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The Formation and Structure of Tropical Organic/Water Aerosols


EMSL Project ID
19821

Abstract

Atmospheric aerosols are widely recognized as key elements in many environmental issues ranging from global climate change and visibility to adverse effects on peoples health. Aerosols affect climate and rain formation via interactions with incoming solar radiation and through modifications of cloud properties. The production and use of energy often leads, either through direct emission or through subsequent reactions of gas-phase emissions, to the generation of aerosol particles. To address the DOE concerns about the safe production and use of energy it is necessary to improve our understanding of the origin, fate, chemical and physical properties of fine atmospheric particles. In particular, chemical composition and physical properties of secondary organic aerosols (SOA) and their impact on climate on regional and global scales present an area of largest uncertainty in atmospheric sciences. In this work we will study uptake of terpenes and their oxidation products by water microdroplets. Chemical composition of the processed aqueous aerosols will be performed using different mass spectrometry capabilities of EMSL.

Project Details

Project type
Large-Scale EMSL Research
Start Date
2006-08-18
End Date
2009-09-30
Status
Closed

Team

Principal Investigator

Gayfree Ellison
Institution
University of Colorado at Boulder

Team Members

Timothy Vaden
Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Juan Yang
Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Yury Dessiaterik
Institution
Colorado State University

Luis Cuadra-Rodriguez
Institution
University of Colorado at Boulder

Alla Zelenyuk-Imre
Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Rahul Zaveri
Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Alexander Laskin
Institution
Purdue University