ATom: Measurements of Soluble Acidic Gases and Aerosols (SAGA)

The MC/IC system measures in situ atmospheric distributions of nitric acid (plus < 1 um NO3 aerosol) and fine (< 1 um) aerosol sulfate at an approximately 80-second interval. The paired bulk aerosol system collects particulates onto filters for subsequent analysis.

Collected filters were first extracted with water to obtain the water-soluble (WS) constituents and then extracted again using methanol to collect the methanol soluble (MS) fraction. The light absorption of filtered extracts was measured from 300 to 700 nm. Ion chromatography on aqueous extracts of the bulk aerosol samples collected on Teflon filters were used to quantify soluble ions (Cl-, Br-, NO3-, SO42-, C2O42-, Na+, NH4+, K+, Ca+, and Mg+).