G. Eerdekens

Firework Emissions for Satellite Validation

Environmental Context. Satellite-based instruments for monitoring the Earth’s atmosphere observe the distribution of many gases and particles of interest. Many common sources of atmospheric gases and particles, such as fires, are geographically widespread and occur over a moderately long period. In contrast, fireworks pollute only a local area and for a brief period, and thus act as an ideal test of satellite instruments.

On gaseous C4H6O2 compounds in the atmosphere: new insights from collision experiments of the protonated molecules in the laboratory and on aircraft

A variety of mass spectrometric methods and complementary theoretical calculations are used to assess the potential contributions of C4H6O2 isomers to the m/z = 87 ion found in a recent atmospheric field study (Int. J. Mass Spectrom. 223/224 (2003) 733). The analysis of high- and low-energy collision experiments suggests that a ca. 1:1:1 mixture of crotonic acid, vinylacetic acid, and methyl acrylate can account for the experimental findings in the field study. For a more concise assessment, further field studies using complementary approaches for the characterization of atmospheric trace components are recommended.