The research group of Professor Murray Johnston in the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department at
the University of Delaware is characterizing
ambient sub-microscopic particles in Delaware air. Measurements are performed
in three locations.
At the State of
Delaware Air Quality Monitoring Site operated by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources
and Environmental Control (DNREC) on Martin Luther King Boulevard in Wilmington,
Johnston’s group is measuring the chemical composition of fine and ultrafine
particles in air to understand particle formation processes and human exposure
in the urban environment.
State of
Delaware Air Quality Monitoring Site in Wilmington, DE
In the Lammot
DuPont Laboratory at the University of Delaware campus in Newark, Johnston’s
group draws outside air into the laboratory to test new approaches to aerosol
chemical composition measurements. Experiments are also planned to study the
reactions of ambient particles with gas phase species in a controlled
laboratory environment.
At the College
of Earth, Ocean, and Environment in Lewes, Johnston’s group is studying nanoparticle “events” in a coastal-marine environment.
These events are characterized by an abrupt increase in the number of airborne nanoparticles followed by rapid growth to larger sizes.
Salt Marsh in
Lewes, DE
Johnston Group Publications that Discuss
Delaware Air Quality:
M.V. Johnston,
M.S. Reinard,
K. Adou, J.M. Martini, and
M.V. Johnston, “Source
Characterization and Identification by Real-Time Single Particle Mass
Spectrometry”, Atmospheric Environment (2007) 40, 9397-9409.
D.M. Murphy, P.K. Hudson, D.J. Cziczo, S. Gallavardin, K.D. Froyd, M.V. Johnston, A.M. Middlebrook, M.S. Reinard, D.S. Thomson, T. Thornberry, and A.S.
Wexler, “Distribution
of lead in single atmospheric particles”, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
(2007) 7, 3195–3210.
M.A. Dreyfus and M.V. Johnston, “Rapid
Sampling of Individual Organic Aerosol Species in Ambient Air with the Photoionization Aerosol Mass Spectrometer”, Aerosol
Science and Technology (2008) 42, 1-10.
C.A. Zordan,
M.A. Dreyfus, K. Adou, S.M. Zucker,
and M.V. Johnston, “Organic
Aerosol Source Apportionment from Highly Time Resolved Molecular Composition
Measurements”, Atmospheric Environment (2009) 43, 2901-2910.
J.P. Klems,
M.R. Pennington, C.A. Zordan,
M.V. Johnston, “Ultrafine
Particles Near
a Roadway Intersection: Origin and Apportionment of Fast Changes in
Concentration”, Environmental Science and Technology (2010) 44, 7903-7907.