IMPROVE PARTICULATE MONITORING NETWORK

STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES

 Air Quality Group

Crocker Nuclear Laboratory

University Of California, Davis

Davis, CA 95616-8569

Introduction

This manual describes the standard operating procedures used in the Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) particulate monitoring network.

The Federal Land Managers (National Park Service, the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Fish and Wildlife Service) are required by the Clean Air Act to protect visibility at designated Class I visibility areas. This is being accomplished through the IMPROVE program, which has representatives from these Federal Land Managers plus the Environmental Protection Agency and regional-state organizations.

The particulate monitoring portion of the IMPROVE program measures the concentration of the fine (PM_2.5) particles for mass, optical absorption, major and trace elements, organic and elemental carbon, and nitrate and of PM₁₀ particles for mass. Prior to 2000, IMPROVE sites collect two samples per week, on Wednesday and Saturday.  With the implementation of the the Haze Rule the IMPROVE program changed to a 1 in 3 day schedule.  Other organizations participate in the IMPROVE network by using the same sampler and protocols.

The standard IMPROVE sampler has four sampling modules, listed below. Seventy-two particulate monitoring sites operated with IMPROVE samplers during 1996. One-quarter of the sites have a single Module A Teflon.

Module A: PM_2.5 particles (0-2.5 5m) on Teflon. These are analyzed by five methods at Davis:

Module B: PM_2.5 particles (0-2.5 5m) on nylon. A denuder before the nylon filter removes nitric acid vapors. These are analyzed by ion chromatography (IC) at Research Triangle Institute for nitrate (NO3-), chloride (CL-), sulfate (BSO4), and nitrite (NO2-). The SOP's for this method are not included in this manual.

Module C: PM_2.5 particles (0-2.5 5m) on quartz. These are analyzed by at Desert Research Institute for carbon using the Thermal Optical Reflectance (TOR) combustion method. A secondary filter at selected sites is used to determine artifact. These are reported in 8 temperature categories. The SOP's for this method are not included in this manual.

Module D: PM₁₀ particles (0-10 5m) on Teflon. All are measured for PM₁₀ mass. Approximately 4% are analyzed by the other four methods listed for Module A.

The Standard Operating Procedures deal with the following aspects of the IMPROVE monitoring operation: