Effect of Polyoxymethylene (POM-H Delrin) offgassing within Pandora head sensor on direct sun and multi-axis formaldehyde column measurements in 2016 - 2019.

Abstract

Analysis of formaldehyde measurements by the Pandora spectrometer systems between 2016 and 2019 suggested that there was a temperature dependent process inside Pandora head sensor that emitted formaldehyde. Some parts in the head sensor were manufactured from thermal plastic polyoxymethylene homopolimer (E.I. Du Pont de Nemour & Co., USA: POM-H Delrin®) and were responsible for formaldehyde production. Laboratory analysis of the four Pandora head sensors showed that internal formaldehyde production had exponential temperature dependence with a damping coefficient of 0.0911±0.0024 °C-1 and the exponential function amplitude ranging from 0.0041 DU to 0.049 DU. No apparent dependency on the head sensor age and heating/cooling rates was detected. The total amount of formaldehyde internally generated by the POM-H Delrin components and contributing to the direct sun measurements were estimated based on the head sensor temperature and solar zenith angle of the measurements. Measurements in winter, during colder (<10°C) days in general and at high solar zenith angles (> 75 °) were minimally impacted. Measurements during hot days (>28°C) and small solar zenith angles had up to 1 DU (2.69×1016 molecules/cm2) contribution from POM-H Delrin parts. Multi-axis differential slant column densities were minimally impacted (< 0.01 DU) due to the reference spectrum collected within a short time period with a small difference in head sensor temperature. Three new POM-H Delrin free Pandora head sensors (manufactured in summer 2019) were evaluated for temperature dependent attenuation across the entire spectral range (300 to 530 nm). No formaldehyde or any other absorption above the instrumental noise was observed across the entire spectral range.