The greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO₂) is a product of human activities that use carbon-based fuels, such as home heating, cars, and manufacturing plants, to name a few. But CO₂ also has many natural sources, such as soil, volcanoes and all living things that breathe. So a necessary question that should be asked by climate and citizen scientists alike is, “How do you know increases in CO₂ are from human activity?”

The Shepson group is involved in fundamental studies of the chemistry of the Earth’s atmosphere, and specifically, photochemistry that occurs in the lowest 10-15 km, i.e. the troposphere.

QUEBEC, CANADA — We operate aluminum smelters. Our application for Picarro hydrogen fluoride (HF) analyzers is in our ambient air monitoring stations, monitoring ambient air quality at fenceline and in local communities for the protection of the environment and community health.

One of the most interesting things we product managers get to do at Picarro is spend time in the field with customers learning how they use our analyzers.  This way, we get to experience firsthand the challenges of doing science outdoors in remote locations - challenges like dealing with unpleasant wildlife (for example). Studying fluxes of greenhouse gases in the environment is definitely one of the areas where the full outdoor research experience is mandatory.

We blogged previously about carbon sequestration and its a topic we watch closely. You may have read that earlier this week Saskatchewan approved plans for a commercial-scale carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) project.