Articles | Volume 19, issue 12
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-19-4035-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Sodium thiosulfate-coated ceramic denuders for ozone removal in ultrafine particle sampling
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- Final revised paper (published on 22 Jun 2026)
- Supplement to the final revised paper
- Preprint (discussion started on 23 Jan 2026)
- Supplement to the preprint
Interactive discussion
Status: closed
Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor
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RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2025-6287', Anonymous Referee #2, 17 Feb 2026
- AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Elisabeth Eckenberger, 05 May 2026
- AC2: 'Reply on RC1', Elisabeth Eckenberger, 05 May 2026
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RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2025-6287', Anonymous Referee #1, 08 Apr 2026
- AC3: 'Reply on RC2', Elisabeth Eckenberger, 05 May 2026
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AR – Author's response | RR – Referee report | ED – Editor decision | EF – Editorial file upload
AR by Elisabeth Eckenberger on behalf of the Authors (05 May 2026)
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ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (review by editor) (12 May 2026) by Hans Osthoff
AR by Elisabeth Eckenberger on behalf of the Authors (21 May 2026)
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ED: Publish as is (29 May 2026) by Hans Osthoff
AR by Elisabeth Eckenberger on behalf of the Authors (05 Jun 2026)
Author's response
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General Comments:
This article reports on the design and application of a thiosulfate-impregnated honeycomb denuder to mitigate chemical losses from reaction with ozone in ultrafine particle sampling. This is important work, drawing attention to the unfortunately often overlooked interference from ozone in the sampling of atmospheric organic matter. I very much appreciate this study and its reporting and recommend the publication after consideration of a number my specific comments given below.
It would be valuable to also have these experimental details provided: What fraction of ozone makes it through the sampling system without the sodium thiosulfate coating? Given that ozone is a rather reactive gas, a fair amount gets probably removed just by contact with the impactor and plumbing system?
Given the multiple sampling and analysis steps, the chemical quantifications need a thorough experimental determination of the analytical reproducibility of the different chemical classes for the UFP determination. This should be done by deploying complete parallel samplers and not just by parallel sub-sampling of the fractionated aerosol or multiple chemical analyses of the extracts.
Specific Comments:
Line 21, 22: Instead of writing “ 0 ppb”, it would be more accurate to give the threshold of the ozone determination sensitivity, e.g. < 0.3 ppb, or whatever the detection limit of the utilized ozone sensor is.
Line 28: Please give the uncertainty margins of the 15-46% determination.
Line 30: Same here.
Line 49: Possibly also cite the WMO GAW Measurement Guidelines, GAW Report No. 281, Guidelines for Measurements of Non-Methane Hydrocarbons in the Troposphere, that emphasize the need to remove ozone in the sampling of volatile organic compounds.
Line 74. One could also consider [Helmig and Greenberg, 1995].
Line 144: Please mention that these are honeycomb structure channels and that CPSI stands for cells per square inch. How are these connected to your system plumbing? It might be nice to show a photograph of the denuder.
Line 148: I have a hard time believing that shaking of ta 400 CPSI honeycomb denuder will remove all the water? What is the actual diameter of the individual capillaries? This could possibly be checked by weighing a dry denuder and one that has been “shaken”. If residual water remains in the denuder, then that may actually affect the coating efficiency when the denuder is subjected to the sodium thiosulfate solution?
Line 148. “5,6 mol L-1”? Please be consistent with using a decimal point for decimals.
Line 155: Please give complete details about the drying method.
Line 187: Round site coordinates to a reasonable number.
Line 254: Are the error margins 1-sigma standard deviations?
Line 264: Give numeric results and stated uncertainty comparison.
Line 287: How do you conclude that the sodium thiosulfate efficiency is dependent on relative humidity rather than specific humidity?
Line 298: The ozone monitor that was used really isn’t suited for measuring levels below 1 ppb, and the lowest detectable ozone will be quite sensitive to the zero offset that is applied in the monitor. Therefore, the reliably measurable lowest ozone level needs to be carefully determined in a set of zero ozone measurements and only numerical values above the determined ozone detection limit should be reported as numerical data. All other recordings need to be reported as below the detection limit (< x.x ppb) of the measurement.
Figure 4 caption: Replace ‘concentration’ with ‘mixing ratio’ here and elsewhere.
Table 1: Explain in table caption what the reference data are.
Line 458: Most journals these days do not accept this data availability statement. Data should be shared with readers readily within the Supplemental Materials or through a public archive.
Helmig, D., and J. Greenberg (1995), Artifact formation from the use of potassium-iodide based ozone traps during atmospheric sampling of trace organic gases, Journal of High Resolution Chromatography, 18, 15-18.