Low-volume sampling for chemical aerosol composition analysis

Low-volume sampling on weekly filters is operated since 2002 at PDM. The aerosol-laden air is conducted through two distinct sampling lines towards specific filters. The air sampling volume is about 400 m³ per week. Each filter integrates the whole weekly air volume.

Filter specificitions are motivated by the post analysis:

The filter dedicated to the inorganic chemical composition of aerosol is a teflon one. It enables to characterize the aerosol composition in Na^+, Cl^-, Mg²⁺, K⁺, SO₄^2-, NO₃^-, NH₄⁺, Ca²⁺, acetic and formic acids thanks to a HPLC analysis.

The filter dedicated to the carbonaceous composition of aerosol is a quartz one. It enables to characterize the aerosol composition in OC (Oragnic Carbon) and EC (Elemental Carbon) fraction in Total Carbon concentration thanks to a thermo-optical analysis (EUSAAR 2 protocol performed in a Sunset analyser).

Laboratory analyses are conducted at the Laboratoire d'aérologie in Toulouse.

L2B data available under ACTRIS framework at https://ebas.nilu.no/data-access/ (research key "Pic du Midi").