New study shows the molecular details of
how organic aerosol helps heat up and color the haze over megacities
According to Song, this finding highlights the need to improve
how organic aerosols are currently represented in climate models.
Not exact matches
A study published April 7 in PNAS Online Early Edition describes
how a team of scientists, including researchers from the University of California, Davis, showed that vapor losses to the walls of laboratory chambers can suppress the formation of secondary
organic aerosol, which in turn has contributed to the underprediction of SOA in climate and air quality models.
The results may help to explain discrepancies between observations and theories about
how volatile
organic compounds produced by vegetation are converted into atmospheric
aerosol — especially over forested regions.
By adjusting elements of the test, such as the air exchange rate, which is the number of times per hour indoor air is replaced by outdoor air, as well as the concentrations of terpene and ozone in the chamber, the group was able to ascertain
how those variables each affected the formation of secondary
organic aerosols.
The team evaluated simulated cloud fields from the multi-scale
aerosol - climate model and examined
how specific human - caused
aerosols, such as sulfate, black carbon (soot), and
organic carbon affect those clouds and, in turn, the climate.
The PNNL study measured
how, in the atmosphere, these
aerosols interact with and mix with other volatile or semi-volatile
organic compounds, the carbon - centric chemicals that evaporate from both natural and human - made sources.
The team is studying
how hydrophobic
organic molecules, commonly present in the atmosphere, change the
aerosols» formation, properties, and behavior.
These have garnered more than 600 citations advancing our understanding of what the research field calls secondary
organic aerosols — or SOA for short — and
how the carbon - containing
aerosol particles mix in the atmosphere.
Recently, the team tackled
how the particles, called secondary
organic aerosols (SOAs), evaporate when the relative humidity is high.
How do
organic aerosols from biomass burning, which you can see in the red dots, intersect with clouds and rainfall patterns?
New information from dedicated recent and future field campaigns is expected to shed light on
organic aerosol formation processes and
how they are altered in the presence of anthropogenic pollution.