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

气溶胶在气候和空气质量中起着关键作用。虽然微小，但气溶胶对我们的环境和健康有着巨大的影响。然而，对气溶胶表现这些深刻影响的机制的科学理解仍处于起步阶段。直到最近，新的仪器和跨学科合作才为在这一领域取得突破性进展提供了机会。气溶胶的许多影响在地理上与加拿大不同。然而，加拿大在这一迅速发展的领域落后于世界科学界。NSERC的资金将为一项综合多学科研究计划提供必要的支持，该计划将调查气溶胶科学的关键相互联系方面。研究将涉及三个广泛的主题，形成，转化和暴露，所有涉及现场测量作为一个压倒一切的主题。这项研究将研究城市和农村环境中超细颗粒形成的过程，重点是车辆释放的超细颗粒。这些最小的气溶胶颗粒小于100纳米，据推测会造成一系列不利的健康影响。将根据关键活动和微环境（如烹饪、车辆、公共交通）测量城市人口对超细颗粒的暴露，并根据路边和社区内的浓度梯度进行建模。将根据颗粒的大小和组成对不同活动和地点的颗粒毒性进行评估。测量和建模将用于确定影响加拿大城市的主要来源。随着年龄的增长，粒子的化学转变将被探索，并根据其性质的空间或时间相关变异性进行解释，其中一个应用是由于增加对阳光的吸收而对全球变暖产生影响。这笔NSERC资金将帮助加拿大发展所需的知识和人才，以支持未来十年与气溶胶科学有关的关键环境决策和政策制定。

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.