SPECTRASORT - A DATA-ANALYSIS PROGRAM FOR REAL-TIME AEROSOL ANALYSIS BY AEROSOL TIME-OF-FLIGHT MASS-SPECTROMETRY

A computer program, SpectraSort, has been written to facilitate the an alysis of ambient aerosol data acquired in our laboratory using aeroso l time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ATOFMS). ATOFMS is a unique aeroso l analysis technique developed to obtain the size and chemical composi tion of individual aerosol particles. Conventional aerosol analysis me thods can only provide the average chemical composition of many partic les for a given size range, or the size of individual particles, but n ot their chemical composition. Knowledge of both the size and composit ion of individual aerosol particles ultimately will help evaluate part icle toxicity and reactivity, as well as assist in the identification of particle emission sources. These three pieces of information are vi tal in any rigorous attempt to regulate particulate pollution in the a tmosphere. At present, in ATOFMS data analysis, each individual partic le mass spectrum must be calibrated manually, and any compositional in formation tabulated for subsequent correlation with the size of the co rresponding particle. SpectraSort greatly facilitates the processing o f particle size and composition information by maximizing the efficien cy of manual classification; but, a fully automated solution is necess ary if ATOFMS is to evolve into a routine real-time aerosol analysis t ool.