Picarro is proud to support important climate science. We are a partner of the DEEPICE project, an innovative training network in instrumentation, ice core analysis, and glaciological and climatic modelling. For their new European collaboration, we’re excited to support training schools and host an intern to assist in the development of analytical methods for ice core measurements that will answer key questions about the impact of large climate shifts on the Antarctic ice sheet.

High-precision trace gas measurements are required for a range of environmental research questions and for many industrial applications. However, hazardous, corrosive, and reactive gases can be difficult to trace, and the accuracy of standard gas concentrations can be unreliable. To solve this problem, Picarro has developed a method of surrogate gas validation for ammonia, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen peroxide, hydrogen fluoride, and formaldehyde.

To investigate how plant growth will be affected in the future, ecologists and plant biologists have setup Free-Air Carbon dioxide Enrichment (FACE) facilities in various ecosystems around the world that imitate elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. A Picarro G2508 is being used at a FACE facility in Germany to investigate the response of a semi-natural grassland to changing environmental conditions.

Google “Laser-Based Diagnostics of Diamond Synthesis Reactors” and one of the first things you’ll see is Ed Wahl’s Stanford PhD thesis from 2001. Back then he was applying Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy (CRDS) to measure absolute CH₃ and CH radical concentrations and temperatures in a hot-filament CVD (HFCVD) reactor. Today, he’s Director of Test and Manufacturing Technology for Picarro where, instead of applying it to his research, he’s in charge of building it into Picarro analyzers for customers to use in their research.

Hydrogen peroxide has a long history as a pharmaceutical sterilizer at high concentrations, and the claim by these manufacturers is that extremely low levels of hydrogen peroxide (10-20ppb or 0.01ppm) will attract and kill viral particles while not impacting human health. Instead of just treating air as it returns, these solutions seek to keep a constant low level of hydrogen peroxide in all habitable areas of a building.