Collaborative Research: RUI--Lake Breeze Influence on Ozone Transport as Captured by an Unmanned Aircraft System

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The research project seeks new understanding of the exposure to air pollutants across large areas of land and water near Lake Michigan by taking measurements of meteorological variables and ozone near the lake with an unmanned aerial system (UAS) at altitudes near the surface up to 400 feet. Communities at the shorelines of Lake Michigan have been negatively impacted by poor air quality for decades. The main pollutant of concern is ozone formed from atmospheric chemical reactions promoted by airborne emissions from urban activities, ample sunlight, and the smooth stable atmosphere. Lake Michigan generates its own local meteorology. When the warm air from the surrounding land flows over the relatively cold water, the air flow can transport urban emissions over the lake for a long distance with high pollutant concentration. Meanwhile the urban emission can be transported upward over the heated land surface, forming large spatial variations of ozone concentration. Consequently, air movements with different pollutant concentrations and chemical reactions can impact air quality in the area surrounding the lake. The field measurement will provide airborne air-quality measurements beyond the traditional measurement at fixed ground monitoring stations and airborne measurements with manned aircraft at higher altitudes from previous field campaigns. These measurements are ideal for improving air quality forecast models in the Great Lakes region for capturing near-surface features. The UAS involved in this study will be a C-Astral Bramor fixed-wing unmanned aerial system with a meteorological sensor package on board. The specific objectives of flying the UAS are to a) characterize lake-breeze characteristics of near shore circulation onset and vertical variations along the shoreline of Lake Michigan, b) capture the development or movement of convergence zones/fine scale circulations within a lake-breeze frontal region from offshore to onshore over time, and c) monitor ozone gradients, characteristics of chemical circulation patterns within marine-influenced inversions at the shoreline over time at low altitudes. The use of the UAS to fly pre-programed data collection missions would allow scientists to elucidate pollutant transport in the region of lake-breeze circulation for understanding connections between small scale circulations with broader air quality repercussions.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.