Sou Matsunaga

Sou Matsunaga (ASP postdoctoral fellow in ACD) has been developing a new sampling/analytical technique to measure sesquiterpenes (SQTs), which is a group of C-15 biogenic hydrocarbon, including oxygenated sesquiterpenes (OSQTs). The technique is based on a solid adsorbent and liquid extraction. This enabled a better measurement for larger and heavier compounds (e.g., OSQT and diterpenes), compared to another technique based on thermo-desorption, which is more commonly used. He has conducted some field experiments on Niwot Ridge, Colorado and in Las Vegas, Nevada during June and July 2006 using the technique.

From those experiments, he found some unknown biogenic compounds with a comparable emission rate to monoterpenes, which is known as one of the most important biogenic hydrocarbons. He is going to apply a gas chromatography / mass spectrometer (GC/MS) to help the identification of the unknown compounds, and he also obtained an authentic standard for diterpene synthesized by Dr. Arata Yajima at the Tokyo University of Agriculture.

Recently, Sou Matsunaga organized and participated in a collaborative field experiment conducted by the BAI group at ACD/NCAR and Prof. Yoshizumi Kajii's research group at Tokyo Metropolitan University, who are experts in OH concentration and OH lifetime measurement using a laser system. The experiment was conducted from August 22 to September 3, 2006 at Tomakomai Experimental Forest, belonging to Hokkaido University. The emission and concentration measurement for the biogenic compounds by the BAI group will provide them important information to understand the OH missing sink, and it will also be interesting as an independent field research project.

Publications

Matsunaga, S. N. , Guenther, A. B., Izawa, Y., Wiedinmyer, C., Greenberg, J. P. and Kawamura, K., 2007: Importance of the wet precipitation as a removal and transport processes of atmospheric water soluble carbonyls such as isoprene oxidation products, Atmos. Environ., in press.

Matsunaga, S. N. , Wiedinmyer, C., Guenther, A. B., Orlando, J. J., Karl, T., Toohey, D. W., Greenberg, J. P. and Kajii, Y., 2005: Isoprene Oxidation Products are a Significant Atmospheric Aerosol Component, Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., 5, 11143-11156.

Presentation

Sou Matsunaga, Jim Greenberg, Peter Harley and Alex Guenther, "Development of a new analytical technique for biogenic sesquiterpene and oxygenated sesquiterpene", 12th Discussion meeting for Atmospheric Chemistry, June 14-16, 2006, at Zao, Yamagata, Japan.

Funding Sources

This research is supported by the National Science Foundation through its support of ASP and ACD.