AMT Atmospheric Measurement Techniques AMT Atmos. Meas. Tech. 1867-8548 Copernicus Publications Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/amt-6-927-2013 Selective measurements of NO, NO<sub>2</sub> and NO<sub>y</sub> in the free troposphere using quantum cascade laser spectroscopy Tuzson B. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7442-5405 1 Zeyer K. 1 Steinbacher M. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7195-8115 1 McManus J. B. 2 Nelson D. D. 2 Zahniser M. S. 2 Emmenegger L. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9812-3986 1 Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Laboratory for Air Pollution and Environmental Technology, Überlandstr. 129, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland Aerodyne Research, Inc., Center for Atmospheric and Environmental Chemistry, Billerica, MA 01821, USA 09 04 2013 6 4 927 936 Copyright: © 2013 B. Tuzson et al. 2013 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This article is available from https://amt.copernicus.org/articles/6/927/2013/amt-6-927-2013.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://amt.copernicus.org/articles/6/927/2013/amt-6-927-2013.pdf

A quantum cascade laser based absorption spectrometer for continuous and direct measurements of NO and NO<sub>2</sub> was employed at the high-altitude monitoring site Jungfraujoch (3580 m a.s.l., Switzerland) during a three-month campaign in spring/summer 2012. The total reactive nitrogen, NO<sub>y</sub>, was also measured in the form of NO after conversion on a gold catalyst. The aim was to assess the suitability of the instrument for long-term monitoring of the main reactive nitrogen species under predominantly free tropospheric air conditions. A precision (1σ) of 10 and 3 ppt for NO and NO<sub>2</sub> was achieved under field conditions after 180 s averaging time. The linear dynamic range of the instrument has been verified for both species from the detection limit up to 45 ppb. The spectrometer shared a common sampling inlet with a chemiluminescence-based analyzer. The comparison of the time series shows excellent agreement between the two techniques and demonstrates the adequacy of the laser spectroscopic approach for this kind of demanding environmental applications.

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