Further details of my research can be found on the NOAA website: http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/csd/staff/rebecca.washenfelder/

In August 2006, I started a new job in Boulder, Colorado as a National Academies Postdoctoral Research Fellow at NOAA. I am currently working with Dr. Steve Brown in the Tropospheric Chemistry group of the NOAA Chemical Sciences Division. The focus of my research is developing new spectroscopic measurements for field studies. During 2010, I developed a field instrument to measure glyoxal (CHOCHO), nitrous acid (HONO), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) using incoherent broadband cavity enhanced absorption spectroscopy. I used this instrument for field measurements during the CalNex field campaign.

Glyoxal the simplest dicarbonyl and one of the most prevalent in the atmosphere. Laboratory studies have shown that heterogeneous reactions of glyoxal play an important role in the formation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA). Nitrous acid is produced by heterogeneous reactions of NO2. It accumulates during the night, and acts as an important source of OH radicals when it begins to photolyze in the morning.

Incoherent broadband cavity enhanced absorption spectroscopy (IBBCEAS) is an analytical technique that was first described by Fiedler et al. (2003). This approach uses a broadband light source, optical cavity, and grating spectrometer to acquire spectra with a very long effective absorption pathlength. Spectral fitting methods can be used to retrieve multiple absorbers.