FAQ AMS Glossary
Contents
AMS glossary (beta)
Important Notes
This glossary of terms typically used by the AMS community is a work in progress - so is by no means complete or comprehensive. For now, we'll keep it alphabetical, but this may be changed based on user feed-back. Please continue to add and edit!
Glossary
AMS glossary (beta)
Important Notes
This glossary of terms typically used by the AMS community is a work in progress - so is by no means complete or comprehensive. For now, we'll keep it alphabetical, but this may be changed based on user feed-back. Please continue to add and edit!
Glossary
AMS: Aerosol Mass Spectrometer
APES:
BBOA: Biomass Burning Organic Aerosol
f_44: the fraction of the organic signal that is observed at m/z = 44
fragments: a vaporized molecule is ionized in the AMS to a series of ions, which are then detected by either a quadrupole or time-of-flight mass spectrometer; the resulting ions are referred to as 'fragments'
HOA: Hydrocarbon-like Organic Aerosol
HR: High Resolution (as opposed to UMR, typically referring to either the High Resolution Time of Flight Aerosol Mass Spectrometer, or to the data derived from that instrument)
Non-refractory species: chemical components of aerosol that are volatilized in the AMS, and are observed in the "Difference spectrum"
OOA: Oxidized Organic Aerosol
PIKA:
Q:
Refractory species: chemical components of aerosol that are not volatile enough to vaporize in the AMS, and thus are never observed by the instrument
Semi-refractory signals: chemical components of aerosol that are relatively less volatile, and only slowly vaporize in the AMS. Functionally, they are observed in both the the Closed and Open signals (time-scale for vaporization is slow). Examples include Pb (lead) and possibly NaCl
SQUIRREL:
UMR: Unit Mass Resolution (as opposed to HR: ie, signal observed at m/z 28 is UMR, whereas HR data typically shows two peaks, one from N2+ and another from CO+)
