Intercomparison of oxygenated volatile organic compound measurements at the SAPHIR atmosphere simulation chamber

Apel, E. C.; Burrows, J. P.; Hopkins, J. R.; Legreid, G.; Ruuskanen, T.; Brunner, A.; Lewis, A. C.; Schade, G.; Simmonds, P.; Ellis, A. M.; Brauers, T.; Koppmann, R.; Wisthaler, A.; Wegener, R.; Reimann, S.; Steigner, D.; Blake, R. S.; Monks, P. S.; Wahner, A.; Wyche, K.P.; Solomon, S. J.; Boßmeyer, J.; Spirig, C.; Müller, K.; Hansel, A.; Gomez Alvarez, E.; Ladstätter-Weißenmayer, A.; Tillmann, R.; Jocher, M.; Young, D.; Steinbrecher, R.; Holzke, C.; Bandowe, B.

doi:10.1029/2008JD009865

Journal Article

Intercomparison of oxygenated volatile organic compound measurements at the SAPHIR atmosphere simulation chamber

Apel, E. C. ; Brauers, T.FZJ* ; Koppmann, R.FZJ* ; Bandowe, B.FZJ* ; Boßmeyer, J.FZJ* ; Holzke, C.FZJ* ; Tillmann, R.FZJ* ; Wahner, A.FZJ* ; Wegener, R.FZJ* ; Brunner, A. ; Jocher, M. ; Ruuskanen, T. ; Spirig, C. ; Steigner, D. ; Steinbrecher, R. ; Gomez Alvarez, E. ; Müller, K. ; Burrows, J. P. ; Schade, G. ; Solomon, S. J. ; Ladstätter-Weißenmayer, A. ; Simmonds, P. ; Young, D. ; Hopkins, J. R. ; Lewis, A. C. ; Legreid, G. ; Reimann, S. ; Hansel, A. ; Wisthaler, A. ; Blake, R. S. ; Ellis, A. M. ; Monks, P. S. ; Wyche, K. P.

2008
Union Washington, DC

Journal of Geophysical Research 113, D20307 (2008) [10.1029/2008JD009865]

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Please use a persistent id in citations: http://hdl.handle.net/2128/20381 doi:10.1029/2008JD009865

Abstract: This paper presents results from the first large-scale in situ intercomparison of oxygenated volatile organic compound (OVOC) measurements. The intercomparison was conducted blind at the large (270 m(3)) simulation chamber, Simulation of Atmospheric Photochemistry in a Large Reaction Chamber (SAPHIR), in Julich, Germany. Fifteen analytical instruments, representing a wide range of techniques, were challenged with measuring atmospherically relevant OVOC species and toluene (14 species, C-1 to C-7) in the approximate range of 0.5-10 ppbv under three different conditions: (1) OVOCs with no humidity or ozone, (2) OVOCs with humidity added (r.h. approximate to 50%), and (3) OVOCs with ozone (approximate to 60 ppbv) and humidity (r.h. approximate to 50%). The SAPHIR chamber proved to be an excellent facility for conducting this experiment. Measurements from individual instruments were compared to mixing ratios calculated from the chamber volume and the known amount of OVOC injected into the chamber. Benzaldehyde and 1-butanol, compounds with the lowest vapor pressure of those studied, presented the most overall difficulty because of a less than quantitative transfer through some of the participants' analytical systems. The performance of each individual instrument is evaluated with respect to reference values in terms of time series and correlation plots for each compound under the three measurement conditions. A few of the instruments performed very well, closely matching the reference values, and all techniques demonstrated the potential for quantitative OVOC measurements. However, this study showed that nonzero offsets are present for specific compounds in a number of instruments and overall improvements are necessary for the majority of the techniques evaluated here.

Keyword(s): J

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Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences

Note: This work was supported by the EU FP-6 programs ACCENT (GOCE CT-2004-505337) and EUROCHAMP (RII3-CT-2004-505968). We thank R. Haseler and F. J. Johnen for the support of the experiments.

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