The CAE team specialises in measuring the levels of reactive chemical compounds present in the lower atmosphere in gaseous or particulate form and having potential impacts on health (air quality), ecosystems and, more generally, the climate. It is particularly interested in quantifying and characterising their sources, properties and the physico-chemical processes that cause them to evolve.
To this end, the team has developed three areas of expertise.
Development and deployment of experimental strategies in the field
The team is actively involved in the development of national and international networks of air pollution monitoring stations (ACTRIS, GAW, SOERE/ORAURE, SIRTA). In particular, it manages several international stations, especially on the island of Amsterdam and in the Paris region.
The team also coordinates and participates in numerous measurement campaigns in different regions of the world that are of interest from the point of view of atmospheric chemistry. The approach adopted is based on multi-instrument and often multi-platform campaigns (ground, ship, airborne and spaceborne) through collaboration with (inter)national teams .
Mastery of the latest innovations in physico-chemical analysis
The team is constantly innovating, creating or adapting technologies to meet research needs: optimised laboratory and field chromatographs for the analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), mass spectrometers for the rapid measurement of VOCs (PTR-MS) and aerosols (ACSM), OH reactivity measurement, miniature particle counter, aerosol lidar, biogenic emissions measurement chamber, bio-aerosol measurements.
It has filed several patents, some of which have been used industrially. The team is also developing partnerships with industry (Aerodyne, Leosphere, Environnement SA, etc.) to help them improve the performance of their instruments or to consider new developments.
Feedback
The team is working in certain areas with the laboratory’s modellers in order to take greater account of the diversity of chemical processes in models for forecasting climate, air quality and primary production in the oceans. For example, studies have been carried out (i) to improve the prediction of particulate air quality over Europe by assimilating observations from a lidar network, (ii) to integrate knowledge of desert dust deposition into a coupled dynamics and marine biogeochemistry model of the Mediterranean and to model the impact of this deposition on primary production, and (iii) to integrate knowledge of marine sources of CO and VOC into a marine biogeochemistry model.
The team’s short- and medium-term scientific interests are focused on several regions of the world:
- Polar zones: studies of transfer at the ocean-atmosphere interface of reactive gaseous species (carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds)
- Mediterranean zone: studies of sources and rapid chemistry (reactivity, formation of ozone and secondary aerosols from biogenic and anthropogenic emissions).
- Ile-de-France zone: detailed studies of pollution in Paris and the Ile-de-France region.