Standard Operating Procedures
The IMPROVE network follows strict protocols that have been peer reviewed. In depth documentation of these protocols are provided in the Following SOPs.
Particulate Monitoring Network
The University of California, Davis is responsible for the installation and operation of the IMPROVE samplers. In addition UC Davis analyzes the Teflon filters from module A for fine mass and its elemental constituents. The PM10 mass is also obtained from the Teflon filter in module D. The following SOP’s describe the site selection, installation and operating procedures of the IMPROVE samplers. The analysis of the filters for mass and elemental composition and QA/QC procedures are also described.
The Desert Research Institute analyses the quartz filters from module C of the IMPROVE sampler for organic and elemental carbon using the DRI thermal/optical reflectance carbon analyzer. The following operating protocols provide the basic understand of the principle of the carbon analysis and carbon analyzer and detailed descriptions of the procedures for conducting the carbon analysis.
The Research Triangle Institute analyzes the nylon filters from module B of the IMPROVE sampler for ions using ion chromatography (IC). The following SOP describes the procedures for analyzing the filters and QA/QC analyses conducted on the data.
Air Resource Specialist operate the optical monitors, transmissometer, nephelometer and camera, at the IMPROVE and IMPROVE protocol monitoring sites. This SOP describes the operating procedures for all three instrument from site selection to data archiving.