Ambient aerosol sampling using the Aerodyne Aerosol Mass Spectrometer

The Aerodyne Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS) has been designed to measure size‐resolved mass distributions and total mass loadings of volatile and semivolatile chemical species in/on submicron particles. This paper describes the application of this instrument to ambient aerosol sampling. The AMS uses an aerodynamic lens to focus the particles into a narrow beam, a roughened cartridge heater to vaporize them under high vacuum, and a quadrupole mass spectrometer to analyze the vaporized molecules. Particle size is measured via particle time‐of‐flight. The AMS is operated in two modes: (1) a continuous mass spectrum mode without size information; and (2) a size distribution measurement mode for selected m/z…