Going from 1 to 1000 per second - how advances in mass spectrometry and chromatography are revolutionizing atmospheric chemistry

Over the past decade, atmospheric chemistry has been experiencing a “Molecular Revolution,” thanks to advances in mass spectrometry and chromatography. In this talk, I provide three broadly relevant examples from my group’s work advancing and deploying chemical ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (CI-ToF-MS) for studying atmospheric chemistry. I will describe our role in the first-ever deployment of this technology aboard aircraft for in situ observations of a wide suite of reactive trace gases, how this development set a new benchmark for airborne trace gas sensors, and how it has led to our new, portable, battery-operated, bicycle-deployed CI-ToF-MS. I will then illustrate with unique laboratory studies how it unlocked insights in to physical-organic chemistry through direct measurements of the rapid (millisecond) transformations of organic peroxy radicals. My last example will be a description and demonstration of our novel, ultra-fast and highly portable gas chromatograph coupled to CI-ToF-MS for ~1Hz continuous observations of chromatographically separated volatile organic compounds at parts per trillion mixing ratios. I will conclude with a discussion of how these advances are changing how we approach identifying and quantifying pollution sources and personal exposure to pollution to the atmospheric and chemical dynamics of forested and remote marine environments.

Speaker: Joel Thornton, University of Washington