Estimates of the recovery time of stratospheric ozone heavily rely on the exact knowledge of the processes that lead to the decomposition of the relevant halogenated source gases. Crucial parameters in this context are fractional release factors (FRFs) as well as stratospheric lifetimes and ozone depletion potentials (ODPs). We here present data from the analysis of air samples collected between 2009 and 2011 on board research aircraft flying in the mid- and high-latitude stratosphere and infer the above-mentioned parameters for ten major source gases: CFCl3 (CFC-11), CF2Cl2 (CFC-12), CF2ClCFCl2 (CFC-113), CCl4 (carbon tetrachloride), CH3CCl3 (methyl chloroform), CHF2Cl (HCFC-22), CH3CFCl2 (HCFC-141b), CH3CF2Cl (HCFC-142b), CF2ClBr (H-1211), and CF3Br (H-1301). The inferred correlations of their FRFs with mean ages of air reveal less decomposition as compared to previous studies for most compounds. When using the calculated set of FRFs to infer equivalent stratospheric chlorine, we find a reduction of more than 20% as compared to the values inferred in the most recent Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO, 2011). We also note that FRFs and their correlations with mean age are not generally time-independent as often assumed. The stratospheric lifetimes were calculated relative to that of CFC-11. Within our uncertainties the ratios between stratospheric lifetimes inferred here agree with the values in recent WMO reports except for CFC-11, CFC-12 and CH3CCl3. Finally, we calculate lower ODPs than recommended by WMO for six out of ten compounds, with changes most pronounced for the three HCFCs. Collectively these newly calculated values may have important implications for the severity and recovery time of stratospheric ozone loss

Abstract. The international research project RECONCILE has addressed central questions regarding polar ozone depletion, with the objective to quantify some of the most relevant yet still uncertain physical and chemical processes and thereby improve prognostic modelling capabilities to realistically predict the response of the ozone layer to climate change. This overview paper outlines the scope and the general approach of RECONCILE, and it provides a summary of observations and modelling in 2010 and 2011 that have generated an in many respects unprecedented dataset to study processes in the Arctic winter stratosphere. Principally, it summarises important outcomes of RECONCILE including (i) better constraints and enhanced consistency on the set of parameters governing catalytic ozone destruction cycles, (ii) a better understanding of the role of cold binary aerosols in heterogeneous chlorine activation, (iii) an improved scheme of polar stratospheric cloud (PSC) processes that includes heterogeneous nucleation of nitric acid trihydrate (NAT) and ice on non-volatile background aerosol leading to better model parameterisations with respect to denitrification, and (iv) long transient simulations with a chemistry-climate model (CCM) updated based on the results of RECONCILE that better reproduce past ozone trends in Antarctica and are deemed to produce more reliable predictions of future ozone trends. The process studies and the global simulations conducted in RECONCILE show that in the Arctic, ozone depletion uncertainties in the chemical and microphysical processes are now clearly smaller than the sensitivity to dynamic variability.

The first coupling of atmospheric pressure ionization methods, electrospray ionization (ESI) and desorption electrospray ionization (DESI), to a miniature hand-held mass spectrometer is reported. The instrument employs a rectilinear ion trap (RIT) mass analyzer and is battery-operated, hand-portable, and rugged (total system: 10 kg, 0.014 m(3), 75 W power consumption). The mass spectrometer was fitted with an atmospheric inlet, consisting of a 10 cm x 127 microm inner diameter stainless steel capillary tube which was used to introduce gas into the vacuum chamber at 13 mL/min. The operating pressure was 15 mTorr. Ions, generated by the atmospheric pressure ion source, were directed by the inlet along the axis of the ion trap, entering through an aperture in the dc-biased end plate, which was also operated as an ion gate. ESI and DESI sources were used to generate ions; ESI-MS analysis of an aqueous mixture of drugs yielded detection limits in the low parts-per-billion range. Signal response was linear over more than 3 orders of magnitude. Tandem mass spectrometry experiments were used to identify components of this mixture. ESI was also applied to the analysis of peptides and in this case multiply charged species were observed for compounds of molecular weight up to 1200 Da. Cocaine samples deposited or already present on different surfaces, including currency, were rapidly analyzed in situ by DESI. A geometry-independent version of the DESI ion source was also coupled to the miniature mass spectrometer. These results demonstrate that atmospheric pressure ionization can be implemented on simple portable mass spectrometry systems.

A recently developed prototype mobile laboratory mass spectrometer, incorporating an atmospheric pressure ionization (API) interface, is described. This system takes advantage of the small size, lower voltage requirements, and tandem MS abilities of the cylindrical ion trap mass analyzer. The prototype API MS uses small, low-power pumps to fit into a 0.1-m 3 self-contained package weighing <45 kg. This instrument has been adapted to allow rapid interfacing to electrospray ionization, desorption electrospray ionization, and direct analysis in real-time sources. Initial data indicate that these techniques provide rapid detection and identification of compounds for quality control, homeland security, and forensic applications. In addition, this instrument is self-contained and compact, making it ideally extensible to mobile laboratory and field analyses. Initial MS and MS/MS data for analyses of drugs, food, and explosives are presented herein. O ver the past 15 years, efforts toward implementing mass spectrometry (MS) in the field have steadily grown with particular focus on environmental, forensic, defense, and security applications [I, 2]. Many of the previously developed fieldable MS instruments use gas chromatography (GC-MS) because of the high degree of confidence obtained using GC retention times and electron ionization (EI) mass spectral matching [3][4][5][6]. The specificity of GC-MS comes at the expense of time, with individual analyses often taking in excess of 10 min (not including sample preparation). Reducing the amount of time required for chemical identification requires separation-free MS. In the absence of chromatography, tandem MS (MS/MS) improves confidence for the identification of individual components in mixtures [7]. With spectral acquisition rates > 1 Hz, atmospheric pressure ionization (API) techniques such as electrospray ionization (ESI), desorption electro spray (DESI), and direct analysis in real time (DART), a fieldable API MS system capable of MS/MS is of high value to environmental, forensic, defense, and force protection agencies. There have been few attempts to construct fieldable MS instruments with an API interface to date [8][9][10][11] because of the difficulty of displacing the gas load of the atmospheric inlet.The cylindrical ion trap (CIT)-a simplified geometry of the hyperbolic quadrupole ion trap capable of Address reprint requests to Dr. Mitch Wells, Griffin Analytical Technologies, LLC, R&D, 3000 Kent Avenue, West Lafayette, IN 47906, USA. E-mail: mitch.wells@icxt.com performing MS n analyses-has been shown to be amenable to miniaturization [12][13][14] while maintaining benchtop-quality performance characteristics. The miniaturized CIT enables a smaller vacuum system with smaller pumps that consume less power, providing a fieldable instrument. Although GC-MS instruments currently dominate the portable mass spectrometry industry, estimates indicate that the confidence for molecule identification by MS/MS is about that provided with GC-MS (when combining MS information w...

Despite many potential applications, miniature mass spectrometers have had limited adoption in the field due to the tradeoff between throughput and resolution that limits their performance relative to laboratory instruments. Recently, a solution to this tradeoff has been demonstrated by using spatially coded apertures in magnetic sector mass spectrometers, enabling throughput and signal-to-background improvements of greater than an order of magnitude with no loss of resolution. This paper describes a proof of concept demonstration of a cycloidal coded aperture miniature mass spectrometer (C-CAMMS) demonstrating use of spatially coded apertures in a cycloidal sector mass analyzer for the first time. C-CAMMS also incorporates a miniature carbon nanotube (CNT) field emission electron ionization source and a capacitive transimpedance amplifier (CTIA) ion array detector. Results confirm the cycloidal mass analyzer's compatibility with aperture coding. A >10× increase in throughput was achieved without loss of resolution compared with a single slit instrument. Several areas where additional improvement can be realized are identified. Graphical Abstract ᅟ.