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  Characterisation of an inlet pre-injector laser-induced fluorescence instrument for the measurement of atmospheric hydroxyl radicals

Novelli, A., Hens, K., Tatum Ernest, C., Kubistin, D., Regelin, E., Elste, T., et al. (2014). Characterisation of an inlet pre-injector laser-induced fluorescence instrument for the measurement of atmospheric hydroxyl radicals. Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 7(10), 3413-3430. doi:10.5194/amt-7-3413-2014.

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 Creators:
Novelli, A.1, Author           
Hens, K.1, Author           
Tatum Ernest, C.1, Author           
Kubistin, D.1, Author           
Regelin, E.2, Author
Elste, T.2, Author
Plass-Dülmer, C.2, Author
Martinez, M.1, Author           
Lelieveld, J.1, Author           
Harder, H.1, Author           
Affiliations:
1Atmospheric Chemistry, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Max Planck Society, ou_1826285              
2external, ou_persistent22              

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 Abstract: Atmospheric measurements of hydroxyl radicals (OH) are challenging due to a high reactivity and consequently low concentration. The importance of OH as an atmospheric oxidant has motivated a sustained effort leading to the development of a number of highly sensitive analytical techniques. Recent work has indicated that the laser-induced fluorescence of the OH molecules method based on the fluorescence assay by gas expansion technique (LIF-FAGE) for the measurement of atmospheric OH in some environments may be influenced by artificial OH generated within the instrument, and a chemical method to remove this interference was implemented in a LIF-FAGE system by Mao et al. (2012). While it is not clear whether other LIF-FAGE instruments suffer from the same interference, we have applied this method to our LIF-FAGE HORUS (Hydroxyl Radical Measurement Unit based on fluorescence Spectroscopy) system, and developed and deployed an inlet pre-injector (IPI) to determine the chemical zero level in the instrument via scavenging the ambient OH radical. We describe and characterise this technique in addition to its application at field sites in forested locations in Finland, Spain and Germany. Ambient measurements show that OH generated within the HORUS instrument is a non-negligible fraction of the total OH signal, which can comprise 30 to 80% during daytime and 60 to 100% during the night. The contribution of the background OH varied greatly between measurement sites and was likely related to the type and concentration of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) present at each particular location. Two inter-comparisons in contrasting environments between the HORUS instrument and two different chemical ionisation mass spectrometers (CIMS) are described to demonstrate the efficacy of IPI and the necessity of the chemical zeroing method for our LIF-FAGE instrument in such environments.

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 Dates: 2014
 Publication Status: Issued
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 Rev. Type: -
 Identifiers: ISI: 000344732200013
DOI: 10.5194/amt-7-3413-2014
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Title: Atmospheric Measurement Techniques
  Abbreviation : AMT
Source Genre: Journal
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Publ. Info: Göttingen : European Geosciences Union, Copernicus
Pages: - Volume / Issue: 7 (10) Sequence Number: - Start / End Page: 3413 - 3430 Identifier: Other: 1867-1381
CoNE: https://pure.mpg.de/cone/journals/resource/1867-1381