SIFT fieldwork measurements

Novel Applications of the WACL Air Sampling Platform

Dr Marvin Shaw

 National Centre for Atmospheric Science.

Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories, University of York

Over the last 2 decades, the importance of emission source types of atmospheric pollutants in urban areas in both Europe and the US has undergone significant change. There has been a considerable reduction in emissions associated with road vehicles. Therefore, human activities and their associated emissions in indoor environments, (such as cooking, cleaning, and the use of consumer products) and their subsequent ventilation outdoors are of increasing interest.

Understanding the role played by different source sectors is important if effective air pollution control is to be achieved. Current atmospheric measurements are made at fixed monitoring sites, most of which do not include the measurement of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), so our understanding of the temporal and spatial variation of pollutants from different sources is limited. Here we describe several measurement applications of a mobile laboratory, the Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratory Air Sampling Platform (WASP). The platform uses a selected-ion flow-tube mass spectrometer (SIFT-MS) and other trace gas instrumentation to provide on-road, high-spatial- and temporal-resolution (typically (1Hz) measurements of CO2, CH4, NOx, CO, O3, SO2, NH3, PM and a wide range of VOCs. We then illustrate the potential of this platform for developing source characterisation methods that account for the similarity in correlation between species. Finally, we consider the benefits of high-spatial- and temporal-resolution measurements in characterising different types of sources, which would be difficult or impossible for single-species studies.

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