News
Planning for Air Quality and Climate Research in Texas
A planning meeting for the 2005-2006 Texas Air Quality Study/ Gulf of Mexico Atmospheric Composition and Climate Study (TexAQS/GoMACCS) will be held October 11-12 in Austin, Texas. Aeronomy Laboratory and Environmental Technology Laboratory scientists will be among those in attendance at the meeting, which is being hosted and organized by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).
Background: In August and September of 2006, NOAA will help lead a major multi-institutional intensive field program that will focus on investigating important scientific questions that are common to both climate and air quality. The NOAA components of the program are the Texas Air Quality Study (TEXAQS) and the Gulf of Mexico Atmospheric Composition and Climate Study (GoMACCS). This intensive field study will focus on providing a better understanding of the sources and atmospheric processes responsible for the formation and distribution of ozone and aerosols in the atmosphere and the influence that these species have on the radiative forcing of climate regionally and globally, as well as their impact on air quality, human health, and regional haze. The study area will be Texas and the northwestern Gulf of Mexico. The intensive work next August/September is superimposed on a longer study period that commenced in May 2005, in which state and university scientists in Texas are gathering data from ground stations to characterize atmospheric composition in a broad region of southeastern Texas.
Significance: The TexAQS/GOMACCS research will make a strong contribution to two NOAA Goals/Programs: (i) Climate/Climate Forcing and (ii) Weather & Water/Air Quality. GoMACCS, the NOAA climate change component of this field program, will characterize marine/continental chemical and meteorological processes over Texas and the Gulf of Mexico in order to improve the simulation of the radiative forcing of climate change by lower-atmosphere ozone and aerosols. In addition to clear-sky radiative effects, GoMACCS will investigate the influence of aerosols on cloud properties and the role of clouds in chemical transformation. TexAQS 2006, the NOAA air quality component of this field experiment, will investigate the sources and processes that are responsible for photochemical pollution (ozone) and regional haze during the summertime in Texas. Several counties in Texas are experiencing air quality problems associated with this ozone. In addition, there is growing concern that additional counties in the state may be facing similar issues in the near future. The 2006 study will provide information on the sources of the ozone and aerosols precursors and processes responsible for the formation and distribution of ozone and aerosols in the state. By addressing both Climate and Air Quality objectives, the 2006 TexAQS/GoMACCS studies will be especially effective in leveraging resources and personnel in support of NOAA's mission.
More information: http://www.al.noaa.gov/2006/
Aeronomy Laboratory Scientist Chairs Gordon Conference
The 2005 Gordon Research Conference for Atmospheric Chemistry will be held in Big Sky, Montana, 4-9 September. The Conference chair will be Dr. David W. Fahey of the NOAA Aeronomy Laboratory with Dr. Douglas Worsnop of Aerodyne Research, Inc. serving as Co-Chair.
Background: Gordon Research Conferences are designed to 'encourage communication and discussion of ideas at the frontiers of science and technology.' Conferences bring together small international groups of scientists in cloistered and relaxed settings to have extended informal discussion about new, unpublished results.
Significance: Over 160 atmospheric scientists (including many from NOAA and CIRES) will attend this year's Conference to discuss topics that include Aerosols, clouds, and climate; Urban pollution, ozone formation, and air quality; Laboratory kinetic studies; The Biosphere, Satellite observations; and Global Modeling. The group will include 25 young scientists who have either just received their PhD or will within one year. These young people meet separately ahead of the Conference to present their PhD research to each other and to meet with US science agency representatives. Partial financial support is provided for speakers, discussion leaders, and young scientists by the Gordon Research Conference organization, NOAA, NASA, NSF, and DOE.
NOAA's roles in chairing, sponsoring, and participating in this year's Gordon Conference are in direct support of NOAA's research under the Climate Goal and the Weather and Water Goal. In addition, the special focus of the Conference on younger scientists is supportive of NOAA objectives related to fostering environmental literacy and enabling a strong and diverse scientific workforce for "NOAA-next".
Aeronomy Lab Scientist Named as Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry
Aeronomy Laboratory senior scientist A.R. Ravishankara (Ravi) has been admitted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (U.K.). The status of "Fellow" is honorary and highly selective, much like the AGU's designation of Fellow. Ravishankara is the leader of the Atmospheric Chemical Kinetics Program at the Aeronomy Laboratory.
Ravishankara's research concerns fundamental studies of the gas-phase and surface chemistry that controls ozone and its depletion, and for quantification of reaction rates of gases relevant to climate. His investigations have advanced the understanding of basic chemical processes related to several major environmental issues, including ozone-layer depletion, climate change, and air pollution.
He has also developed new approaches to study the chemical reactions that occur in the upper and lower atmosphere. For example, his results have led to a better understanding of the chemistry that causes the Antarctic ozone hole.
In addition, Ravishankara has led the evaluation of the "ozone-friendliness" and "climate friendliness" of many substances that have been proposed for use in commercial and industrial applications. He has played leading roles in national and international reports assessing the state-of-the-science understanding of ozone-layer depletion and other issues.
A research scientist with NOAA's Aeronomy Laboratory since 1985, Ravishankara has also been an Adjunct Professor of Chemistry at the University of Colorado in Boulder since 1989. Awards include his election as a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, the Polanyi Medal of the U.K. Royal Society of Chemistry, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Stratospheric Ozone Protection Award, the Department of Commerce Silver Medal, and election to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. He was also recently honored with the Meritorious Presidential Rank Award.
NOAA and the Aura Validation Experiment
The first post-mission science team meeting of the June 2005 Aura Validation Experiment (AVE) will take place in September 2005. The meeting will give scientists a first opportunity to share results and preliminary findings from the field mission, which was based at Ellington Field in Houston, Texas. Members of the Meteorological Chemistry Group of the NOAA/OAR Aeronomy Laboratory and the Halocarbons and other Atmospheric Trace Species Group of the NOAA/OAR Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory participated in AVE in a number of roles.
Background: AVE is an ongoing program sponsored by NASA to provide validation and calibration of the Aura satellite and to explore the chemistry and transport of the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UT/LS). Aura includes four separate instruments that provide a wide variety of trace gas and aerosol measurements extending over most of the globe in the UT/LS and above (http://aura.gsfc.nasa.gov/). The AVE program utilizes the NASA WB-57F high-altitude aircraft that can reach altitudes over 18 km with a range of over 2000 nm.
NOAA roles: The NOAA Laboratories provided payload instruments for in situ measurements of ozone, hydrogen chloride, nitric acid, a variety of long-lived gases (e.g., chlorofluorocarbons (CFC-11, CFC-12, halon-1211), nitrous oxide, and sulfur hexafluoride), and peroxy acetyl nitrate (PAN) along with inflight pressure and temperature. In addition, David Fahey of NOAA/OAR/Aeronomy Laboratory and Paul Newman of NASA were Project Scientists for the deployment.
Significance: The aircraft completed eight successful science flights over the course of two weeks in June 2005. The flights ranged as far south as the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico and as fare East as the Atlantic Ocean. The WB-57F flight tracks of the AVE mission were aligned primarily along the ground tracks of the field of view of one or more of the satellite instruments and timed to coincide with the twice-daily satellite overpass. Other flights were used, for example, to fly over tropical cyclone Arlene as it made landfall along the Florida panhandle on June 11. In post-deployment efforts, the flight data will be used to compare to Aura retrievals and to examine trace gas distributions. The research is a part of the Climate Forcing program under NOAA's Climate Goal.
More information: http://cloud1.arc.nasa.gov/ave-houston2/
NOAA Helps Lead the 2006 International Ozone-Layer Scientific Assessment
One of the very first milestones of the forthcoming (2006) international state-of-scientific-understanding assessment of the ozone layer will take place next week in Paris, France. On 26-27 July, the Lead Authors Planning Meeting will enable the lead authors of the assessment's eight scientific chapters to meet and discuss their plans for their chapters. The meeting especially focuses on issues related to the coordination among the chapters, and enables the lead authors to communicate at the very earliest possible stage in the preparation of the assessment.
Background: The ozone scientific assessment is prepared by the international scientific community at the request of the over 180 nations that are Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. The assessment will be printed and available in March of 2007.
NOAA plays several leading roles in the 2006 ozone assessment, including service as one of three international Cochairs (Dan Albritton), Steering Committee member (A.R. Ravishankara), Chapter Lead Author (John Daniel), and Coordinator (Chris Ennis). Scientists in several NOAA/OAR laboratories are serving as Coauthors, Coordinators, and Reviewers. NOAA's scientific research on the ozone layer forms a part of the information that is assessed in the chapters. The efforts of hundreds of scientists from dozens of countries have historically been involved in the ozone assessments, which are updated every four years.
Significance: The ozone-layer assessment provides scientific information for decision makers who are addressing issues related to the protection of the stratospheric ozone layer. Especially of interest to decision makers for the 2006 assessment is the status of the ozone layer and the Antarctic ozone hole; how well the Montreal Protocol is working; the role of ozone-depleting substances and their substitutes in the atmosphere; the ozone-friendliness of short-lived substances that are proposed for use in societal applications; and what the future holds in a changing climate. The endeavor contributes to NOAA's Climate Goal research, particularly during the near term when the ozone layer is expected to begin a recovery.