Overview of our presentations

Formaldehyde, chemical formula HCHO or CH2O, is a colorless gas with a pungent odor. Levels above 0.1 ppm can cause allergy and acute health problems, e.g. sore throat, skin irritation, nausea, scratchy eyes and cough. Formaldehyde (HCHO) is also classified as highly carcinogenic compound. Exposure to moderate amounts of HCHO has been linked to cancer, such as leukemia.

Stable isotopes act as tracers for studying flows and fluxes of material through ecosystems and the atmosphere. In practice, scientists measure the stable carbon isotope content of air, plants and soil to quantify many phenomena including the recycling of carbon dioxide within forests, water use efficiency, partitioning ecosystem carbon exchange into its components, gross primary productivity and ecosystem respiration, and to identify and quantify the distribution and contributions of plant species to global productivity. In addition, stable isotopes of carbon may be used to determine the effectiveness of carbon sequestration strategies. For these studies, investigators require fast, accurate measurements over a wide range of carbon dioxide concentrations.

ABB LGR-ICOS Carbon Dioxide Isotope analyzers exceed all of these requirements.

Droplet's CCN-100/200 measures the count and size of individual aerosol particles that can form into cloud droplets. Its fast response time allows use in either airborne or ground-based stations.

The INRAe of Narbonne has bought an ultra-high performance photoacoustic detector for solid, semi-solid and liquid samples (a PA301 module produced by Gasera). The PA301 is used as an accessory for any FTIR device. Last week, the Envicontrol team provided on site setup and a full training has been given.

Los Gatos Research (LGR) now offers more analyzer choices to measure surface-atmosphere fluxes. Traditionally, there are four main flux measurement techniques: Eddy Covariance, Relaxed Eddy Accumulation, Gradient and Chamber-based. Though carbon dioxide and water vapor are the most common greenhouse gases measured, in many ecosystems a number of different gases must be measured. LGR's technology has improved rapidly over the years and new analyzers are now available allowing scientists to expand their research by measuring other greenhouse gases such as methane, nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide, ammonia, and carbonyl sulfide.

Envicontrol is increasing his presence in Europe with the setup of a subsidiary in Germany. Envicontrol GmbH is now fully established in Köln.

The Vlaams Milieu Maatschappij (VMM) has chosen to work with Envicontrol for the NOx monitoring within the Flemish air quality monitoring network. The T200 analysers from TAPI will take place soon and 45 units are foreseen to be delivered before the end of 2021.

Last week during the ship's stopover at the harbour of Antwerp, the Envicontrol team has maintained the OPSIS analyser monitoring CO₂ and SO₂ on the “Nabucco” vessel.