Université de Fribourg

Airborne in-situ investigations of the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic ash plume on Iceland and over north-western Germany with light aircrafts and optical particle counters

Weber, Klaus ; Eliasson, J. ; Vogel, A. ; Fischer, C. ; Pohl, T. ; Haren, G. van ; Meier, M. ; Grobéty, Bernard ; Dahmann, D.

In: Atmospheric Environment, 2011, vol. 48, p. 9-21

During the time period of the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull in April/May 2010 the Duesseldorf University of Applied Sciences has performed 14 research flights in situations with and without the volcanic ash plume over Germany. In parallel to the research flights in Germany three measurement flights have been performed by the University of Iceland in May 2010 over the western...

Université de Fribourg

Airborne particles in the urban environment

Grobéty, Bernard ; Gieré, Reto ; Dietze, Volker ; Stille, Peter

In: Elements, 2010, vol. 6, no. 4, p. 229-234

Particulate matter is an important constituent of our atmosphere and has a critical impact on natural processes and human health. Although they are a minor component of the average global mass flux, anthropogenic particles are abundant in the urban environment, where they contribute substantially to air pollution. Particulate matter is routinely monitored in urban areas, but different particle...

Université de Fribourg

On source identification and alteration of single diesel and wood smoke soot particles in the atmosphere; an X-ray microspectroscopy study

Vernooij, Martine G. C. ; Mohr, M. ; Tzvetkov, G. ; Zelenay, V. ; Huthwelker, T. ; Kaegi, R. ; Gehrig, R. ; Grobéty, Bernard

In: Environmental Science and Technology, 2009, vol. 43, no. 14, p. 5339–5344

Diesel and wood combustion are major sources of carbonaceous particles in the atmosphere. It is very hard to distinguish between the two sources by looking at soot particle morphology, but clear differences in the chemical structure of single particles are revealed by C(1s) NEXAFS (near edge X-ray absorption fine structure) microspectroscopy. Soot from diesel combustion has a dominant spectral...

Université de Fribourg

Particle emissions of a railway line determined by detailed single particle analysis

Lorenzo, Ronny ; Kaegi, R. ; Gehrig, R. ; Grobéty, Bernard

In: Atmospheric Environment, 2006, vol. 40, no. 40, p. 7831-7841

The goal of this study was to identify and quantify particles emitted from railway traffic. For that purpose PM10 samples were collected near a busy railway line using a wind direction and speed controlled sampling equipment consisting of five devices. Measurements taken perpendicular to the railway lines at 10, 36 and 120 m distance enable an identification and separation of particles caused by...