Guelph Aerosol and Visibility Monitoring
Guelph Scanning Proton Microprobe (GSPM) laboratory ran three monitoring sites in Canada. The objective was to measure the following characteristics of the fine atmospheric aerosol:
- light absorption coefficient
- elemental composition including hydrogen, black (elemental) carbon, and trace elementswith atomic number between 11 and 83 (sodium to bismuth)
Sampling and analytical protocols are compatible with the Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) program, sampling schedule followed the IADN/NAPS 1-in-6 days protocol. The aerosol samples were analyzed by a suite of analytical techniques: gravimetric analysis, Laser Integrating Plate Method (LIPM), Proton Elastic Scattering Analysis (PESA), and Proton Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE). The final elemental air concentrations are subjected to multivariate statistical analysis and wind back-trajectory modelling.
The Guelph PIXE Group maintains data archives of regular monitoring results, Egbert98 study, etc for registered users.
Financial support for this project was provided by Environment Canada and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
IMPROVE Program
The Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) program is run by the Air Quality Group, Crocker Nuclear Laboratory, University of California, Davis, California. The original IMPROVE sampler consists of four modules with the following analytical measurements:
- Module A .. fine .. mass, light absorption, elemental composition (H, Na-Pb)
- Module B .. fine .. nitrate
- Module C .. fine .. organic and elemental carbon
- Module D .. PM10 .. mass
Visibility and fine particulate program of the Guelph Scanning Proton Microprobe laboratory is focussed on the Module A studies only.
For more information, please, see:
- IMPROVE Newsletter from October 1995
- R.A. Eldred, T.A. Cahill, L.K. Wilkinson and P.J. Feeney, Particulate characterization at remote sites across the U.S.; first year results of the NPS/IMPROVE network: Proc. Air and Waste management Association annual meeting, 1989, contribution 89-151.3
- Thomas A. Cahill, The international fine aerosol networks, Nucl. Instrum. Meth. B75 (1993) 217-221
- Thomas A. Cahill: Compositional analysis of atmospheric aerosol in Particle-Induced X-Ray Emission Spectrometry (PIXE) by S.A.E.Johansson, J.L.Campbell, K.G.Malmqvist, 1995 John Wiley & Sons
- Robert A. Eldred, IMPROVE Sampler Manual, version 2, January 1988, Air Quality Group, Crocker Nuclear Laboratory, University of California, Davis, CA 95616
