An Intercomparison of Airborne VOC and PAN Measurements
Abstract
As part of the Texas Air Quality Study (TexAQS 2000) an informal airborne intercomparison has been conducted to evaluate the state-of-the-art of fast-response, in-situ methods for analyzing Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN). Instrumentation included a Proton-Transfer-Reaction Mass Spectrometer (PTR-MS), the Tropospheric Airborne Chromatograph for Oxy-hydrocarbons and Hydrocarbons (TACOH) and a gas chromatograph for PAN detection using electron capture (GC/ECD). The measurements were made in the Greater Houston area and East Texas in August/September 2000 during 13 flights with the NSF/NCAR ELECTRA aircraft. The intercomparison was conducted mainly in the boundary layer but included some encounters with air masses from the free troposphere. Final results from the intercomparison show that measurements of acetaldehyde, isoprene, the sum\textsuperscript{*} of acetone and propanal, the sum\textsuperscript{*} methyl vinyl ketone and methacrolein (\textsuperscript{*} PTR-MS does not distinguish between isobaric species) and toluene agree very well. Poor agreement was achieved in the case of methanol and the underlying sensitivity problem in the PTR-MS or TACOH system is under investigation. The results of the PAN intercomparison indicate that the PTR-MS technique suffered from an interference most likely associated with the presence of peracetic acid in photochemically aged air. If this interfering signal was traced by periodically inserting a selective PAN scrubber (thermal decomposition) into the sample air stream and subtracted from the original signal, the corrected PTR-MS PAN data are in very good agreement with the GC/ECD results.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2002
- Bibcode:
- 2002AGUFM.A12D0175H
- Keywords:
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- 0345 Pollution: urban and regional (0305);
- 0365 Troposphere: composition and chemistry;
- 0394 Instruments and techniques