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.

我研究的总体目标是提高我们对决定大气成分和驱动大气变化的化学和物理过程的理解，这些知识对于明智的决策至关重要。为了实现这一目标，我的团队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浓度，并与大气建模者合作解释这些测量结果。该提案描述了一项综合研究计划，其动机是与对流层相关的科学问题，对流层是大气中化学复杂的区域，来自自然和人为来源的气体在相似的时间尺度上进行传输和化学处理。与人口增长、能源使用、工业活动和农业相关的排放变化正在改变大气污染物和温室气体的负担，从而影响空气质量和气候。北极是中纬度地区污染物排放的主要接收地，但来源存在不确定性，近几十年来全球排放分布的变化使情况变得更加复杂。拟议的研究有四个短期目标，这激发了四个不同的项目：（1）描述由于当地污染源和远程传输而造成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)确定集约化农业实践对氨和城市空气质量的影响，重点以巴黎和多伦多为基准案例研究。 (3)量化城市温室气体排放并跟踪多个时间尺度的排放异常和变化。 (4)调查北极空气质量的决定因素，评估来自亚洲、欧洲、北美和当地来源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（埃格伯特）和偏远北极（尤里卡）地点的痕量气体浓度，同时还将测量结果贡献给国际观测网络，并使用它们来验证来自卫星的新数据产品任务。该项目将支持十名本科生、四名研究生和一名博士后。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展示他们的研究来获得沟通技能，并通过负责仪器、实地工作和协作来获得领导力、团队合作和解决问题的技能。广泛的培训和可转移技能的结合将为他们在学术界、政府和私营部门的职业生涯做好准备。