Acquisition of Mass Spectrometry Equipment for In Situ Measurements of Trace-level Organic Compounds in the Ambient Atmosphere

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This Major Research Infrastructure (MRI) award will provide support for the purchase and development of instrumentation for the in situ and real-time analysis of trace-level organic compounds in air. This will enable studies of the emissions, reactions and transport of organic substances throughout the Earth's atmosphere, in particular hydrocarbons and oxygenated hydrocarbons that are biogenically emitted into the atmosphere by forests and plants. The instruments will be based on Drift Tube Reaction Mass Spectrometry (DTRMS). This technology is sensitive, selective, and can be used for high frequency measurements, which makes its application to flux measurements above forest canopies possible. One of the DTRMS instruments will be purchased from the original developer fully operational and will be deployed immediately to ongoing laboratory- and field-based research projects on biogenic emissions to the atmosphere. These projects are being carried out in collaboration with Washington State University and the Oregon Graduate Institute. A second instrument will be developed at Montana State University. This instrument will be based on a triple quadrupole which will make it more versatile and selective. Additional types of measurements will be possible with that instrument, including the measurement of organic nitrates.