The MACL trailer houses a suite of instruments for field research on atmospheric aerosols. This mobile laboratory allows simultaneous measurements of gas phase species, particulate phase chemical and physical properties, and boundary layer dynamics in an integrated approach for aerosol studies. The major research instruments are an aerosol LIDAR to measure vertical profiles of aerosols and clouds, a Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer to measure particle size distributions, a Particle in Liquid Sampler/Ion Chromatograph for collection and chemical analysis of water-soluble ionic components, and a Gas Chromatograph/Mass Spectrometer for the quantification of gas phase precursors of ozone and aerosols. [learn more]

Mobile Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratory

• Proton Transfer Reaction Mass Spectrometer (PTR-MS): high sensitivity version from Ionicon Analytik for real time monitoring of VOCs with detection limits of ~ 50 pptv per second of integration time

PTR-MS

• GC / MS field instrument: An automated gas chromatograph - mass spectrometer for in-situ sampling and analysis of VOCs in ambient air. This is a custom field deployable system that uses a cryogenic preconcentrator to sample ambient air. Detection limits are in the low pptv with a sampling frequency of ½ hour.

• Canister sampling and analysis by GC-FID / ECD: We have over 100 canisters for grab sampling and several gas chromatograph detector combinations for analyzing canister samples.

• Infrared Gas Analyzers: A fast response open path infrared gas analyzer (IRGA) for eddy covariance flux measurements of CO₂ and H₂O (OP-2 from ADC Bioscientific Inc.).

Fast Olefin Sensor

• Fast Olefin Sensor: A real time instrument from Hills scientific, Inc. for measuring olefin concentrations in air. Detection limits are sub ppbv for 10 Hz sampling rates.

• Trace Gas Automated Profiling System (T-GAPS): An automated, continuous, multi-inlet tracer sampling and analysis system. T-GAPS is designed to provide simultaneous, 5-minute average concentratons measured at 7 locations on a continuous, automated basis.

T-GAPS field instrumentation

Remote Sensing

• MF-DOAS: The Multi-Function Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy instrument. The MF-DOAS instrument allows vertical and horizontal "mapping" of trace pollutants by taking measurements in four directions (north, east, south, west). The instrument is used to validate measurements obtained by the Ozone Monitoring Instrument onboard NASA's Aura satellite.

• Short-Path DOAS: A portable short path Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy instrument housed in a portable cart and mounted on tripods. The equipment includes a Xenon light source, transmitting and receiving optics, a Czerny-Turner spectrograph, and computer. The instrument is currently being used to make mid-ultraviolet measurements of ammonia.

We are currently employing fast isotopic measurements based on Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy coupled with the disjunct eddy covariance (DEC) flux technique. The FTIR-DEC technique is a novel approach for making real-time direct measurements of total CO₂ flux and isotopic CO₂ fluxes in a forest ecosystem and can potentially be used for continuous investigation of biosphere/atmosphere interactions. The instrument captures 24h/day measurements of CO₂ concentration, isotopic del values, and isotopic CO₂ fluxes on 34 second centers, all automatically under computer control.

We have disjunct eddy accumulation (DEA) or disjunct eddy covariance (DEC) capabilities for various compounds including urban emissions (VOCs), biogenic emissions (i.e., isoprene, monoterpenes), and agricultural emissions (i.e., N₂O and CH₄).

• LINUX cluster

• An array of workstations and pcs for academic and research applications

• Modern air quality monitoring teaching laboratory

• Complete aerosol and particulate analytical systems including filter weighing room, carbon aerosol analyzer, filter extractions

• Mini-sodar

Linux cluster