Atmospheric Interfaces Research Methods

Fabry-Pérot interferometers (FPIs) were invented in the 19th century and have since led to numerous breakthroughs in fundamental physics. Despite the known optical throughput and resolving power advantages, FPIs have rarely been used for environmental measurements because they relied on complex setups that were difficult to handle. 
This situation has changed completely with technological advances of recent decades. Modern optical coating procedures and digital camera detectors make the inherent advantages of FPIs readily accessible. FPI-based spectrometers can be tailored to optimize specific measurement targets and built to be compact, robust, and affordable. They thus both improve environmental remote sensing observations and make them scalable.

Alongside our spectroscopic developments, we build process-based models that integrate chemical kinetics and turbulent atmospheric mixing. Going beyond thermodynamic equilibrium assumptions and static parametrizations, these models explicitly resolve the time-dependent interplay of chemistry and mixing that governs the composition of many atmospheric systems. A key feature of these models is that their efficiency and flexibility enable systematic sensitivity studies. For instance, these models could identify key processes influencing the composition of volcanic plumes and their oxidation chemistry and explain the formation of secondary aerosols in polluted arctic environments.