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Using a Mobile Laboratory to Characterize Urban Emissions and their Atmospheric Fate


Dr. Scott C. Herndon
Aerodyne Research, Inc. Billerica, MA


The Aerodyne Research Mobile Laboratory has been used to characterize emissions from various combustion sources. These include various types of on-road vehicular sources, private autos, passenger buses and alternative technology (non-gasoline or traditional diesel) as well as the emissions from aircraft during taxiway and runway operations and fixed-point emission sources. Sometimes the data is collected while chasing the targeted vehicle, but other times an ensemble of emission sources is characterized or the wind advected plumes are analyzed

This approach has been used during the Study of Houston Area Radical Precursors (SHARP-2009). Several compounds emitted from petrochemical refining and chemical production facilities are highly reactive volatile organic compounds (HR-VOC). The HR-VOC emissions can accelerate the formation of ozone and secondary aerosol. Photolytic radical sources of HOx such as formaldehyde and nitrous acid are particularly important.

Characterizing primary urban emissions, and measuring the mixed urban plume at strategic locations, provide datasets that can help test our understanding of the initial mixing and photochemical processing occurring in the urban plume. Highlights from the SHARP-2009 and various aircraft exhaust characterization studies will be discussed.