Spring time and VOCaVOCa

Yeah! It seams lite spring has finally arrived. I'm not sure if I dare to believe so, but today the sun was shining, the air felt warm and people were happier than some days ago. I had to take a walk on my lunch just to see the sun and have a small taste of spring! 

Kongens Have

When I'm not enjoying the sun and spring in Copenhagen I'm sitting on my office reading articles about VOC emissions. I've finished the lab work for this time (I'll soon continue though, since we will rise the temperature next week) but I cannot analyse the samples yet, because there are some problem with the GC... Well, reading all this articles I've got a better picture of VOCs and the processes affecting the emissions. It's not completely straight forward though, and I think it will take some time before I'm an expert.. I'll do my best of course and I think it is really good that I have started doing lab work so early... 

About VOC and BVOC

For you guys who haven't faithfully read this blog; VOC stands for Volatile organic compounds. My PhD project will treat BVOCs,  which is Biogenic Volatile organic compounds, accordingly, VOCs from biological systems. Examples of BVOCs are methanol, ethanol (and other alcohols), aceton, isoprene (globally the most important BVOC), monoterpenes and susquiterpens (well, there are thousands of different substances). There are several reasons for the plant to release BVOCs, for example in reproduction or as defense against biotic or abiotic stress. However, VOCs affect the chemical and physical properties of the atmosphere, producing aerosols, extending the life time of methane in the atmosphere and cause elevated ozon concentrations in the troposphere (=not good). 

There are several processes affecting VOC emission. However, the most pronounced abiotic factors are temperature and light. With warmer temperature it is most likely that the emissions from vegetation will increase, and thereby also the concentration of methane and ozone (=greenhouse gases), leading to even more warming, as a positive feedback mechanism. My project will treat the BVOC emissions from high arctic (i.e. NE Greenland and W Greenland), to see how a rise in temperature may affect the emissions. I will also measure emissions in nighttime, since the sun is shining 24 h in the arctic (and some emissions are light dependent), and no one has ever measured BVOCs in nighttime.. 

And, the last part of the project is a isotope labeling session. Where I want to find out the origin of the BVOCs... Are they coming from storage pools in the plant or is it newly assimilated carbon that is synthesised to BVOCs?

Okey, so that was a short sum up of so far knowledge.. (I apologize in advance for any shortcomings).

"The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom." 

-Isaac Asimov