Collaborative Research: RAPID--Measurements of Speciated Volatile and Semi-volatile Organic Compounds During the Fourth Fire Lab at Missoula Experiment (FLAME-IV)

University Of California-Irvine, Irvine CA

Investigators

Abstract

This proposal is to measure speciated volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds during the Fourth Fire Lab at Missoula Experiment (FLAME-IV), to be held in Missoula, Montana from October 15 to November 16, 2012. Aspects of the investigation include: (1) the fast changes in volatile organic compounds (VOCs), semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) and other species within the first few hours after emission; (2) emissions of as-yet unidentified higher molecular weight VOCs, which contribute to the formation of secondary products such as ozone, secondary organic aerosol (SOA) and organic acids; and (3) the interaction between emitted trace gases and particles with clouds. The University of California, Irvine group will collect whole air samples in the biomass burning emissions of globally important fuels using stainless steel canisters followed by analysis using multi-column gas chromatography. The University of Miami group will measure a selection of the whole air samples, extending the measurements into the semi-volatile range, using a high resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometer and solid adsorbent traps. Together these measurements will yield important new information about the chemical and physical properties of smoke, its evolution, and its interactions with clouds. Given that this is a multi-investigator project focusing on the combustion of globally important fuels in a controlled environment, it will be possible to examine processes that will eventually allow better parameterization of biomass emission impacts in predictive chemistry/climate models. The project will also help to develop next-generation instrumentation via trace gas analysis using a new instrumental capability at the University of Miami, a high resolution time of flight mass spectrometer. It is expected that the high resolution spectra obtained from the different samples will provide a unique characterization of the complex composition of smoke and its variations during aging. The results from this project will help in the development of a graduate course in Advanced Environmental Mass Spectrometry at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS). The results from this study will be published in the peer-reviewed literature and will be presented at international, interdisciplinary conferences. The project will include members from underrepresented groups as participants in this study, in both the sampling and analytical measurements.