New International Collaborations for Atmospheric Ozone Research

大气臭氧研究的新国际合作

• 批准号: NE/M00581X/1
• 负责人: William Bloss
• 金额: $ 4.86万
• 依托单位: University of Birmingham
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2014 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FM00581X%2F1
• 关键词: New; International; Collaborations; Atmospheric; Ozone

Tropospheric ozone is an important air pollutant, harmful to human health, agricultural crops and vegetation. It is the main precursor to the atmospheric oxidants which initiate the degradation of most reactive gases emitted to the atmosphere, and is an important greenhouse gas in its own right. As a consequence of this central role in atmospheric chemistry and air pollution, the capacity to understand, predict and manage tropospheric ozone levels is a key goal for atmospheric science research. This goal is hard to achieve, as ozone is a secondary pollutant, formed in the atmosphere from the complex oxidation of VOCs in the presence of NOx and sunlight, and a combination of in situ chemical processes, deposition and transport govern ozone levels. Uncertainties in all of these factors affect the accuracy of numerical models used to predict current and future ozone levels, and so hinder development of optimal air quality policies to mitigate ozone exposure. The timescale of ozone chemistry leads to it being a transboundary pollutant, requiring international collaboration for both scientific understanding and the development of effective ozone pollution mitigation policies.Through ongoing NERC funding, we have developed a novel approach for the direct measurement of local chemical ozone production rates - a capability which avoids limitations inherent in emissions inventories and chemical mechanisms, and which explicitly distinguishes between the chemical and dynamical factors controlling local ozone production. Within this IOF project, we will develop a new collaboration with researchers from Mines Douai, Lille - the only other group in Europe with direct ozone production rate measurement capability - in support of exchanging expertise, leading to a formal intercomparison of the two instruments, in order to identify any "unknown unknowns" affecting the measurements differently, and permit an independent evaluation of the measurement accuracy and precision.We will then link with leading researchers in the US to perform a novel proof-of-concept demonstration of the application of multiple ozone production rate measurement instruments from different groups together. Within this pump-priming project, we will apply this approach to understand how ozone production varies in different forest types (different tree populations have different emission profiles for volatile organic compounds, which in turn affect ozone chemistry). We will use two locations at the University of Michigan Biological Station, one which reflects the contemporary (primarily deciduous) aspen woodland of the region, and one in which interventions have accelerated the forest succession towards a larger coniferous population (reflecting the anticipated evolution of forest population in this area). By performing simultaneous parallel ozone production rate measurements in these two locations, with all other factors (e.g. background air composition, meteorology) constant, the change in ozone chemistry anticipated from shifting forest tree population may be directly ascertained. This concept (combined simultaneous direct ozone production measurements) has scope for application in other scenarios, for example investigating the evolution in ozone chemistry downwind of an emission source (such as a major city), or in a UK context the changing ozone production as polluted European airmasses are advected over the British Isles - events such as the 2003 photochemical smog episode, which are predicted to occur with greater frequency in the future. The final component of this pump-priming project is to initiate a network between researchers with direct ozone production rate measurement capability internationally, in order to facilitate collaborations to apply this concept in the future.

对流层臭氧是一种重要的大气污染物，对人体健康、农作物和植被都有危害。它是大气氧化剂的主要前体，这些氧化剂会降解排放到大气中的大多数活性气体，本身就是一种重要的温室气体。由于在大气化学和空气污染方面的这一中心作用，了解、预测和管理对流层臭氧水平的能力是大气科学研究的一个关键目标。这一目标很难实现，因为臭氧是大气中的一种二次污染物，在NOx和阳光的存在下，VOCs的复杂氧化形成了臭氧，而就地化学过程、沉积和输送的组合控制着臭氧水平。所有这些因素中的不确定性都会影响用于预测当前和未来臭氧水平的数值模型的准确性，从而阻碍制定减少臭氧暴露的最佳空气质量政策。臭氧化学的时间尺度决定了它是一种跨界污染物，需要国际合作来科学理解和制定有效的臭氧污染缓解政策。通过正在进行的NERC资金，我们开发了一种直接测量当地化学臭氧产生率的新方法-这种能力避免了排放清单和化学机制固有的限制，并明确区分了控制当地臭氧产生的化学和动态因素。在这个IOF项目中，我们将与里尔Mines Douai的研究人员开展新的合作，以支持交流专业知识，导致两个仪器的正式相互比较，以便确定任何以不同方式影响测量的“未知因素”，并允许对测量准确度和精确度进行独立评估。在这个泵启动项目中，我们将应用这种方法来了解不同森林类型的臭氧产生的差异(不同的树木种群对挥发性有机化合物的排放情况不同，这反过来又会影响臭氧化学)。我们将使用密歇根大学生物站的两个地点，一个反映了该地区当代(主要是落叶)的杨树林地，另一个是干预措施加速了森林向更大针叶种群的演替(反映了该地区森林种群的预期演变)。通过在这两个地点同时并行测量臭氧产生率，在所有其他因素(例如背景空气成分、气象)保持不变的情况下，可以直接确定因林木种群转移而预期的臭氧化学变化。这一概念(联合直接臭氧产生测量)可应用于其他情景，例如调查排放源(如大城市)顺风向臭氧化学的演变，或在英国的情况下，随着受污染的欧洲气团平流到不列颠群岛上空，臭氧产生的变化--事件，如2003年的光化学烟雾事件，预计未来将更频繁地发生。这个泵启动项目的最后一个组成部分是在国际上建立一个具有直接臭氧产生率测量能力的研究人员之间的网络，以促进今后应用这一概念的合作。