CARES Helps Explain Secondary Organic Aerosols
What happens when urban man-made pollution mixes with what we think of as pristine forest air? To know more about what this interaction means for the climate, the Carbonaceous Aerosol and Radiative Effects Study, or CARES, field campaign was designed in 2010. The sampling strategy during CARES was coordinated with CalNex 2010, another major field campaign that was planned in California in 2010 by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the California Energy Commission (CEC). "We found two things. When urban pollution mixes with forest pollutions we get more secondary organic aerosols," said Rahul Zaveri, FCSD scientist and project lead on CARES. "SOAs are thought to be formed primarily from forest emissions but only when they interact with urban emissions. The data is saying that there will be climate cooling over the central California valley because of these interactions." Knowledge gained from detailed analyses of data gathered during the CARES campaign, together with laboratory experiments, is being used to improve existing climate models.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- OSTI ID:
- 1132934
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Modeling the formation and aging of secondary organic aerosols in Los Angeles during CalNex 2010
Real-time measurements of secondary organic aerosol formation and aging from ambient air in an oxidation flow reactor in the Los Angeles area