Aerosol science: elucidating the origins, characteristics, environmental impact and human health consequences

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Aerosols play key roles in climate and air quality. Though microscopic in size, aerosols have monumental impacts on our environment and health. Nevertheless, scientific understanding of the mechanisms through which aerosols manifest these profound impacts is still in its infancy. Only recently have novel instruments and inter-disciplinary collaboration offered the opportunity to make ground breaking progress in this field. Many of the impacts of aerosols are geographically distinct to Canada. Yet Canada is lagging behind the world's scientific communities in this rapidly evolving field. NSERC funding will provide essential support for an integrated multidisciplinary research program investigating key interlinked aspects of aerosol science. Studies on three broad topics will be pursued, formation, transformation and exposure, all involving field measurement as an over-arching theme. The research will examine the processes underlying the formation of ultrafine particles in urban and rural environments, with a focus on their release from vehicles. These smallest aerosol particles, less than 100 nm in size, are hypothesized to be contributing to a range of adverse health impacts. The exposure of urban populations to ultrafine particles will be measured for key activities and microenvironments (e.g. cooking, vehicles, public transit) and modeled in terms of roadside, and within neighbourhood, concentration gradients. The toxicity of the particles, for different activities and locations, will be evaluated and related to their size and composition. Measurement and modeling will be used to identify the major sources impacting Canadian cities. The chemical transformation of particles as they age will be explored and interpreted in terms of spatial or time related variability in their properties, with their influence on global warming due to increased absorption of sunlight as one application. This NSERC funding will help Canada develop knowledge and personnel needed to support critical environmental decision-making and policy development relating to aerosol science over the next decade.