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: 2016
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2016-01-01 至 2017-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=611478
• 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颗粒称为气溶胶。这些粒子可以通过直接散射和吸收阳光来减少传入的太阳辐射，或者通过形成云来间接影响气候，云可以有效地反射传入的阳光。气溶胶颗粒还可能导致雾霾，这会降低能见度，增加导致更早死亡的健康风险，从而对空气质量产生负面影响。最后，有机污染物，如二恶英，可以吸收到气溶胶颗粒的表面。这代表了这些化学物质从大气到地表，包括水和陆地的一个重要的运输机制。因此，为了更好地描述所有这些影响，了解大气中气溶胶的来源、传输和损失过程至关重要。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地捕捉它们的生命周期。特别是，这项研究将侧重于海洋和极地环境中发生的过程。由于拥有世界上最长的海岸线和北部的既得利益，这项研究的结果将对加拿大人具有及时的相关性。 具体项目将研究海洋雾事件，以调查水滴形成过程、水中化学反应以及海洋气溶胶对水滴形成的影响。将对气溶胶颗粒和雾滴进行实时化学和物理性质的测量，以阐明导致颗粒形成液滴的机制。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，还将研究北极高海拔地区的气溶胶颗粒化学成分，并利用实时气溶胶质谱仪了解其来源和全年向北极的输送情况。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努力确保北极当地人口和环境的健康不受负面影响的监管机构高度相关。 学生将使用最先进的气雾剂设备，并从跨学科互动中受益。他们还将受益于在该领域开展研究，并辅之以实验室实验或计算机模拟，以拓宽他们的研究方法。此外，这些学生还将从与其他部门、大学和政府机构的合作中受益，这些合作将扩大他们的网络，并接触到加拿大不同水平的研究。