, Marvin Shaw, Ryan Pound, Louisa J. Kramer, Robin Price, Stuart Young, Alastair C. Lewis, and Francis D. Pope
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 709–720, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-709-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-709-2018, 2018
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The affordability and small size of low-cost particle sensors make them attractive for air pollution experiments that require multiple instruments, or take place in hard-to-access locations or low-income countries. For any sensor to be useful, its accuracy and precision need to be known. We evaluate the Alphasense OPC-N2 for monitoring airborne particles at typical UK urban background sites. The devices were found to be accurate provided they are correctly calibrated.
Ajit Singh, William J. Bloss, and Francis D. Pope
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 2085–2101, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-2085-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-2085-2017, 2017
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Reduced visibility can indicate poor air quality. Using long-term visibility measurements, we explore the combined
influence of aerosol particle and gas characteristics, and meteorology on long-term visibility. The measured
data were fitted to a newly developed light-extinction model to generate predictions of historic aerosol and
gas scattering and absorbing properties. This approach allows for estimation of historic aerosol properties where measurements are not available.
Suad S. Al-Kindi, Francis D. Pope, David C. Beddows, William J. Bloss, and Roy M. Harrison
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 15561–15579, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-15561-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-15561-2016, 2016
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Oleic acid is a chemical substance which is emitted from cooking processes and is present as tiny particles in the atmosphere. The oleic acid in the particles reacts chemically with atmospheric ozone, causing substantial changes to the composition of the particles. This paper uses new techniques to explore these chemical reactions and the effect of humidity upon them. The significance of the results for the atmosphere is considered.
Mingjin Tang, James Keeble, Paul J. Telford, Francis D. Pope, Peter Braesicke, Paul T. Griffiths, N. Luke Abraham, James McGregor, I. Matt Watson, R. Anthony Cox, John A. Pyle, and Markus Kalberer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 15397–15412, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-15397-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-15397-2016, 2016
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We have investigated for the first time the heterogeneous hydrolysis of ClONO2 on TiO2 and SiO2 aerosol particles at room temperature and at different relative humidities (RHs), using an aerosol flow tube. The kinetic data reported in our current and previous studies have been included in the UKCA chemistry–climate model to assess the impact of TiO2 injection on stratospheric chemistry and stratospheric ozone in particular.
H.-J. Tong, B. Ouyang, N. Nikolovski, D. M. Lienhard, F. D. Pope, and M. Kalberer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 1183–1195, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-1183-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-1183-2015, 2015
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This paper describes a newly designed cold electrodynamic balance (EDB) which can be used to study the evaporation kinetics and freezing properties of aerosols at temperatures down to -40˚C. The abilities of the new EDB are exemplified through the study of the immersion freezing properties of water droplets containing extracts of water birch pollen (Betula fontinalis occidentalis). Protein-rich pollen extracts are found to be significantly more ice-active than non-proteinaceous extracts.
M. J. Tang, P. J. Telford, F. D. Pope, L. Rkiouak, N. L. Abraham, A. T. Archibald, P. Braesicke, J. A. Pyle, J. McGregor, I. M. Watson, R. A. Cox, and M. Kalberer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 6035–6048, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-6035-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-6035-2014, 2014
M. von Hobe, S. Bekki, S. Borrmann, F. Cairo, F. D'Amato, G. Di Donfrancesco, A. Dörnbrack, A. Ebersoldt, M. Ebert, C. Emde, I. Engel, M. Ern, W. Frey, S. Genco, S. Griessbach, J.-U. Grooß, T. Gulde, G. Günther, E. Hösen, L. Hoffmann, V. Homonnai, C. R. Hoyle, I. S. A. Isaksen, D. R. Jackson, I. M. Jánosi, R. L. Jones, K. Kandler, C. Kalicinsky, A. Keil, S. M. Khaykin, F. Khosrawi, R. Kivi, J. Kuttippurath, J. C. Laube, F. Lefèvre, R. Lehmann, S. Ludmann, B. P. Luo, M. Marchand, J. Meyer, V. Mitev, S. Molleker, R. Müller, H. Oelhaf, F. Olschewski, Y. Orsolini, T. Peter, K. Pfeilsticker, C. Piesch, M. C. Pitts, L. R. Poole, F. D. Pope, F. Ravegnani, M. Rex, M. Riese, T. Röckmann, B. Rognerud, A. Roiger, C. Rolf, M. L. Santee, M. Scheibe, C. Schiller, H. Schlager, M. Siciliani de Cumis, N. Sitnikov, O. A. Søvde, R. Spang, N. Spelten, F. Stordal, O. Sumińska-Ebersoldt, A. Ulanovski, J. Ungermann, S. Viciani, C. M. Volk, M. vom Scheidt, P. von der Gathen, K. Walker, T. Wegner, R. Weigel, S. Weinbruch, G. Wetzel, F. G. Wienhold, I. Wohltmann, W. Woiwode, I. A. K. Young, V. Yushkov, B. Zobrist, and F. Stroh
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 9233–9268, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-9233-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-9233-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Subject: Gases | Technique: In Situ Measurement | Topic: Data Processing and Information Retrieval
Development of low-cost air quality stations for next-generation monitoring networks: calibration and validation of NO2 and O3 sensors
Detecting plumes in mobile air quality monitoring time series with density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise
New Insights From The Jülich Ozone-Sonde Intercomparison Experiments: Calibration Functions Traceable To One Ozone Reference Instrument
Characterising the methane gas and environmental response of the Figaro Taguchi Gas Sensor (TGS) 2611-E00
Identification of spikes in continuous ground-based in-situ time series of CO2, CH4 and CO: an extended experiment within the European ICOS-Atmosphere Network
Reducing errors on estimates of the carbon uptake period based on time series of atmospheric CO2
Generalized Kendrick analysis for improved visualization of atmospheric mass spectral data
Measurements of VOCs in ambient air by Vocus PTR-TOF-MS: calibrations, instrument background corrections, and introducing a PTR Data Toolkit
Data treatment and corrections for estimating H2O and CO2 isotope fluxes from high-frequency observations
Determination of NOx emission rates of inland ships from onshore measurements
Data quality enhancement for field experiments in atmospheric chemistry via sequential Monte Carlo filters
A flexible algorithm for network design based on information theory
Real-world wintertime CO, N2O, and CO2 emissions of a central European village
Evaluation of two common source estimation measurement strategies using large-eddy simulation of plume dispersion under neutral atmospheric conditions
Estimation of sulfuric acid concentration using ambient ion composition and concentration data obtained with atmospheric pressure interface time-of-flight ion mass spectrometer
Importance of the Webb, Pearman, and Leuning (WPL) correction for the measurement of small CO2 fluxes
Unravelling a black box: an open-source methodology for the field calibration of small air quality sensors
An algorithm to detect non-background signals in greenhouse gas time series from European tall tower and mountain stations
Mobile atmospheric measurements and local-scale inverse estimation of the location and rates of brief CH4 and CO2 releases from point sources
SIBaR: a new method for background quantification and removal from mobile air pollution measurements
Machine learning calibration of low-cost NO2 and PM10 sensors: non-linear algorithms and their impact on site transferability
The high-frequency response correction of eddy covariance fluxes – Part 2: An experimental approach for analysing noisy measurements of small fluxes
The high-frequency response correction of eddy covariance fluxes – Part 1: An experimental approach and its interdependence with the time-lag estimation
Uncertainty of hourly-average concentration values derived from non-continuous measurements
Emissions relationships in western forest fire plumes – Part 1: Reducing the effect of mixing errors on emission factors
A new method to correct the electrochemical concentration cell (ECC) ozonesonde time response and its implications for “background current” and pump efficiency
Monitoring the compliance of sailing ships with fuel sulfur content regulations using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) measurements of ship emissions in open water
High-resolution mapping of urban air quality with heterogeneous observations: a new methodology and its application to Amsterdam
Towards standardized processing of eddy covariance flux measurements of carbonyl sulfide
Integration and calibration of non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) CO2 low-cost sensors and their operation in a sensor network covering Switzerland
Correcting the impact of the isotope composition on the mixing ratio dependency of water vapour isotope measurements with cavity ring-down spectrometers
Correcting high-frequency losses of reactive nitrogen flux measurements
Surface flux estimates derived from UAS-based mole fraction measurements by means of a nocturnal boundary layer budget approach
InnFLUX – an open-source code for conventional and disjunct eddy covariance analysis of trace gas measurements: an urban test case
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Traffic-related air pollution near roadways: discerning local impacts from background
Bayesian atmospheric tomography for detection and quantification of methane emissions: application to data from the 2015 Ginninderra release experiment
Evaluating and improving the reliability of gas-phase sensor system calibrations across new locations for ambient measurements and personal exposure monitoring
A novel approach for simple statistical analysis of high-resolution mass spectra
Application of open-path Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (OP-FTIR) to measure greenhouse gas concentrations from agricultural fields
Flexible approach for quantifying average long-term changes and seasonal cycles of tropospheric trace species
The ICAD (iterative cavity-enhanced DOAS) method
Development of an incoherent broadband cavity-enhanced absorption spectrometer for measurements of ambient glyoxal and NO2 in a polluted urban environment
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Possible errors in flux measurements due to limited digitalization
Development of a general calibration model and long-term performance evaluation of low-cost sensors for air pollutant gas monitoring
Analysis of spatial and temporal patterns of on-road NO2 concentrations in Hong Kong
Testing the performance of field calibration techniques for low-cost gas sensors in new deployment locations: across a county line and across Colorado
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Uncertainty of eddy covariance flux measurements over an urban area based on two towers
Alice Cavaliere, Lorenzo Brilli, Bianca Patrizia Andreini, Federico Carotenuto, Beniamino Gioli, Tommaso Giordano, Marco Stefanelli, Carolina Vagnoli, Alessandro Zaldei, and Giovanni Gualtieri
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4723–4740, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4723-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4723-2023, 2023
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We assessed calibration models for two low-cost stations equipped with O3 and NO2 metal oxide sensors. Environmental parameters had improved accuracy in linear and black box models. Moreover, interpretability methods like SHapley Additive exPlanations helped identify the physical patterns and potential problems of these models in a field validation. Results showed both sensors performed well with the same linear model form, but unique coefficients were required for intersensor variability.
Blake Actkinson and Robert J. Griffin
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3547–3559, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3547-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3547-2023, 2023
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Data collected using air quality instrumentation deployed on automobiles and driven repeatedly in Houston neighborhoods are analyzed using a novel machine learning technique. The aim is to separate large plumes from the rest of the data in order to identify the sources of the highest levels of the pollutants. The number and nature of these plumes are characterized spatially and can be linked to emissions from different types of motor vehicles.
Herman G.J. Smit, Deniz Poyraz, Roeland Van Malderen, Anne M. Thompson, David W. Tarasick, Ryan M. Stauffer, Bryan J. Johnson, and Debra E. Kollonige
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1466, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1466, 2023
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This paper revisits fundamentals of ECC ozonesonde measurements to develop and characterize a methodology to correct for the fast and slow time responses using the JOSIE (Jülich Ozone Sonde Intercomparison Experiment) simulation chamber data. Comparing the new corrected ozonesonde profiles to an accurate ozone UV-photometer (OPM) as reference, allows us to evaluate the time responses correction (TRC) method and to determine calibration functions traceable to one reference with 5 % uncertainty.
Adil Shah, Olivier Laurent, Luc Lienhardt, Grégoire Broquet, Rodrigo Rivera Martinez, Elisa Allegrini, and Philippe Ciais
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3391–3419, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3391-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3391-2023, 2023
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As methane (CH4) contributes to global warming, more CH4 measurements are required to better characterise source emissions. Hence, we tested a cheap CH4 sensor for 338 d of landfill sampling. We derived an excellent CH4 response model in a stable environment. However, different types of air with the same CH4 level had diverse sensor responses. We characterised temperature and water vapour response but could not replicate field sampling. Thus, other species may cause sensor interactions.
Paolo Cristofanelli, Cosimo Fratticioli, Lynn Hazan, Mali Chariot, Cedric Couret, Orestis Gazetas, Dagmar Kubistin, Antti Laitinen, Ari Leskinen, Tuomas Laurila, Matthias Lindauer, Giovanni Manca, Michel Ramonet, Pamela Trisolino, and Martin Steinbacher
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-130, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-130, 2023
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
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We investigated the application of two automatic methods for detecting spikes due to local emissions in greenhouse gas (GHG) observations at a subset of sites from the ICOS-RI atmospheric network. We analysed the sensitivity to the spike frequency of using different methods/settings. We documented the impact of the de-spiking to different temporal aggregations (i.e. hourly, monthly and seasonal averages) of CO2, CH4 and CO 1-minute time series.
Theertha Kariyathan, Ana Bastos, Julia Marshall, Wouter Peters, Pieter Tans, and Markus Reichstein
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3299–3312, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3299-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3299-2023, 2023
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The timing and duration of the carbon uptake period (CUP) are sensitive to the occurrence of major phenological events, which are influenced by recent climate change. This study presents an ensemble-based approach for quantifying the timing and duration of the CUP and their uncertainty when derived from atmospheric CO2 measurements with noise and gaps. The CUP metrics derived with the approach are more robust and have less uncertainty than when estimated with the conventional methods.
Mitchell W. Alton, Harald J. Stark, Manjula R. Canagaratna, and Eleanor C. Browne
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3273–3282, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3273-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3273-2023, 2023
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Mass spectrometric measurements of atmospheric composition routinely detect hundreds of different ions of varying chemical composition, creating challenges for visualization and data interpretation. We present a new analysis technique to facilitate visualization, while providing greater chemical insight. Additionally, it can aid in identifying the chemical composition of ions. A graphical user interface for performing the analysis is introduced and freely available, enabling broad applications.
Andrew R. Jensen, Abigail R. Koss, Ryder B. Hales, and Joost A. de Gouw
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-842, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-842, 2023
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Technological advancements have improved the measurements of gas-phase organic molecules in the atmosphere, but also present new quantification challenges. In this study, we characterize the response from our Proton-Transfer Reaction mass spectrometer on 2 h timescales and use this characterization to quantify molecules which are not available as standards. A toolkit was developed to streamline this process. A catalytic zero-air generator provided the lowest limits of detection.
Robbert Petrus Johannes Moonen, Getachew Agmuas Adnew, Oscar Karel Hartogensis, Jordi Vilà-Guerau de Arellano, David Joan Bonell Fontas, and Thomas Röckmann
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-785, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-785, 2023
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Isotope fluxes allow for net ecosystem gas exchange fluxes to be partitioned into sub-components like plant assimilation, respiration and transpiration, which can help us better understand the environmental drivers of each partial flux. We share the results of a field campaign isotope fluxes were derived using a combination of laser spectroscopy and eddy covariance. We found lag times and high frequency signal loss in the isotope fluxes we derived and present methods to correct for both.
Kai Krause, Folkard Wittrock, Andreas Richter, Dieter Busch, Anton Bergen, John P. Burrows, Steffen Freitag, and Olesia Halbherr
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1767–1787, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1767-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1767-2023, 2023
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Inland shipping is an important source of nitrogen oxides (NOx). The amount of emitted NOx depends on the characteristics of the individual vessels and the traffic density. Ship emissions are often characterised by the amount of emitted NOx per unit of burnt fuel, and further knowledge about fuel consumption is needed to quantify the total emissions caused by ship traffic. In this study, a new approach to derive absolute emission rates (in g s−1) from onshore measurements is presented.
Lenard L. Röder, Patrick Dewald, Clara M. Nussbaumer, Jan Schuladen, John N. Crowley, Jos Lelieveld, and Horst Fischer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1167–1178, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1167-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1167-2023, 2023
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Field experiments in atmospheric chemistry provide insights into chemical interactions of our atmosphere. However, high data coverage and accuracy are needed to enable further analysis. In this study, we explore a statistical method that combines knowledge about the chemical reactions with information from measurements to increase the quality of field experiment datasets. We test the algorithm for several applications and discuss limitations that depend on the specific variable and the dynamics.
Rona L. Thompson and Ignacio Pisso
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 235–246, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-235-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-235-2023, 2023
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Atmospheric networks are used for monitoring air quality and greenhouse gases and can provide essential information about the sources and sinks. The design of the network, specifically where to place the observations, is a critical question in order to maximize the information provided while minimizing the cost. Here, a novel method of designing atmospheric networks is presented with two examples, one on monitoring sources of methane and the second on monitoring fossil fuel emissions of CO2.
László Haszpra, Zoltán Barcza, Zita Ferenczi, Roland Hollós, Anikó Kern, and Natascha Kljun
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 5019–5031, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5019-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5019-2022, 2022
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A novel approach is used for the determination of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of small rural settlements, which may significantly differ from those of urban regions and have hardly been studied yet. Among other results, it turned out that wintertime nitrous oxide emission is significantly underestimated in the official emission inventories. Given the large number of such settlements, the underestimation may also distort the national total emission values reported to international databases.
Anja Ražnjević, Chiel van Heerwaarden, and Maarten Krol
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 3611–3628, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3611-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3611-2022, 2022
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We evaluate two widely used observational techniques (Other Test Method (OTM) 33A and car drive-bys) that estimate point source gas emissions. We performed our analysis on high-resolution plume dispersion simulation. For car drive-bys we found that at least 15 repeated measurements were needed to get within 40 % of the true emissions. OTM 33A produced large errors in estimation (50 %–200 %) due to its sensitivity to dispersion coefficients and underlying simplifying assumptions.
Lisa J. Beck, Siegfried Schobesberger, Mikko Sipilä, Veli-Matti Kerminen, and Markku Kulmala
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 1957–1965, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1957-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1957-2022, 2022
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Sulfuric acid is known to be a main compound in atmospheric new particle formation. Yet, its concentration is very low, which leads to challenges in detecting it. In our study, we derive the sulfuric acid concentration from measurements of ambient ions with a mass spectrometer. Our validation shows that the theoretical approach using the bisulfate ion and its clusters with H2SO4 captures the sulfuric acid concentration very well during daytime.
Katharina Jentzsch, Julia Boike, and Thomas Foken
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 7291–7296, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7291-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7291-2021, 2021
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Very small CO2 fluxes are measured at night in Arctic regions. If the sensible heat flux is not close to zero under these conditions, the WPL correction will take values on the order of the flux. A special quality control is proposed for these cases.
Seán Schmitz, Sherry Towers, Guillermo Villena, Alexandre Caseiro, Robert Wegener, Dieter Klemp, Ines Langer, Fred Meier, and Erika von Schneidemesser
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 7221–7241, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7221-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7221-2021, 2021
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The last 2 decades have seen substantial technological advances in the development of low-cost air pollution instruments. This study introduces a seven-step methodology for the field calibration of low-cost sensors with user-friendly guidelines, open-access code, and a discussion of common barriers. Our goal with this work is to push for standardized reporting of methods, make critical data processing steps clear for users, and encourage responsible use in the scientific community and beyond.
Alex Resovsky, Michel Ramonet, Leonard Rivier, Jerome Tarniewicz, Philippe Ciais, Martin Steinbacher, Ivan Mammarella, Meelis Mölder, Michal Heliasz, Dagmar Kubistin, Matthias Lindauer, Jennifer Müller-Williams, Sebastien Conil, and Richard Engelen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 6119–6135, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6119-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6119-2021, 2021
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We present a technical description of a statistical methodology for extracting synoptic- and seasonal-length anomalies from greenhouse gas time series. The definition of what represents an anomalous signal is somewhat subjective, which we touch on throughout the paper. We show, however, that the method performs reasonably well in extracting portions of time series influenced by significant North Atlantic Oscillation weather episodes and continent-wide terrestrial biospheric aberrations.
Pramod Kumar, Grégoire Broquet, Camille Yver-Kwok, Olivier Laurent, Susan Gichuki, Christopher Caldow, Ford Cropley, Thomas Lauvaux, Michel Ramonet, Guillaume Berthe, Frédéric Martin, Olivier Duclaux, Catherine Juery, Caroline Bouchet, and Philippe Ciais
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 5987–6003, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5987-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5987-2021, 2021
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This study presents a simple atmospheric inversion modeling framework for the localization and quantification of unknown CH4 and CO2 emissions from point sources based on near-surface mobile concentration measurements and a Gaussian plume dispersion model. It is applied for the estimate of a series of brief controlled releases of CH4 and CO2 with a wide range of rates during the TOTAL TADI-2018 experiment. Results indicate a ~10 %–40 % average error on the estimate of the release rates.
Blake Actkinson, Katherine Ensor, and Robert J. Griffin
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 5809–5821, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5809-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5809-2021, 2021
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This paper describes the development of a new method used to estimate background from mobile monitoring time series. The method is tested on a previously published dataset, applied to an extensive mobile dataset, and compared with other previously published techniques used to estimate background. The results suggest that the method is a promising framework for background estimation.
Peer Nowack, Lev Konstantinovskiy, Hannah Gardiner, and John Cant
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 5637–5655, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5637-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5637-2021, 2021
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Machine learning (ML) calibration techniques could be an effective way to improve the performance of low-cost air pollution sensors. Here we provide novel insights from case studies within the urban area of London, UK, where we compared the performance of three ML techniques to calibrate low-cost measurements of NO2 and PM10. In particular, we highlight the key issue of the method-dependent robustness in maintaining calibration skill after transferring sensors to different measurement sites.
Toprak Aslan, Olli Peltola, Andreas Ibrom, Eiko Nemitz, Üllar Rannik, and Ivan Mammarella
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 5089–5106, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5089-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5089-2021, 2021
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Vertical turbulent fluxes of gases measured by the eddy covariance (EC) technique are subject to high-frequency losses. There are different methods used to describe this low-pass filtering effect and to correct the measured fluxes. In this study, we analysed the systematic uncertainty related to this correction for various attenuation and signal-to-noise ratios. A new and robust transfer function method is finally proposed.
Olli Peltola, Toprak Aslan, Andreas Ibrom, Eiko Nemitz, Üllar Rannik, and Ivan Mammarella
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 5071–5088, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5071-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5071-2021, 2021
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Gas fluxes measured by the eddy covariance (EC) technique are subject to filtering due to non-ideal instrumentation. For linear first-order systems this filtering causes also a time lag between vertical wind speed and gas signal which is additional to the gas travel time in the sampling line. The effect of this additional time lag on EC fluxes is ignored in current EC data processing routines. Here we show that this oversight biases EC fluxes and hence propose an approach to rectify this bias.
László Haszpra and Ernő Prácser
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3561–3571, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3561-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3561-2021, 2021
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Most of the tall-tower greenhouse gas observatories apply a single gas analyzer for the sequential sampling of several intakes along the tower. The non-continuous sampling at each intake introduces excess uncertainty to the calculated hourly-average concentrations used in several applications. Based on real-world measurements, the paper systematically assesses this type of uncertainty.
Robert B. Chatfield, Meinrat O. Andreae, ARCTAS Science Team, and SEAC4RS Science Team
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 7069–7096, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-7069-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-7069-2020, 2020
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Forest burning affects air pollution and global climate. A NASA aircraft studied fire emissions including the Rim Fire near Yosemite. We found frequent confusions between the actual fire emission factors and other effects on the air samples. Effects on CO2 and CO can originate far upwind; the gases can mix variably into a smoke plume. We devised a theory of constant features in plumes. A statistical mixed-effects analysis of a co-emitted tracers model disentangles such mixing from fire effects.
Holger Vömel, Herman G. J. Smit, David Tarasick, Bryan Johnson, Samuel J. Oltmans, Henry Selkirk, Anne M. Thompson, Ryan M. Stauffer, Jacquelyn C. Witte, Jonathan Davies, Roeland van Malderen, Gary A. Morris, Tatsumi Nakano, and Rene Stübi
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 5667–5680, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-5667-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-5667-2020, 2020
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The time response of electrochemical concentration cell (ECC) ozonesondes points to at least two distinct reaction pathways with time constants of approximately 20 s and 25 min. Properly considering these time constants eliminates the need for a poorly defined "background" and allows reducing ad hoc corrections based on laboratory tests. This reduces the uncertainty of ECC ozonesonde measurements throughout the profile and especially in regions of low ozone and strong gradients of ozone.
Fan Zhou, Liwei Hou, Rui Zhong, Wei Chen, Xunpeng Ni, Shengda Pan, Ming Zhao, and Bowen An
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 4899–4909, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4899-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4899-2020, 2020
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On 15 July 2019, using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), maritime authorities ferreted out a sailing ship whose fuel sulfur content (FSC) failed to meet Chinese regulations. This was the first time that a sailing ship had been caught for having failed the FSC regulations in China. The UAV system, method, and monitoring result utilized are discussed in this paper. We recommend that emissions from sailing ships be monitored more often in the open water in the future.
Bas Mijling
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 4601–4617, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4601-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4601-2020, 2020
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Many cities are experimenting with networks of low-cost sensors, complementary to their reference stations. Often the observations are published as dots on a map, as spatial interpolation is far from trivial. A new methodology to assimilate observations of different accuracy in a generic urban-air-quality model is introduced. It can be used for mapping local air quality based on reference measurements only or as a framework to integrate low-cost measurements next to official measurements.
Kukka-Maaria Kohonen, Pasi Kolari, Linda M. J. Kooijmans, Huilin Chen, Ulli Seibt, Wu Sun, and Ivan Mammarella
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 3957–3975, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-3957-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-3957-2020, 2020
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Biosphere–atmosphere gas exchange (flux) measurements of carbonyl sulfide (COS) are becoming popular for estimating biospheric photosynthesis. To compare COS flux measurements across different measurement sites, we need standardized protocols for data processing. We analyze how various data processing steps affect the calculated COS flux and how they differ from carbon dioxide (CO2) flux processing steps, and we aim to settle on a set of recommended protocols for COS flux calculation.
Michael Müller, Peter Graf, Jonas Meyer, Anastasia Pentina, Dominik Brunner, Fernando Perez-Cruz, Christoph Hüglin, and Lukas Emmenegger
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 3815–3834, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-3815-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-3815-2020, 2020
Yongbiao Weng, Alexandra Touzeau, and Harald Sodemann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 3167–3190, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-3167-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-3167-2020, 2020
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We find that the known mixing ratio dependence of laser spectrometers for water vapour isotope measurements varies with isotope composition. We have developed a scheme to correct for this isotope-composition-dependent bias. The correction is most substantial at low mixing ratios. Stability tests indicate that the first-order dependency is a constant instrument characteristic. Water vapour isotope measurements at low mixing ratios can now be corrected by following our proposed procedure.
Pascal Wintjen, Christof Ammann, Frederik Schrader, and Christian Brümmer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 2923–2948, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-2923-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-2923-2020, 2020
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With recent technological advances it is now possible to measure the exchange of trace gases between the land surface and the atmosphere. When using the so-called eddy-covariance method, certain corrections need to be applied to account for attenuation in the flux signal. These losses were found to be setup- and site-specific and can be up to 38 % for reactive nitrogen fluxes. We evaluated five different methods and recommend using an empirical version with locally measured cospectra.
Martin Kunz, Jost V. Lavric, Rainer Gasche, Christoph Gerbig, Richard H. Grant, Frank-Thomas Koch, Marcus Schumacher, Benjamin Wolf, and Matthias Zeeman
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 1671–1692, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-1671-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-1671-2020, 2020
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The nocturnal boundary layer (NBL) budget method enables the quantification of gas fluxes between ecosystems and the atmosphere under nocturnal stable stratification, a condition under which standard approaches struggle. However, up to now the application of the NBL method has been limited by difficulties in obtaining the required measurements. We show how an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) equipped with a carbon dioxide analyser can make this method more accessible.
Marcus Striednig, Martin Graus, Tilmann D. Märk, and Thomas G. Karl
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 1447–1465, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-1447-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-1447-2020, 2020
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The current work summarizes a long-term effort to provide an open-source code for the analysis of turbulent fluctuations of trace gases in the atmosphere by eddy covariance and disjunct eddy covariance, with a special focus on reactive gases that participate in atmospheric chemistry. The performance of the code is successfully evaluated based on measurements of minute fluxes of non-methane volatile organic compounds into the urban atmosphere.
Friedemann Reum, Mathias Göckede, Jost V. Lavric, Olaf Kolle, Sergey Zimov, Nikita Zimov, Martijn Pallandt, and Martin Heimann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 5717–5740, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5717-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5717-2019, 2019
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We present continuous in situ measurements of atmospheric CO2 and CH4 mole fractions at the new station Ambarchik, located in northeastern Siberia. We describe the site, measurements and quality control, characterize the signals in comparison with data from Barrow, Alaska, and show which regions the measurements are sensitive to. Ambarchik data are available upon request.
Nathan Hilker, Jonathan M. Wang, Cheol-Heon Jeong, Robert M. Healy, Uwayemi Sofowote, Jerzy Debosz, Yushan Su, Michael Noble, Anthony Munoz, Geoff Doerksen, Luc White, Céline Audette, Dennis Herod, Jeffrey R. Brook, and Greg J. Evans
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 5247–5261, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5247-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5247-2019, 2019
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Increased interest in monitoring air quality near roadways, combined with traffic's often unclear contribution to elevated concentrations, has created a need for better interpretation of these data. Using 2 years of measurements collected during a near-road monitoring project in Canada, this paper contrasts three methods for estimating the fraction of roadside pollution resulting from on-road traffic. Robustness of these methods was compared with tandem measurements at background locations.
Laura Cartwright, Andrew Zammit-Mangion, Sangeeta Bhatia, Ivan Schroder, Frances Phillips, Trevor Coates, Karita Negandhi, Travis Naylor, Martin Kennedy, Steve Zegelin, Nick Wokker, Nicholas M. Deutscher, and Andrew Feitz
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 4659–4676, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-4659-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-4659-2019, 2019
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Despite extensive research, emission detection and quantification of greenhouse gases (GHGs) remain an open problem. This article presents a novel statistical framework for detecting and quantifying methane emissions and showcases its efficacy on data collected from different instruments in the 2015 Ginninderra controlled-release experiment. The developed techniques can be used to aid GHG emission reduction schemes by, for example, detecting and quantifying leaks from carbon storage facilities.
Sharad Vikram, Ashley Collier-Oxandale, Michael H. Ostertag, Massimiliano Menarini, Camron Chermak, Sanjoy Dasgupta, Tajana Rosing, Michael Hannigan, and William G. Griswold
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 4211–4239, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-4211-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-4211-2019, 2019
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Low-cost air quality sensors are enabling people to collect data to better understand their local environment and potential exposures. However, there is some concern regarding how reliable the calibrations of these sensors are in new and different environments. To explore this issue, our team colocated sensors at three different sites with high-quality monitoring instruments to compare to. We explored the transferability of calibration models as well as approaches to improve reliability.
Yanjun Zhang, Otso Peräkylä, Chao Yan, Liine Heikkinen, Mikko Äijälä, Kaspar R. Daellenbach, Qiaozhi Zha, Matthieu Riva, Olga Garmash, Heikki Junninen, Pentti Paatero, Douglas Worsnop, and Mikael Ehn
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 3761–3776, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-3761-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-3761-2019, 2019
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Recent advancements in atmospheric mass spectrometry provide large amounts of new information but at the same time present considerable challenges for the data analysis, for example, in high-resolution peak identification and separation. To address these problems, this study presents a simple and novel method, which succeeds in analyzing both synthetic and ambient datasets. We believe it will become a powerful approach in the data analysis of mass spectra.
Cheng-Hsien Lin, Richard H. Grant, Albert J. Heber, and Cliff T. Johnston
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 3403–3415, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-3403-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-3403-2019, 2019
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The open-path FTIR (OP-FTIR) is often used to measure the atmospheric gas composition and concentrations. The OP-FTIR, however, is sensitive to the changed ambient factors, which likely led to quantitative biases. This study developed methods to minimize the effect of the ambient temperature and humidity on N2O/CO2 quantification. These methods can help the users who implement the OP-FTIR to estimate gas fluxes in the agroecosystem achieve more precise and accurate estimations.
David D. Parrish, Richard G. Derwent, Simon O'Doherty, and Peter G. Simmonds
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 3383–3394, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-3383-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-3383-2019, 2019
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We present a flexible method that employs a power series expansion and Fourier series analysis to characterize the average long-term change and seasonal cycle, respectively, from a time series of observations of a trace atmospheric species. This approach maximizes the statistically significant information derived, including non-linear aspects of the long-term trends, without over fitting the data. Generally, a small set of parameter values (e.g., 7 or 8) provides this characterization.
Martin Horbanski, Denis Pöhler, Johannes Lampel, and Ulrich Platt
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 3365–3381, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-3365-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-3365-2019, 2019
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ICAD allows a precise in situ measurement of gases like NO2 in a relatively simple and compact setup. The main advantage in comparison to most other optical methods is that it does not require a stable total light intensity. This allows a simpler and mobile instrument setup and additionally it features no observed cross-interferences. We validated the high quality for an ICAD NO2 instrument in different inter-comparisons with a detection limit of 0.02 ppbv.
Shuaixi Liang, Min Qin, Pinhua Xie, Jun Duan, Wu Fang, Yabai He, Jin Xu, Jingwei Liu, Xin Li, Ke Tang, Fanhao Meng, Kaidi Ye, Jianguo Liu, and Wenqing Liu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 2499–2512, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-2499-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-2499-2019, 2019
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A home-built instrument of an incoherent broadband cavity-enhanced absorption spectrometer is reported for sensitive detection of CHOCHO and NO2 in China's highly polluted environment. An NO2 spectral profile measured using the same spectrometer is applied as a reference spectral profile in the subsequent atmospheric spectral analysis and retrieval of NO2 and CHOCHO. This will provide an idea for solving the problem of cross-interference of strongly absorbing gases in weakly absorbing gases.
Angel J. Gomez-Pelaez, Ramon Ramos, Emilio Cuevas, Vanessa Gomez-Trueba, and Enrique Reyes
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 2043–2066, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-2043-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-2043-2019, 2019
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In 2015, a CO2/CH4/CO CRDS was installed at Izaña station (Tenerife). We present the acceptance tests, the processing of raw data applied, the ambient measurements performed, and their comparison with other continuous in situ measurements. We determine linear relationships between flow rate, CRDS inlet pressure, and CRDS outlet valve aperture; a slight CO2 correction that takes into account changes in the inlet pressure/flow rate and its origin; and the H2O correction for CO in a novel way.
Thomas Foken, Wolfgang Babel, and Christoph Thomas
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 971–976, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-971-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-971-2019, 2019
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Recently reported trends of carbon dioxide uptake pose the question of whether trends may be the result of the limited digitalization of gas analysers and sonic anemometers used in the 1990s. Modifying a 12 bit digitalization and the instrument error reported for the R2 and R3 sonic anemometers found elsewhere, the influence of these deficits in comparison to the now commonly used 16 bit digitalization were quantified. Both issues have an effect only on trace gas fluxes of small magnitude.
Carl Malings, Rebecca Tanzer, Aliaksei Hauryliuk, Sriniwasa P. N. Kumar, Naomi Zimmerman, Levent B. Kara, Albert A. Presto, and R. Subramanian
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 903–920, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-903-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-903-2019, 2019
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This paper compares several methods for calibrating data from low-cost air quality monitors to reflect the concentrations of various gaseous pollutants in the atmosphere, identifying the best-performing approaches. With these calibration methods, such monitors can be used to gather information on air quality at a higher spatial resolution than is possible using traditional technologies and can be deployed to areas (e.g. developing countries) where there are no existing monitor networks.
Ying Zhu, Ka Lok Chan, Yun Fat Lam, Martin Horbanski, Denis Pöhler, Johannes Boll, Ivo Lipkowitsch, Sheng Ye, and Mark Wenig
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 6719–6734, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-6719-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-6719-2018, 2018
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The paper presents an investigation of spatio-temporal variability of street-level NO2 in Hong Kong using mobile cavity-enhanced differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) and long-path DOAS. Measurements were conducted in December 2010 and March 2017. A significant decreasing trend in on-road NO2 was found by comparing measurements taken in 2010 and 2017. Influences of changes in bus companies' operation strategies can also be observed from the measured NO2 concentration maps.
Joanna Gordon Casey and Michael P. Hannigan
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 6351–6378, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-6351-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-6351-2018, 2018
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Low-cost sensors have the potential to improve understanding of air quality in complex regions like oil and gas production basins. Regression methods have been used to quantify pollutants from sensor signals, but these methods have not been tested when sensors are moved to new sampling locations, away from model training locations. We use sensor data collected at multiple sites to test how well these field calibration methods perform when they are extended to new locations and times.
David W. T. Griffith
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 6189–6201, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-6189-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-6189-2018, 2018
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In recent years optical spectroscopic techniques have become commonly used in the determination of mole fractions of trace gases in air. These techniques in many cases determine the mole fractions of only individual isotopic variants (
isotopologues) of the trace gas, while for many applications the total mole fraction of all isotopologues is required. This paper sets out the measurements and calculations required to convert between individual isotopologue and total trace gas amounts.
Leena Järvi, Üllar Rannik, Tom V. Kokkonen, Mona Kurppa, Ari Karppinen, Rostislav D. Kouznetsov, Pekka Rantala, Timo Vesala, and Curtis R. Wood
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 5421–5438, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-5421-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-5421-2018, 2018
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Identical EC systems on two sides of a building in central Helsinki were used to assess the uncertainty of the vertical fluxes on the single measurement point from July 2013 to September 2015. Sampling at only one point yielded up to 12% underestimation in the cumulative carbon fluxes; for sensible and latent heat the respective values were up to 5 and 8%. The commonly used statistics, kurtosis and skewness, are not necessarily suitable for filtering out data in a densely built urban area.
Cited articles
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Short summary
Poor air quality is a human health risk which demands high-spatiotemporal-resolution monitoring data to manage. Low-cost air quality sensors present a convenient pathway to delivering these needs, compared to traditional methods, but bring methodological challenges which can limit operational ability. In this study within Oxford, UK, we develop machine learning methods to improve the quality of low-cost sensors for NO2, PM10 (particulate matter) and PM2.5 and demonstrate their effectiveness.
Poor air quality is a human health risk which demands high-spatiotemporal-resolution monitoring...
