Atmospheric Greenhouse Gas Measurement Laboratory

University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario
What the facility does

Measurements of atmospheric greenhouse and air quality gases to better understand the carbon cycle.

Areas of expertise

I am interested in the Earth's carbon cycle, which is the flow of carbon (generally in the form of carbon dioxide) between the land, oceans and atmosphere. Measurements of the atmosphere are key to understanding these processes as they constrain the sources and sinks of carbon dioxide and help determine the impacts of increasing fossil fuel emissions into our atmosphere. My research focuses on making precise and accurate measurements of atmospheric greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, and interpreting the measurements in the context of the carbon cycle.

My two main research projects investigate the impact of the Boreal forest on the global carbon cycle, and the magnitude of the greenhouse gas emissions from Toronto, Canada's largest city.

I am involved in two large projects: the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON), which is a global network of ground-based instruments that measure greenhouse and other atmospheric trace gases with unprecedented precision and accuracy, and the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2), a satellite launched in July 2014, that is making high precision global measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide and solar-induced fluorescence (a measure of plant photosynthesis).

Research services
  • Atmospheric trace gas retrievals
  • Fourier transform spectrometry
  • Validation of satellite measurements of greenhouse gases
  • Development and verification of urban methane emission inventories
Sectors of application
  • Aerospace and satellites
  • Energy

Specialized lab

Equipment

Function

East Trout Lake Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) station

Bruker IFS 125HR

High resolution solar viewing Fourier transform spectrometer

Urban Monitoring Laboratory

Bruker EM 27/SUN IFS (2)

Moderate resolution solar viewing Fourier transform spectrometers

 

LGR Multi-Gas Analyzer

Mobile in situ measurements of CO2, CH4, CO, H2O.