The Mobile Air Quality Laboratory, within the Department of Geosciences is currently operating on campus in Carpark 4. Dr Noel Aquilina, Dr Sara Fenech and Mr Renato Camilleri, from the Air Quality Research Group in the above-mentioned Department have started a 3-week long air quality campaign that will end on the 21 December 2018.
High resolution data of carbon monoxide, ozone, nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, black carbon, particulate matter of different sizes and various meteorological parameters are being collected. Concurrently, samplers are being used to collect particulate matter with the main focus being the study of tobacco smoke-related pollutants which adhere to these particulates. In collaboration with the University of California, San Francisco and the University of Birmingham, this data will be used to evaluate the atmospheric stability of a unique tobacco alkaloid, Nicotelline as a marker for tobacco smoke. The detection of the highly carcinogenic tobacco-specific nitrosamines is important in the characterisation of inhaled pollutants.