Atmospheric aerosols: From (Photo)chemical transformation to nucleation microphysics at atmospheric interfaces

*我们的创新研究项目需要对空气中的凝聚物或气溶胶及其与云和辐射的相互作用进行物理化学理解，这是影响气候变化的总辐射强迫估计的最大不确定性(政府间气候变化专门委员会，IPCC，2013)。与气溶胶-云相互作用有关的全球辐射预算的不确定性与与人类活动有关的主要温室气体大气浓度增加的估计辐射影响具有相同的量级。大气污染物，包括气溶胶，也与呼吸系统和心血管疾病以及癌症的发生增加有直接联系(世界卫生组织，世卫组织，2014年)。已经提出了一些控制辐射强迫的机制，这些机制强烈依赖于气溶胶和云的物理和化学特性，进而影响较低的大气能量收支，影响地球的主要过程，如北极海冰的融化和极端天气现象的频率和强度。这些物理化学机制通常知之甚少，因此，它们给空气质量、环境健康和气候变化的预测带来了关键的不确定性。拟议的研究计划旨在解决这些知识差距，包括三个相辅相成的前沿研究主题，这些主题将在科学、工程和医学的几个领域具有重要意义，涉及政府间气候变化专门委员会和世卫组织的首要研究优先事项。我们研究团队中的10名(共17名)HQP将接受培训。这项探索赠款中描述的研究有助于深入了解气溶胶的基本物理化学和分析化学，即了解气溶胶及其前体转化的(照片)化学、动力学和机理(S)的补充性研究，开发分子水平上的化学形态形成的新方法和技术，气溶胶的表面物理化学研究，利用纳米和微米气溶胶的性质设计新的天然绿色化学方法和技术，以帮助从源头上修复污染。我们预计，这项研究计划将进一步发展我们在国家和国际层面为政策制定者提供建议和为社区服务的持续贡献。我们已经建立了国际专业知识、洞察力以及一个强大和积极的研究团队，因此我们有信心以有效的方式实现我们的目标。**

***Our innovative research program entails the physico-chemical understanding of airborne condensed matter or aerosols, and their interactions with clouds and radiation, which "contributes the largest uncertainty to the total radiative forcing estimates" affecting climate change (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, 2013). The uncertainty in the global radiation budget associated with aerosol-cloud interactions is of the same magnitude as the estimated radiative impact of increases in the atmospheric concentration of major greenhouse gases associated with human activity. Atmospheric pollutants, including aerosols, have also been directly linked to increases in the occurrence of respiratory and cardio-vascular disease as well as cancer (World Health Organization, WHO, 2014). A number of mechanisms governing radiative forcing, have been proposed which are strongly dependent on the physical and chemical characteristics of aerosols and clouds, and in turn these affect the lower atmosphere energy budget, influencing Earth's major processes such as melting of the sea-ice in the Arctic and the frequency and intensity of extreme weather phenomena. These physicochemical mechanisms are generally poorly understood and as such, they introduce key uncertainties into the prediction of air quality and environmental health, and climate change. The proposed research program, addressing these gaps of knowledge, encompasses three complementary cutting edge research themes, which will be significant in several fields of science, engineering and medicine, addressing the top research priorities of IPCC and WHO. Ten (out of 17) HQP in our research team will be trained. The research described in this Discovery Grant provides insight into the fundamental physical, and analytical chemistry of aerosols, namely complementary research on understanding the (photo)chemistry, kinetics and mechanism(s) of the transformation of aerosols and their precursors, on the development of novel methods and techniques for the chemical speciation at molecular levels, on surface physical chemistry research on aerosols, using nano and micro-aerosols properties to design novel natural green chemistry methods and techniques, which assists pollution remediation at its source. We foresee this research program further evolving our ongoing contributions towards advising policy makers and serving our communities, at national and international levels. We have established international expertise, savoir-faire, as well as a strong and motivated research group, and hence we are confident that we will reach our goals in an efficient manner. **