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。 虽然气溶胶的大小很微小，但它对我们的环境和健康有着巨大的影响。然而，对气溶胶表现出这些深远影响的机制的科学理解仍处于起步阶段。 直到最近，新的工具和跨学科的合作提供了在这一领域取得突破性进展的机会。 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的资金将为一个综合的多学科研究计划提供必要的支持，该计划调查气溶胶科学的关键相互关联的方面。 三大主题的研究将继续进行，形成，转化和曝光，所有涉及现场测量作为一个过度的主题。该研究将研究城市和农村环境中超细颗粒形成的过程，重点是它们从车辆中释放出来。这些最小的气溶胶颗粒，小于100纳米的大小，被假设为有助于一系列不利的健康影响。将针对关键活动和微环境（如烹饪、车辆、公共交通）测量城市人口接触超细颗粒物的情况，并根据路边和邻近地区的浓度梯度进行建模。 将对不同活动和地点的颗粒的毒性进行评价，并将其与颗粒的大小和组成联系起来。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，颗粒的化学转化将被探索和解释，在空间或时间相关的变化，在他们的属性，其对全球变暖的影响，由于增加吸收阳光作为一个应用程序。 NSERC的这笔资金将帮助加拿大发展所需的知识和人员，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.