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The in‐flight sensitivity of Gold‐Tube NO y converters to HCN
Author(s) -
Weinheimer A. J.,
Campos T. L.,
Ridley B. A.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/1998gl900066
Subject(s) - converters , sampling (signal processing) , environmental science , tube (container) , sensitivity (control systems) , energy conversion efficiency , analytical chemistry (journal) , materials science , meteorology , chemistry , physics , voltage , optics , environmental chemistry , engineering , electrical engineering , electronic engineering , optoelectronics , detector , composite material
In‐flight measurements of the HCN conversion efficiency of three gold‐tube NO y converters were made during the recent TOTE/VOTE and SUCCESS aircraft projects. While sampling ambient air and with the upstream addition of 500 ppmv H 2 O, two converters had HCN conversion efficiencies averaging about 5%. The H 2 O addition was a routine part of the NO y measurement procedure for these projects. A third converter showed much higher HCN conversion, about 30%. Conversion efficiencies determined while sampling synthetic air were significantly higher than those measured while sampling ambient air. The dependence of conversion efficiency on ambient H 2 O and O 3 was minimal, at least with respect to the variability of the measured values over the course of the missions.