Monitoring carbon tetrachloride in the Amazon
LCGC: The Column, September 2016
The September 2016 issue of LCGC: The Column features a collaborative article between Markes International and leading environmental researchers on the use of Markes' TD technologies to investigate levels of carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) in the Amazon rainforest.
The work described, which was devised and carried out by Angela and Kolby Jardine at the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Manaus, Brazil, involves the use of grab-sampling (using Markes' Easy-VOC) with analysis by thermal desorption–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (TD–GC–MS) to assess levels of CCl4 in the rainforest, at different canopy heights and at different times of day.
The results support recent suggestions that there is a biogenic source of this chemical, which global atmospheric models currently treat as being entirely generated from industrial processes. The authors say that their research could help to close the 'gap' in the global atmospheric budget for this potent greenhouse gas.
