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NITRIC ACID SHOOTOUT: FIELD COMPARISON OF MEASUREMENT METHODS (JOURNAL VERSION)
Citation:
Hering, S., I. Allegrini, A. Febo, C. Perrino, AND J.E. Sickles. NITRIC ACID SHOOTOUT: FIELD COMPARISON OF MEASUREMENT METHODS (JOURNAL VERSION). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/J-88/218 (NTIS PB89181317), 1988.
Description:
Eighteen instruments for measuring atmospheric concentrations of nitric acid were compared in an eight-day field study at Pomona College, situated in the eastern portion of the Los Angeles Basin, in September 1985. The study design included collocated and separated duplicate samplers, and the analysis by each laboratory of a set of quality assurance filters, so that the experimental variability could be distinguished from differences due to measurement methods. For all sampling periods, the values for nitric acid concentrations reported by the different instruments vary by as much as a factor of four. Overall, the highest reported concentrations are observed with the filter packs and lower concentrations are observed by the annular denuders and tunable diode laser absorption spectrometers. When the nitric acid concentrations are high enough to be detected by the FTIR, the FTIR values are close to those obtained by the denuder difference method and to the mean value from the other sampler groups. In the absence of a reference standard for the entire study, measurement methods are compared to the average of four denuder difference method samplers (DDM). (Copyright (c) 1988 Pergamon Press plc.)