Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
8864055 | Atmospheric Environment | 2018 | 8 Pages |
Abstract
During a transition period from 2007 to 2009, the Chemical Speciation Network (CSN) altered its carbon sampling instrumentation and analysis methods to be more consistent with the Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) network. CSN and IMPROVE operated collocated samplers spanning the transition at eight sites. This paper compares elemental, organic, and total carbon (EC, OC, and TC, respectively) measurements at these collocated sites from 2005 through March 2016. Prior to the changes, the concentration measurements between the two networks had imprecisions of 17, 17, and 16% and biases of 0.22, â1.93, and â1.69â¯Î¼gâ¯mâ3 for EC, OC, and TC, respectively, with CSN measuring higher OC and TC than IMPROVE. After the sampling equipment and analytical methods were changed, the imprecision improved to 14, 12, and 10% and biases decreased to â0.02, â0.12, and â0.15â¯Î¼gâ¯mâ3 for EC, OC, and TC, respectively. The increased comparability, particularly the smaller biases, between the two networks facilitates comparisons between urban and rural aerosols in geospatial analyses.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Earth and Planetary Sciences
Atmospheric Science
Authors
Nicholas J. Spada, Nicole P. Hyslop,