Collaborative Research: Atmospheric Nucleation of Complex Mixtures Emitted from Marine Planktonic Communities

该项目的重点是调查各种海洋浮游生物群落的排放如何导致大气中的颗粒成核，以及这些排放如何随着环境的变化而演变。粒子成核为形成海洋云提供了相当大一部分种子粒子，这些云反射进来的太阳辐射，同时遮蔽了吸收辐射的海洋。由于颗粒成核的形成和速率影响云的亮度和寿命，量化海洋成核率对于准确预测云在气候变化中的作用非常重要。本项目的目标是：(1)验证成核势模型可以量化实验室产生的复杂混合物的成核势；(2)测量不同生长阶段水箱养殖海洋浮游植物产生的成核反应、成核势和排放剖面；(3)预测从缅因湾采集的天然海洋浮游植物群落的排放剖面、成核反应和成核势的季节和空间变化；以及(4)评估缅因湾春季和夏末/秋季的海洋排放和大气成核情况，并与目标3中观察到的结果进行比较。这项研究的最终影响是大幅扩大世界各地难以接近的地区的成核测量，并为预测不同环境和时间点的成核率提供一种简单的计算方法。未来，气候变化可能会导致以前并不是气溶胶粒子重要来源的海洋地区在决定地球辐射预算和气候方面发挥更关键的作用。PIS计划与宾夕法尼亚州匹兹堡资金不足社区的两名高中科学教师合作，开发一门以学生为中心的大气化学和气候课程，可以纳入为期一学期的化学课。该项目的最终目标是将测量到的浮游植物排放的实验设计和数据分析纳入当地两所高中实施的大气化学模块。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project is focused on investigating how the emissions from various marine planktonic communities lead to particle nucleation in the atmosphere and how these emissions might evolve with a changing environment. Particle nucleation provides a substantial fraction of the seed particles for forming marine clouds that reflect incoming solar radiation while simultaneously obscuring radiation-absorbing oceans. Since the formation and rate at which particles nucleate influence the brightness and lifetimes of clouds, quantifying marine nucleation rates is important for accurately predicting the role of clouds in climate change.The objectives of this project are to: (1) Verify that the Nucleation Potential Model can quantify the nucleation potential of laboratory-generated complex mixtures; (2) Measure the nucleation reactions, nucleation potentials, and emission profiles produced from tank-grown marine phytoplankton during various stages of growth; (3) Predict the seasonal and spatial variation in emission profiles, nucleation reactions, and nucleation potentials from natural marine planktonic communities collected from Gulf of Maine; and (4) Evaluate spring and late summer/fall marine emissions and atmospheric nucleation at the Gulf of Maine and compare with those observed in Objective 3.The ultimate impact of this research is to dramatically expand nucleation measurements in difficult-to-access regions worldwide and provide a computationally simple method for predicting nucleation rates in diverse environments and points in time. In the future, climate change may cause regions of the oceans that were not previously significant sources of aerosol particles to play more critical roles in determining Earth's radiative budget and climate.The PIs plan to work with two high school science teachers from underfunded neighborhoods of Pittsburgh, PA to develop a student-centered, atmospheric chemistry and climate curriculum that can be incorporated into a semester-long chemistry class. The final objective of the project is to incorporate the experimental design and data analysis of measured phytoplankton emissions into the atmospheric chemistry module implemented at two local high schools.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.