Air Report

A distinct sulphurous #scent dimethyl disulfide and phenol, like an extinguished match, combines with the toasty bready #aroma of acetyl pyrazine, to produce the impression of burnt toast and roasting coffee, with a powdery feel in the nose and throat.

This warm afternoon #air has a light but palpable dusty texture that dries skin and seems to leave a thin residue. Soft erratic breezes swirl over the balcony.

West End, #Vancouver, #Canada.

Small patches of blue sky dot a low blanket of thick stratocumulus cloud that courses rapidly NE over the high-rise towers. To the N, NE, and E, a white smoky vapor is rapidly inundating the mountains which have become featureless silhouettes.

https://thehkproject.wordpress.com/2012/02/17/17-north-point-%e5%8c%97%e8%a7%92-and-braemar-hill-%e5%af%b6%e9%a6%ac%e5%b1%b1/#more-219

Unsurprisingly, this mirrors the move toward what we'd consider typical fall food flavours (in North America): apple, cinnamon, clove, nuts, baked foods.

represents a move in olfactory perceptual space from the upper periphery (the citrus and terpenic poles) toward centre (the sweet vanillin pole) and the lower pyrogenic zone (the acetylpyrazine pole).

Perceptually, coumarin is located near the centre of olfactory space, adjacent to vanillin and cinnamaldehyde. So this shift in the #scentscape from the lighter, brighter, fresher terpenic aromas (e.g. pine, linalool, bergamot) to the sweeter, heavier coumarin and the pyrogenic isobutyl quinoline,

The coumarin molecule, first isolated in 1820, is emitted by many plants (notably drying hay). Its #fragrance is associated with fig leaves, grasses, many leafy herbs, and is a component of fougère perfumes. As a flavour it appears in many desserts. It's also found in the scent of cleaning products.

This is the purest coumarin smell I've ever encountered in Vancouver. (It was also prevalent at higher elevations in Garibaldi Park last weekend, so it's not just a local phenomenon.) Sometimes it's appearing in an accord with isobutyl quinoline (notes of rubber, tomato vine/stem, leather).

The turpenic, pine, cedar, and floral tones (alpha-pinene, vetiveryl acetate, 2-phenylethanol) of early- and mid-summer have disappeared or mostly faded into the background, replaced by an increasingly strong coumarin ( #scent notes of hay, ripe apples, and cinnamon).

Lake Trail, #StanleyPark, #Vancouver Canada.
maps.app.goo.gl/qpghctrhRdhA...
Late-summer aromas continue to permeate the forest.

Southwestern crater edge, 13:50.
A warm southerly updraft from the valley carries honeyed herbaceous floral accord of phenyl ethanol, ethyl phenyl acetate, thymol, faint methyl salicylate, and a subtle resinous woody note of vetiveryl acetate.

Walking Northwest along crater rim, 13:30.
The cross flow of cold mist is churned by warm sulphurous updrafts rising from within the crater and from beyond the crater rim, infused with dimethyl disulfide and phenol aromas recalling industrial activity or a distant forest fire.

13sep2025, Opal Cone, #GaribaldiPark, Canada.
Eastern crater edge, 13:00.
Roiling clouds snake between the mountains. The cold misty draft from the north is oddly dry to the touch, with a mild #scent of fresh watery methylbenzodioxepinone

#TasteAndSmellDay #Delicious4All

Occassionally bright whiffs of resinous pine terpinyl acetate and grassy hexenol. In the background: deeper woody flavour of vetiveryl acetate and soft earthy geosmin.

The most prominent aroma is a strong accord of coumarin with subtle eugenol, suggesting over-ripe apples, cinnamon, and cloves. A milder fragrance of methyl atratate, acetyl pyrazine, and ethyl maltol evokes toasted tobacco and dry tea with hints of caramel.

Forest north of Lost Lagoon, #StanleyPark, #Vancouver #Canada.

The forest air carries scents of autumn. The best tasting spots are gentle hillsides, shady but dry, with a dense mix of conifers and deciduous undergrowth.

The landscape is inundated in a smoggy, vaporous #atmosphere with a strong #scent of phenol, like charred wood, cold ashes, and rubber. This #air tastes a lot like the highly mineralized Riesling I had in the Okanagan a couple weeks ago

#StanleyPark #Vancouver #Canada

The arched underside of the bridge seems to channel a steady eastward breeze flavored with a warm watery swampy earthy and mildly sulphurous accord: geosmin, MBD, methyl atratate, dimethyl disulfide, nonanal, methional, and skatole. A faint taste of pinene appears in the background.

At the north side of the bridge, a westerly breeze carries distinct turpenic conifer wafts of pinene and vetiveryl acetate, with sweet toasted notes of ethyl maltol and acetyl pyrazine, and an herbaceous hint of thymol.

From the southwest, a fresh light conifer aroma of pinene, methyl atratate, benzodioxepinone, and vetiveryl acetate.
Finally, a slightly-sweet warm-concrete minerality: nonanal and faint geosmin with a muted marine flavor of isobutylamine and MBD.

3 understated flavors meet at the top of the bridge:
From the east, a mild floral fruity #scent of phenylethanol, weak undecalactone, and faint cyclopentanone.

At the southern end of the stone footbridge the scentscape opens with a sweet rubbery herby tobacco accord of isobutyl quinoline and phenol with lighter notes of methyl atratate, skatole, acetyl pyrazine, and ethyl maltol.

This thick afternoon #air clings to the body with a soft pressure, lightly cooled by intermittent breezes that meander E and SE. A fresh damp emanates from the dense brush.

NW corner of Lost Lagoon, #StanleyPark, #Vancouver #Canada.

The sky is light blue, fading towards the horizon to a pale golden haze that envelopes the distant mountains.

The whole length of the trail is dotted with the fresh creamy floral scent of phenylethanol, linalool, and nonanal. Towards west end of the lagoon the air becomes more woody and terpenic with mild flavors of vetiveryl acetate and pinene.

As the trail roughly follows the increasingly swampy SW side of the lagoon, the dominant smells are a fresh green accord of grassy hexenol and stemmy IBQ that eventually develops a flavor of fresh hay coumarin. These greens contrast with a darker odor of muddy earth geosmin with sweet sulfur skatole

The path turns NW into tall brush the air immediately becomes thicker and more enveloping, first scented with a floral accord of rosy phenylethanol, creamy melon nonanal, citrus linalool, and an odd sour hint of butyric acid.