Understanding the Air We Breathe: Atmospheric Composition in Urban and Arctic Environments

了解我们呼吸的空气：城市和北极环境中的大气成分

• 批准号: RGPIN-2019-06979
• 负责人: Strong, Kimberly
• 金额: $ 4.44万
• 依托单位: University of Toronto
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=739219
• 关键词: Understanding; Air; Breathe; Atmospheric; Composition

The overarching goal of my research is to improve our understanding of the chemical and physical processes that determine atmospheric composition and drive atmospheric change, knowledge that is essential for informed policy-making. To achieve this goal, my group develops and uses spectroscopic instruments and data analysis tools to measure atmospheric trace gas concentrations, and we collaborate with atmospheric modellers in the interpretation of these measurements. This proposal describes an integrated research program motivated by scientific questions related to the troposphere, a chemically complex region of the atmosphere where gases from natural and anthropogenic sources undergo transport and chemical processing on similar time scales. Changing emissions associated with increasing population, energy use, industrial activity, and agriculture are changing the atmospheric burden of pollutants and greenhouse gases, thus affecting air quality and climate. The Arctic is a major receptor for pollutants emitted at mid-latitudes, but uncertainty exists regarding sources, further complicated by changes in the global distribution of emissions in recent decades. The proposed research has four short-term objectives, which motivate four distinct projects: (1)To characterize the origins of urban pollution events due to local sources and long-range transport, and to quantify the impact of these episodes on tropospheric composition. (2)To determine the impact of intensive agricultural practices on ammonia and urban air quality, with a focus on Paris and Toronto as benchmark case studies. (3)To quantify urban emissions of greenhouse gases and track emission anomalies and changes over multiple timescales. (4)To investigate the determinants of air quality in the Arctic, assessing the relative contributions of anthropogenic pollution and biomass burning from Asia, Europe, North America, and local sources. To achieve these goals, we will measure trace gas concentrations at urban (Toronto), rural (Egbert), and remote Arctic (Eureka) sites, while also contributing the resulting measurements to international observing networks and using them to validate new data products from satellite missions. This program will support ten undergraduates, four graduate students, and one postdoctoral fellow. They will acquire technical skills associated with the deployment, operation, and maintenance of sophisticated instrumentation, and scientific skills associated with the numerical analysis and interpretation of atmospheric measurements. They will also gain communications skills through writing up and presenting their research, and leadership, teamwork, and problem-solving skills by taking responsibility for instruments, fieldwork, and collaborations. This combination of broad training and transferable skills will equip them well for careers in academia, government, and the private sector.

我的研究的总体目标是提高我们对决定大气组成和推动大气变化的化学和物理过程的理解，这对于知情政策制定至关重要。为了实现这一目标，我的小组开发并使用光谱仪器和数据分析工具来测量大气痕量气体的浓度，我们与大气模块的合作来解释这些测量值。该提案描述了一个综合研究计划，该计划是由与对流层相关的科学问题激励的，这是一个化学复杂的大气区域，该区域是天然和人为来源的气体在类似时间尺度上经过运输和化学处理的气体。随着人口增加，能源使用，工业活动和农业的增加而变化的排放正在改变污染物和温室气体的大气负担，从而影响空气质量和气候。北极是在纬度中期发出的污染物的主要受体，但存在不确定性，这是由于近几十年来全球排放分布的变化而更加复杂的。拟议的研究有四个短期目标，激励了四个不同的项目：（1）表征由于当地来源和远程运输而导致的城市污染事件的起源，并量化这些事件对对流层组成的影响。 （2）确定强化农业实践对氨和城市空气质量的影响，重点是巴黎和多伦多作为基准案例研究。 （3）量化温室气体的城市排放和跟踪排放异常以及多个时间尺度的变化。 （4）调查北极空气质量的决定因素，评估亚洲，欧洲，北美和当地来源燃烧的人为污染和生物质燃烧的相对贡献。为了实现这些目标，我们将测量城市（多伦多），农村（Egbert）和远程北极（Eureka）站点的痕量气体浓度，同时还为国际观察网络提供了最终的测量，并利用它们从卫星任务中验证新数据产品。该计划将支持十名大学生，四名研究生和一名博士后研究员。他们将获得与复杂仪器的部署，操作和维护相关的技术技能，以及与大气测量的数值分析和解释相关的科学技能。他们还将通过撰写和介绍他们的研究，领导，团队合作和解决问题的技能来获得沟通技巧，通过负责工具，现场工作和合作。这种广泛的培训和可转移技能的结合将使它们适合学术界，政府和私营部门的职业。