Laboratory Facilities

We like to build stuff, so the lab is constantly in a state of construction of various items, such as vacuum lines, electronics, and gas detectors of various sorts.

We have a Finnegan MAT 253 continuous flow gas chromatograph isotope ratio mass spectrometer (cf-GCIRMS) coupled to our custom built trace gas cryogenic vacuum extraction system, for the isotopic analysis of carbon monoxide, methane, select hydrocarbons, and other trace species in small air samples, such as air bubbles trapped in ice cores.

We also have a second generation (read: older than you) Finnegan Delta Plus isotope ratio mass spectrometer with dual inlet and microvolume, for more traditional isotopic analysis of carbon and oxygen from large samples.

We have a Pfeiffer QSM200 quadrupole mass spectrometer hooked up to a custom built inlet that has been used to investigate annamox cycling in the marine ecosystem by analyzing Nitrogen-Oxygen ratios in incubated samples. We also use this quadrupole to detect various trace gases.

We share (with D. Knopf) an Ionicon Analytik 8000 high resolution proton transfer time of flight mass spectrometer (HR-PTRTOFMS). This highly sensitive, selective instrument is used for quantifying trace abundances of oxygenated volatile organic compounds (OVOCs), both in the field and in laboratory settings. We continuously use this instrument in the lab and in the field. Past research efforts with the PTR include include the BEACHON campaign in 2011, the 2013 Southern Oxidant and Aerosol Study in Alabama, the 2018 LISTOS campaign on Long Island, the 2020 Harlem/New York City COVID-19 ambient air study, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC in 2021 (https://news.stonybrook.edu/university/measuring-the-met-stony-brook-researchers-study-renowned-museums-air-quality/). We have also used this instrument onsite with colleagues at MIT, Boston University, Cal Tech, and UC Irvine/South Korea (during KORUS). We will be deploying the PTR to Flax Pond Observatory during GOTHAAM in the summer of 2023.

 

 

Former lab member Zhihui Wang in front of the MAT 253 (foreground). The Delta Plus can be seen to his left.
Zhihui working with the first (or second) generation trace gas cryogenic vacuum extraction line.

Cong Cao, PhD student, working with the HR-PTR-TOFMS at the ASRC Observatory in Harlem, New York

 

Mak’s group also develops aircraft instrumentation, such as the Whole Air Sample Profiler (WASP). John is a commercially rated IFR pilot and flies various planes in support of atmospheric research. He has also worked with SBU engineering students on development of aircraft instruments.

Deployment in SOAS, Centerville, Alabama.

 

Brookhaven Calabro Airport, Shirley, NY: SoMAS Professor John Mak works with mechanical engineering students Louis Pisha, Diane Henderson, Tyler Schweitzer, Chris Black, and David Benjamin on fine tuning the WASP (Whole Air Sample Profiler) on the Long EZ research plane.

 

John and Bart installing the WASP prior to deployment in Colorado

 

Deployment, Manitou Forest, Colorado

 

For a cockpit view of taking off in the Long EZ, click below:

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