ReCLEAN members visited the ReCLEAN measurement campaign taking place on an agricultural site in Payerne.
Swiss agriculture is facing excessive reactive nitrogen deposition, which adversely impacts natural ecosystems, groundwater, and air quality. At the agricultural site in Payerne, EPFL is measuring the flux of gas-phase inorganic and organic reactive nitrogen species (such as HNO3) using the state-of-the-art Vocus CI-TOF. We will identify and monitor key gas-phase nitrogen species and their dynamic behavior. In collaboration with PSI for particle-phase measurements and NABEL for NH3 data, our primary objective is to estimate aerosol acidity in the agricultural environment and assess the deposition regime of NH3 and HNO3 in the atmosphere. This data will provide valuable constraints for atmospheric modeling, another important objective of the ReCLEAN project.
Prof. Rodney Weber from Georgia Tech, world-renowned for his work on atmospheric chemistry, acidity and health effects, accompanied the visit and discussed research collaboration.
To analyse atmospheric samples, PSI scientists use mass spectrometers such as EESI, VOCUS and AMS.
EPFL researchers are calculating acidity and see the effect of partitioning of HNO3 and NH3.
During the visit, the members of ReCLEAN had the opportunity to discover the measurement site of MeteoSwiss. It is equipped with instruments capable of analysing the data collected by the sounding balloons, as well as instruments for the continuous measurement of the main atmospheric variables and for providing data for the Swiss weather forecast model. The site is also equipped with the new automatic pollen monitoring network.