What the facility does
Studies air quality, with a focus on how air pollution impacts human health, climate and the environment.
Areas of expertise
The Southern Ontario Centre for Atmospheric Aerosol Research (SOCAAR) is a world-class centre for environmental research, comprised of exceptional people and state-of-the-art facilities. Their research is committed to innovative thinking and high-quality results, to produce a broad, transdisciplinary and actionable understanding of the origins, characteristics, environmental impact, and human health consequences of atmospheric air pollution.
Research services
- Air pollutants outdoor measurement
- Data mining to identify sources of air pollution
- Machine learning-based modelling of air pollution exposure
- Advanced mass spectrometry techniques
- Elemental composition analysis
Sectors of application
- Chemical industries
- Clean technology
- Energy
- Environmental technologies and related services
- Life sciences, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment
- Professional and technical services (including legal services, architecture, engineering)
- Transportation
- Utilities
Specialized labs and equipment
| Equipment | Function |
|---|---|
| TSI 3091 Fast Mobility Particle Spectrometer (FMPS) | Produce real-time particle size distribution measurements with one-second time resolution. |
| TSI 3090 Engine Exhaust Particle Sizer (EEPS) spectrometer | Measure the size distribution of engine-exhaust particle emissions in the range from 5.6 to 560 nm at 10 samples per second. |
| TSI Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer (SMPS) spectrometer | Measure aerosol concentration as a function of particle size, using bipolar charge distribution and differential mobility analysis methods. |
| TSI Aerodynamic Particle Spectrometer (APS) 3321 spectrometer | Provide high-resolution, real-time measurements of aerosols ranging in size from 0.5 to 20 µm and simultaneously measures the light-scattering of aerosols, which can be utilized when studying aerosol composition. |
| Thermo Scientific SHARP (Synchronized Hybrid Ambient Real-time Particulate) Monitor Model 5030 | Measure PM10, PM2.5 and PM1.0 mass concentrations continuously. |
| DISCmini Ultrafine Particle Counters | Portable instrument to detect and measure the real-time number concentration (particles/cm3) of ultrafine particles (UFP) with diameters below 0.1 μm. |
| TSI DustTrak Aerosol Monitors | Portable instrument to provide-real time measurements of PM10, PM2.5 or PM1.0. Utilizes a battery-operated laser photometer to determine aerosol concentration (mg/m3), which can be stored using the instrument’s data logging option. |
| Sunset Semi-Continuous OC/EC Carbon Aerosol Analyzer | Semi-continuous analysis of aerosol organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) concentration with a sampling time ranging from 6 to 12 minutes. Preferentially volatilizes OC and EC collected on quartz-fiber filters, oxidizing each species to determine their respective concentrations. |
| Magee Scientific Aethalometer Model AE33 | Seven wavelength aethalometer capable of indirectly measuring the concentration of aerosol black carbon (elemental carbon) in near-real-time. |
| Aerodyne Aerosol Chemical Speciation Monitor (ACSM) | Measure aerosol mass and chemical composition of non-refractory submicron aerosol particles (i.e. ammonium, nitrate, sulphate, organics, and chloride) in real-time (up to 15 min). Designed and built on the same technology as an Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS), combining an aerodynamic particle focusing lens (~40-1000 nm) with high vacuum thermal particle vaporization and mass spectrometry. |
| Aerosol Chemical Mass Spectrometer (AMS) | Non-intrusive instrument capable of measuring aerosol chemical composition. |
| Xact 625 monitoring system | X-ray based platform capable of continuously and simultaneously measuring up to 24 metals found in ambient air. Uses reel-to-reel (RTR) filter tape sampling and nondestructive X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis to monitor metals in ambient particulate matter. |
Private and public sector research partners
- Environment and Climate Change Canada
- Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks
- AUG Signals
- Health Canada