Hero Award Finalist Header Banner

Pierr-Yves_Quehe_400x400

Pierre-Yves Quehe 

Organization: The Cyprus Institute

Years Using Picarro: 7 Years

Analyzer(s) Used: G2401, G5310

 

 

 

 

 


Gathering Insights into Climate Data from the Land, Air, and Sea at the SNO ICOS-France World-Reference Station

About My Research

After completing my engineering School in physical measurements, equivalent to a master’s degree, I wanted to orient myself in atmospheric research science. So, it led me to the Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement (LSCE) for which I worked 13 months on Amsterdam Island. The subject of climate change is a sensitive and hot topic that young people, like me, are becoming increasingly aware of and willing to get involved in. I am very happy to be able to contribute to its better understanding thanks to the Picarro instrumentation.

I dare to hope that the impact of my research touches policymakers and directs our human activities toward something better.

How Picarro Analyzers Helped

I discovered the Picarro G2401 instrument during my pre-departure training LSCE in France before going to Amsterdam Island in Indian Ocean. I was there 13 months posting at the SNO ICOS-France station. This island’s extreme isolation - only 20 people are resident for a year at a time, with minimal outside contact in the middle of the Indian Ocean. There, I had to support the equipment for the long-term measurement of greenhouse gases, radon and weather sensors. I am proud to have been able to maintain the continuity of the measurements dating back to the early 1980s, which makes Amsterdam island a world reference station. Since the LSCE has been using G2401s on Amsterdam island, this has facilitated measurement management and improved data quality.

Since then, I have continued to work with the G2401 instrument. Sometimes -m, during airborne flights, sometimes in a car during air analysis in Paris or Cyprus, or even in a boat across the Mediterranean. Its robustness and ease of installation make it an ally in all our research fields.

The photo I chose was taken during a visit to my previous lab, LSCE, and I happened to find the instrument I used to take care of every day in Amsterdam island.