State-of-the-art environmental analysis in China: The Institute of Tropical and Marine Meteorology is located in Guangzhou in Southern China. One of the institute’s missions is to extend the monitoring station’s observation capabilities to aerosols and gases in order to study their influence on the climate and air quality in the Pearl River Delta. To this end, they have acquired a MARGA system from Metrohm Applikon.

MARGA stands for «Monitoring of Aerosols and Gases in ambient Air». Basically, it combines a sophisticated sampling system bringing the gas and aerosol fraction of the sample into solution for subsequent analysis by dual-channel ion chromatography. The key-benefit of the MARGA system is that it provides automated, semi-continuous sampling enabling researchers to study meteorological phenomena as they happen.

The MARGA system operated at the Institute of Tropical and Marine Meteorology in Guangzhou has been running for two years. MARGA provides quasi-realtime results for the following parameters: NH₄⁺, Na⁺, K⁺, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Cl^-, NO^3-, and SO₄^2- in aerosols , and NH³，HNO₂, HNO³ , HCl, SO₂ in gases. The institute’s MARGA system is maintained by Metrohm China, who also provides all service work when needed.