Aerosol Sources, Transport and Sinks in Marine and Polar Regions

海洋和极地地区的气溶胶源、传输和汇

• 批准号: RGPIN-2014-05173
• 负责人: Chang, Rachel
• 金额: $ 2.11万
• 依托单位: Dalhousie University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2014-01-01 至 2015-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=566994
• 关键词: Aerosol; Sources; Transport; Sinks; Marine

Liquid and solid particles suspended in the atmosphere are called aerosol. These particles can affect climate by reducing the incoming solar radiation either directly by scattering and absorbing sunlight, or indirectly by forming clouds, which can efficiently reflect incoming sunlight. Aerosol particles can also contribute to smog, which negatively affects air quality by reducing visibility and increasing health risks that lead to earlier mortality. Finally, organic contaminants such as dioxins can absorb to the surface of aerosol particles. This represent an important transport mechanism for these chemicals from the atmosphere to the surface, both water and land. Therefore, understanding the sources, transport and loss processes of aerosol in the atmosphere is vital in order to better characterize all of these effects. The overall goal of this work is to study these aerosol processes in the atmosphere in order to accurately capture their life cycle in global climate models. In particular, this research will focus on processes occurring in marine and polar environments. With the world’s longest coastline and a vested interest in the north, the results from this research will be of timely relevance to Canadians. Specific projects will study marine fog events to investigate the process of droplet formation, aqueous chemical reactions and the influence of marine aerosol on droplet formation. Measurements of real-time chemical and physical properties will be made of the aerosol particles and fog droplets in order to elucidate the mechanisms that cause particles to form droplets. These findings will be applicable to predicting visibility of coastal fog events and can be extrapolated to the formation of prevalent stratiform clouds that cover much of the ocean. In addition, aerosol particle chemical composition in the high Arctic will be studied and used to understand their sources and transport to the Arctic throughout the year using a real-time aerosol mass spectrometer. This will serve as an important baseline as industrial activity increases in the coming decades and the chemical composition of the Arctic air changes. The results from this work will be highly relevant to regulatory agencies that work to ensure that the health of the local population and environment of the Arctic are not negatively affected. Students will work with state-of-the-art aerosol equipment and benefit from cross-disciplinary interactions. They will also benefit from conducting research in the field that will be complemented by either laboratory experiments or computer simulations in order to broaden their approach to research. In addition, the students will profit from collaborations with other departments, universities and government agencies that will extend their network and exposure to research at different levels in Canada.

悬浮在大气中的液体和固体粒子称为气溶胶。这些粒子可以通过散射和吸收阳光直接减少入射的太阳辐射，或者通过形成云层间接影响气候，云层可以有效地反射入射的阳光。气溶胶颗粒还可能导致烟雾，从而降低能见度并增加健康风险，导致过早死亡，从而对空气质量产生负面影响。最后，有机污染物，如二恶英，可以吸附到气溶胶颗粒的表面。这是这些化学品从大气层向水和陆地表面迁移的重要机制。因此，了解气溶胶在大气中的来源、迁移和损失过程至关重要，以便更好地描述所有这些影响。这项工作的总体目标是研究大气中的这些气溶胶过程，以便在全球气候模型中准确捕捉它们的生命周期。特别是，这项研究将集中在海洋和极地环境中发生的过程。加拿大拥有世界上最长的海岸线，在北部有着既得利益，这项研究的结果将及时与加拿大人相关。具体项目将研究海洋雾事件，以调查液滴形成过程、水化学反应和海洋气溶胶对液滴形成的影响。将对气溶胶粒子和雾滴进行实时的化学和物理特性测量，以阐明粒子形成雾滴的机制。这些发现将适用于预测沿海雾事件的能见度，并可以外推到覆盖大部分海洋的普遍层状云的形成。此外，还将利用实时气溶胶质谱仪研究北极高纬度地区的气溶胶粒子化学成分，以了解其来源和全年向北极的迁移情况。随着未来几十年工业活动的增加和北极空气化学成分的变化，这将成为一个重要的基线。这项工作的结果将与监管机构高度相关，这些监管机构致力于确保北极当地人口的健康和环境不受负面影响。学生将使用最先进的气雾剂设备，并从跨学科的互动中受益。他们还将受益于在该领域进行研究，并辅之以实验室实验或计算机模拟，以扩大他们的研究方法。此外，学生将受益于与其他部门，大学和政府机构的合作，这将扩大他们的网络和接触到加拿大不同层次的研究。