Atmospheric methanol is of interest to the atmospheric science community since it is often the highest abundant VOC in the surface air
of rural environments and contributes significantly to OH reactivity in the troposphere.
A novel measurement technique for methanol using a selective catalytic methanol-to-formaldehyde conversion coupled to a continuous wet-chemical formaldehyde instrument has been developed and tested in the laboratory. A Molybdenum rich Iron-Molybdate [Mo-Fe-O] was used as the catalyst for the selective conversion. Using the new technique, atmospheric measurements of methanol were performed at the University of Bremen campus from 1 to 15 July 2004.
Here we present the development and characterization of the technique and results obtained using the method. A short introduction to our ongoing research on dynamic soil chamber measurements will also be given.