Emissions of biogenic volatile organic compounds from the boreal forest floor and understory : a study by solid-phase microextraction and portable gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

• Main Authors: Feijo Barreira, Luis Miguel, Duporte, Geoffroy, Parshintsev, Jevgeni, Hartonen, Kari, Jussila, Matti, Aalto, Juho, Bäck, Jaana, Kulmala, Markku, Riekkola, Marja-Liisa
• Other Authors: Department of Chemistry, Department of Physics, Department of Forest Sciences, Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Forest Ecology and Management
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Finnish Environment Institute 2017
• Subjects: 116 Chemical sciences; 114 Physical sciences; Boreal Environment Research
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10138/224597

Vegetation introduces to the atmosphere a diversity of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) which affect atmospheric chemistry, air quality and climate. Understory emissions might contribute significantly to the total BVOCs budget. In this work, either dynamic or static solid-phase microextraction (SPME) combined with portable gas chromatography-mass spectrometry were optimized and used for the in-situ measurement of the most abundant BVOCs at understory level. The study was performed in summer 2015 at SMEAR II station in Hyytiälä, Finland. The most abundant BVOCs measured in soil chambers and ambient air were α-pinene and Δ3-carene, and their relative concentrations were similar in every chamber. These species constituted 80-90% of the measured monoterpenes. Aliphatic aldehydes were also measured, and their amounts were lower in soil chambers than in ambient air. Air BVOC concentrations were markedly higher when the wind direction was from south-east, which was associated with transportation from nearby sawmills. Peer reviewed