title: Development of a multicopter-carried whole air sampling apparatus and its applications in environmental studies.
abstract: To advance the capabilities of probing chemical composition aloft, we designed a lightweight remote-controlled whole air sampling component (WASC) and integrated it into a multicopter drone with agile maneuverability to perform aerial whole air sampling. A field mission hovering over an exhaust shaft of a roadway tunnel to collect air samples was performed to demonstrate the applicability of the multicopter-carried WASC apparatus. Ten aerial air samples surrounding the shaft vent were collected by the multicopter-carried WASC. Additional five samples were collected manually inside the shaft for comparison. These samples were then analyzed in the laboratory for the chemical composition of 109 volatile organic compounds (VOCs), CH4, CO, CO2, or CO2 isotopologues. Most of the VOCs in the upwind samples (the least affected by shaft exhaust) were low in concentrations (5.9 ppbv for total 109 VOCs), posting a strong contrast to those in the shaft exhaust (235.8 ppbv for total 109 VOCs). By comparing the aerial samples with the in-shaft samples for chemical compositions, the influence of the shaft exhaust on the surrounding natural air was estimated. Through the aerial measurements, three major advantages of the multicopter-carried WASC were demonstrated: 1. The highly maneuverable multicopter-carried WASC can be readily deployed for three-dimensional environmental studies at a local scale (0-1.5 km); 2. Aerial sampling with superior sample integrity and preservation conditions can now be performed with ease; and 3. Data with spatial resolution for a large array of gaseous species with high precision can be easily obtained.
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Environmental Changes, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan. Electronic address: joechang@rcec.sinica.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Chih-Chung
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, National Central University, Chungli 320, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Jia-Lin
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Environmental Changes, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chih-Yuan
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Environmental Changes, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Mao-Chang
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Environmental Changes, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ming-Ren
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D004777:Environment; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation*; D001335:Vehicle Emissions / Q000032:analysis; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D001335:Vehicle Emissions; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds
keywords: Aerial sampling; Greenhouse gases; Shaft exhaust; Unmanned aerial vehicle; Volatile organic compounds