DATE: FRIDAY, February 23, 2018
TIME: 2:30 P.M. - Room 101 (Refreshments served at 2:15 pm)
PLACE: Environmental & Natural Resource Sciences Bldg.
14 College Farm Road, New Brunswick, New Jersey
Barbara Turpin
University of North Carolina
WATER-SOLUBLE ORGANIC GASES AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON CHEMISTRY IN DIVERSE ENVIRONMENTS
Water is the most abundant condensed phase species in the atmosphere (including in aerosols). It has a dramatic effect on radiative forcing and enables reactions that alter atmospheric composition. My group examined the potential for aqueous chemistry to form secondary organic aerosol (SOA). We contributed to chemical mechanisms used in global assessments, and expanded the recognition that liquid water must be considered to understand the chemistry, thermodynamics and impact of atmospheric organic aerosols. The increasing interest and intellectual engagement of others, improved analytical methods, controlled experiments, predictive modeling and use of tracers in field studies have driven a rapid advancement in understanding. Within this context, this talk examines insights from ambient mixtures of water-soluble organic gases in three diverse environments: summertime in the Po Valley, Italy; indoor residences in the Southeastern US, and a Western US biomass burning plume. We used real-time measurements and experiments with ambient aqueous mixtures.