Organic trace analysis of atmospheric marker species in ice cores
Atmospheric Science
Final Report Abstract
Ice cores are used as climate archives together with other archives such as sediments, stalagmites, corals and tree rings. In recent decades, the analysis of these climate archives has provided a wealth of information about past climate and environmental changes over periods ranging from a few years to 800,000 years. Organic and inorganic compounds in aerosol particles as well as water-soluble gases are deposited from the atmosphere by wet and dry deposition processes and preserved in ice sheets and snow fields in the polar regions and cold glaciers of the mid-latitudes. In the present project, several highly sensitive and selective methods for trace analysis of organic marker species in different climate archives were developed using UHPLC-ESI-HRMS. The focus of the developments was on ice core analysis, but speleothems were also analyzed for various marker substances with the same motivation and appropriately modified sample preparation steps. The reason for also investigating speleothems as climate archives was, in addition to the climate archive-related advantages (e.g. occurrence in almost all areas of the world, Th/U dating method applicable, very high temporal resolution, long time series), in particular the better availability of different speleothem samples. The largest information content was provided by the analysis of biogenic SOA markers, lignin oxidation products and biomass combustion markers (PAHs, levoglucosan). In interdisciplinary collaboration with geoscientists, our group was able to produce numerous new results in the field of paleo-vegetation development and the frequency and intensity of paleo-vegetation fires. The work in the field of organic trace analysis in ice cores and speleothems, which was started with the support of this project, will certainly be continued in cooperation with various palaeoclimate research groups. In this respect, the DFG funding of the present project did indeed act as seed funding for a research area in the field of organic trace analysis that is still being actively researched by AK Hoffmann.
Publications
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Ein spurenanalytischer Blick in die Vergangenheit – Lignin Analyse in Speläothemen zur Rekonstruktion von Paläovegetation, GIT Labor-Fachzeitschrift, 09/2020, p. 20-22, Wiley-VCH GmbH
Beschnitt, A. & Hoffmann, T.
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The maximum carbonyl ratio (MCR) as a new index for the structural classification of secondary organic aerosol components. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, 35(14).
Zhang, Yun; Wang, Kai; Tong, Haijie; Huang, Ru‐Jin & Hoffmann, Thorsten
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Was haben eigentlich Tropfsteine mit dem Klimawandel zu tun? Faszination Chemie, Informationsplattform der GDCh
Beschnitt, A., Homann, J. & Hoffmann, T.
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Development of a Method for Anodic Degradation of Lignin for the Analysis of Paleo‐Vegetation Proxies in Speleothems. ChemElectroChem, 9(6).
Homann, Julia; Zirbes, Michael; Arndt‐Engelbart, Meiko; Scholz, Denis; Waldvogel, Siegfried R. & Hoffmann, Thorsten
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Linked fire activity and climate whiplash in California during the early Holocene. Nature Communications, 13(1).
Homann, Julia; Oster, Jessica L.; de Wet, Cameron B.; Breitenbach, Sebastian F. M. & Hoffmann, Thorsten
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Towards comprehensive non-target screening using heart-cut two-dimensional liquid chromatography for the analysis of organic atmospheric tracers in ice cores. Journal of Chromatography A, 1661, 462706.
Beschnitt, Anja; Schwikowski, Margit & Hoffmann, Thorsten
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Past fire dynamics inferred from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and monosaccharide anhydrides in a stalagmite from the archaeological site of Mayapan, Mexico. Biogeosciences, 20(15), 3249-3260.
Homann, Julia; Karbach, Niklas; Carolin, Stacy A.; James, Daniel H.; Hodell, David; Breitenbach, Sebastian F. M.; Kwiecien, Ola; Brenner, Mark; Peraza, Lope Carlos & Hoffmann, Thorsten
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Reconstruction of Holocene and Last Interglacial vegetation dynamics and wildfire activity in southern Siberia. Copernicus GmbH.
Margerum, Jade; Homann, Julia; Umbo, Stuart; Nehrke, Gernot; Hoffmann, Thorsten; Vaks, Anton; Kononov, Aleksandr; Osintsev, Alexander; Giesche, Alena; Mason, Andrew; Lechleitner, Franziska A.; Henderson, Gideon M.; Kwiecien, Ola & Breitenbach, Sebastian F. M.
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Method development and application for the analysis of chiral organic marker species in ice cores. Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 18(2), 421-430.
Schäfer, Johanna; Beschnitt, Anja; Burgay, François; Singer, Thomas; Schwikowski, Margit & Hoffmann, Thorsten
