THE SMOG HUNTERS
TO HELP ANSWER QUESTIONS ABOUT CURRENT AUTOMOBILE EMISSION CONTROL POLICIES, STUDIES WERE CONDUCTED ON THE COMPOSITION OF THE AIR IN RURAL AND METROPOLITAN AREAS. TWO GAS CHROMATOGRAPHS WITH AUTOMATIC DIGITAL DATA REDUCTION, AND INTEGRATING NEPHELOMETER FOR MEASURING VISIBILITY, A PARTICLE MASS MONITOR FOR DIRECT GRAVIMETRIC ANALYSIS OF THE WEIGHT OF PARTICULATES IN A GIVEN VOLUME OF AIR, A CONDENSATION NUCLEI COUNTER, AN ADJUSTABLE MICROMETER IMPACTOR FOR COLLECTING LARGE SIZE PARTICULATES FOR CHEMICAL ANALYSES AND INSTRUMENTS THAT CAN DETECT AND RECORD OZONE, CARBON MONOXIDE, TOTAL HYDROCARBONS, NITROGEN OXIDE AS WELL AS METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS, WERE INSTALLED IN A BUS LOCATED IN A SPARSELY SETTLED AREA CLOSE TO TIMBERED RIDGES. PRELIMINARY TESTS HELPED IN THE ORIENTATION OF THE INSTRUMENTS TO THE LEVELS THEY WOULD BE EXPECTED TO MEASURE. LOCAL VEGETATION IS A MAJOR EMITTER OF PLANT HYDROCARBONS WHICH APPEARS AS A BLUE HAZE ON WARM DAYS. ISOPRENE, ALPHA AND BETA PINENE, LIMONENE AND MYRCENE ARE SOME CONSTITUENTS OF THE EMISSIONS. AN ATTEMPT WAS MADE TO ESTABLISH THE BASELINE LEVEL OF THE VEGETATION- EMITTED HYDROCARBONS. ALTHOUGH THE PRECISE BIOCHEMISTRY IS NOT YET UNDERSTOOD, EARLIER STUDIES INDICATE THAT MINUTE FORMS OF PLANT LIFE (FUNGI, ALGAE, YEAST AND BACTERIA) CONSUMED THE VEGETATION FORMED HYDROCARBONS. THE STUDIES ALSO REVEALED THAT OZONE LEVELS WERE HIGHER IN RURAL AREAS. THE LOWER THAN BACK-GROUND OZONE LEVEL IN THE CITY SUGGESTS THE OZONE WAS BEING CONSUMED THROUGH REACTIONS WITH NITROGEN OXIDES AND HYDROCARBONS. THERE IS A NEED FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF NATURAL BACKGROUND LEVELS OF THE PLANT VOLATILES AND A NEED FOR UNDERSTANDING THE MECHANISM OF SCAVENGING.
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Corporate Authors:
Washington State University, Pullman
College of Engineering
Pullman, WA United States 99163 -
Authors:
- Flaherty, D C
- Publication Date: 1972-12
Media Info
- Pagination: p. 1-6
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Serial:
- QUEST
- Volume: 10
- Issue Number: 3
- Publisher: Washington State University, Pullman
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Air quality management; Carbon monoxide; Hydrocarbons; Instrumentation; Measurement; Nitrogen compounds; Ozone; Particulates; Rural areas; Salvage; Vegetation
- Old TRIS Terms: Scavenging
- Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 00224234
- Record Type: Publication
- Files: TRIS
- Created Date: Sep 17 1973 12:00AM