title: Sampling systems for isotope-ratio mass spectrometry of atmospheric ammonia.
abstract: Passive and active ammonia (NH(3)) sampling devices have been tested for their nitrogen (N) capture potential and delta(15)N fractionation effects. Several sampling techniques produced significantly different delta(15)NH(3) signals when sampling the same NH(3) source released from field site fumigation campaigns. Conventional passive NH(3)-monitoring systems have shown to provide insufficient N for isotope-ratio mass spectrometry and various modified devices have been developed, based on existing diffusion tube designs, to overcome this problem. The final sampler design was then tested in a wind tunnel to verify that sampling NH(3) in different environmental conditions did not significantly fractionate the delta(15)N signal.
authors.affiliation: University of York, Heslington, York YO105DD, UK. ras108.york@gmail.com
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Skinner
authors.forename: Phil
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ineson
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Daren
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sleep
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Theobald
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D000641:Ammonia / Q000032:analysis*; D001272:Atmosphere / Q000032:analysis*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D006113:United Kingdom
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D000641:Ammonia