EDDY-CORRELATION FLUXES OF TRACE GASES USING A TANDEM MASS-SPECTROMETER

This paper describes a field evaluation of a tandem mass spectrometer (TAGA) for use in measuring turbulence fluxes of trace gases. Measurem ents were made over a two-day period in a fallow farm field west of Co lumbus, OH. The results show that for weakly adsorbing species such as acetone, the effective time constant for the TAGA is < 0.1 s, and the device can be used for eddy correlation flux measurements with little need for corrections. The effective time constant is longer for adsor bing species, such as ammonia, but spectral corrections can permit flu x estimates fur these species as well. This paper presents the first r eported measurements of fluxes of acetone, formic acid, and ammonia us ing the eddy correlation technique. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Sci ence Ltd. All rights reserved.