NSF Facilities User Workshop Air Pollution Breakout Group 9/25/07

1. NSF Facilities User WorkshopAir Pollution Breakout Group9/25/07 “Each breakout session will define outstanding science questions and key hypotheses, what observational facilities are needed to address them, and what new technologies would make a difference.”

2. Key Questions • Urban air quality, health effects and climate change • Biomass burning and effects of climate change • Air quality, human health, and global impact in/of megacities • Long range transport

3. Air Quality in meduim sized urban areas - Testbed • Air Quality Testbed idea in Denver/Boulder area? – case study for other medium sized urban areas • Increasing number of medium-sized urban areas in non-attainment • Models are used to make policy decisions but underlying science (met., boundary conditions, local transport) are often not well represented • Model “cases” often constrained to a few days of observations made during intensive field campaigns • Model uncertainties: 1. emissions (local: oil/gas drilling) 2. met. 3. chemistry • However there are significant chemistry uncertainties !

4. Air Quality in meduim sized urban areas - Testbed • Aerosols poorly represented. Secondary Chemistry important for aerosol formation/growth. • Coupling chemistry/meteorology • Nonlinearities • Evolution of mixing layer – transition of daily fully mixed layer to nighttime stable conditions (implications for tightly compacted relic mixing layers and nocturnal jet)

5. Air Quality in meduim sized urban areas - Testbed • Climate/chemistry • Using Heat waves to project into future • Increased stability of atmosphere • Increased moisture • Accelerated chemistry • Higher stress on humans – higher sensitivity to pollutants • Trends in urban areas – measurements needed in real time to characterize this trend – sufficient precision • Needed: low-speed devices which can do lagrangian studies on an urban/regional scale • Human health impacts – societal issue • Hybrids and other new transportation technology will change emission patterns in cities in the future • Mercury emissions from energy efficient CF light bulbs – direct emissions in urban areas

6. Air Quality in meduim sized urban areas - Testbed • “Suburban forests”- interaction of urban emissions with biogenic emissions • Carbon budget • Identity of carbon forming SOA • Intermediate volatility compounds largely unidentified • EPA enforcement system is flawed (cutting transportation funding after 8-hour ozone exceedances (often caused by regional background) in an urban area

7. Air Quality in meduim sized urban areas - Testbed • Most networks are ground based measurements and they do not characterize the vertical structure of the BL • Advantage of ground based measurements is temporal space. Remote sensing methods can help characterize the boundary layer structure • Use satellite data to extrapolate from a local study to other urban areas

8. Air Quality Testbed Study • Complications for Denver area • Low Humidity • High altitude • Oil exploration • Mountain range • Advantage for Denver area • logistics • Aircraft emissions • Population • Other possible sites – Phoenix, San Antonio, Kansa city, Indianapolis, Austin TX

9. Air Quality Testbed Study • Observation Network • Access for satellite measurements • Regional radar networks • Zeppelin • Dedicated at testbed site; storage issue for severe wx • Real time data downlink – enabling scientists on the ground to direct flight • Duration - few weeks? • Chemistry species: CO, CO2, NOx, O3, Hg, NO, NO2, H2O , VOCs, grab samples, PAN, radicals • Aerosols: size, composition (AMS), scattering, absorption • Measurement Suites – Pre-package instrument suites depending on needs for flight day • Dedicated measurement packages • Small aircraft: G1, Cessna, Hyperlight • C130, others • New OFAP proposal paradigm: long term request for repeat measurement campaigns over several years

10. Set Up for Testbed Study • Meteorological Observation Network • Domain 200 km x 200 km • Resolution for measurement sites (variable) • Rapid response paradigm • Techniques : wind profilers, sondes, aerosol lidars, chemistry sensors, Max DOAS, existing air quality monitoring networks • NSF Facilities – zepellin, radar network, research aircraft (small aircraft, slow aircraft) • Possible Partners/ sponsors – Private industry (auto, power industry, Vaisala, others), Homeland Security, EPA, DEQ, NOAA, DOE • Sustainability of study – how long does it need to be? Commitment of access to resources of instruments, people, access to aircraft

11. Set Up for Testbed Study Site selection depends on projection of changing climate; nature of environmental change needs to be characterized (range of variability –daily/seasonal, precision needed) Models – input data needed matches what is measured? WRF, CMAQ, CMAX, RAQMS; others Need models that forecasts change Emissions inventory Measurement Techniques :precision must match processes being measured

12. Set Up for Testbed Study Epidemiology – Need to get air quality and public health groups together Air Quality connection to Public Health Jonathan Patz – aware of epidemiology and air quality

13. Science QuestionsBiomass Burning • Biomass burning – climate change • Drought length increase leads to higher incidence of fire • Wildfires vs ecosystem change • Heating/burning another issue • Two different issues: • Increase of wildfires due to climate change • Landscape change leads to climate change • Issue in developing countries and boreal zone • Peat: • If wet, CH4; if dry, more complex emissions • Peat fires smoulder, are long-lived & more extensive • Heavy fuel loads existing in forests-> higher risk for more intense and extensive fires • Savanna/grasslands/chapparral: faster moving fires, prone to drought

14. Science QuestionsBiomass Burning • Facilities: mobile van • Ongoing field campaigns and airborne investigations, combined with satellite data and models, provide the opportunity for additional data • Pyro-cumulus form most intense fires reach UTLS; agricultural fires emissions tend to stay in lower atmosphere; power plant plumes emit different chemicals so completely different issue • Plumes: volatile species, pyro-convective, composition difficult to predict (depends on fuel, environmental conditions, location, nature of forest) • Need better characterization of plume (meteorology, chemistry, dynamics); satellite data (extent, chemistry, evolution, dynamics) • OCO Validation: include chemistry (CO, O3, others) • HIPPO (CO CO2 CH4 others) • We have the facilities to address this but they may have not be used very efficiently in a sense of forming a global picture

15. Air Quality in developing Megacities • Biofuels – public health • Developing countries need assistance in monitoring, measurements, air quality guidance • Emissions???? • Observations needed to verify emission estimates • Need easy to operate instrument package that can measure lower atmosphere composition • Need to measure HCs, CO, particles, NOy, grab samples (weekly), in large developing cities (tropical, desert, mid-latitudes, high latitudes); develop instrument package/sampling system for urban emissions • Build ~10 for pilot study and then more • Needs to be international community effort

16. Air Quality in developing Megacities • Same connections with epidemiology / public health than for US urban areas

17. Impact of long-range transport of pollution • Bill’s talk – “it matters where it comes down” • How to address this with aircraft? Ground-based studies? • Good example for value of long-term measurements is UW station, Pico (Azores) • Remote sensing techniques (aerosols) and small aircraft could be on station to measure vertical profiles during times of predicted transport events and when transport is absent.