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 Monday, September 8, 2008 Outpacing Climate Change With Atmospheric Research Collaboration New institute brings together experts, instruments and models in aerosol chemistry Scripps Institution of Oceanography / University of California, San Diego Tiny particles in air called aerosols create smog, seed clouds and control how much of the sun's heat makes it through the atmosphere, yet these particles are the least understood aspect of climate research. Now, UC San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) are working together to tackle the role of aerosols in climate change-specifically how aerosols from pollution, oceans and wildfires contribute to altering weather.The Aerosol Chemistry and Climate Institute will focus on aerosols rather than the more commonly studied greenhouse gases to better understand changes in regional climate. Global warming is expected to result in more frequent wildfires, for example, which spew aerosols into the air. This new joint venture will seek to understand the complex weather cycles created by escalating aerosols amid a rising global temperature. "Changes in aerosols could affect Earth's temperature on a much shorter time scale than greenhouse gases," said Kimberly Prather, who holds appointments at both Scripps and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UC San Diego. "Sorting out the role of aerosols in climate could buy us some time as we grapple with the challenge of controlling levels of those gases." Prather will co-direct the new institute with PNNL's Charlette Geffen.  Analysis of aerosols ejected from a seawater sample in Kimberly Prather's lab at UC San Diego "Access to a broader range of instrumentation through this new agreement will help us extend our investigations," said Mark Thiemens, dean of the Division of Physical Sciences at UC San Diego. "The collaboration will strengthen the division's contributions to finding solutions that will help to sustain a healthy global environment." The collaboration will benefit from contributions of Nobel laureates Mario Molina and Paul Crutzen, both of UC San Diego. Although researchers have made great strides in understanding the effect that 150 years of industrialization have had on Earth's climate, aerosols represent one of the cloudiest aspects of atmospheric science. Consisting of water, condensed gases and bits of matter such as soot and dust, aerosols vary considerably in size and composition. This diversity creates enormous complexity for scientists studying them in the field and modeling how aerosols behave in the atmosphere, making progress slow. "In climate science, atmospheric aerosols have been like a locked box. With this institute, we can crack open that box and transform the ability to predict climate change and its impacts," said Geffen, director of PNNL's Atmospheric Sciences and Global Change division. The oceans also play a major role in understanding earth system dynamics. The ocean is a giant sink for water, gases and particulate matter. How the ocean interacts with aerosols and clouds, and how that link contributes to weather are key questions in regional and global climate change research.  Aerosol Chemistry and Climate Institute Co-Director Kimberly Prather UC San Diego scientists have considerable expertise in ocean chemistry and biology. PNNL scientists have extensive experience in climate modeling, as well as novel instruments at PNNL and the DOE's Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory located on the PNNL campus. In addition, the institute will foster exchange of staff. The agreement will bring graduate students from UC San Diego to PNNL's campus in southeastern Washington. PNNL researchers will serve as adjunct professors at UC San Diego where they will help advise environmental chemistry and climate science students. Slated for the first adjunct positions are PNNL researchers Jean Futrell, who studies organics in aerosols, and Dan Cziczo, who studies aerosols that cause clouds to form. Other scientists involved in initial studies include V. Ramanathan and Lynn Russell at Scripps, UC San Diego's Thiemens and PNNL's Phil Rasch, Ruby Leung and Steven Ghan. # # # Note to broadcast and cable producers: University of California, San Diego provides an on-campus satellite uplink facility for live or pre-recorded television interviews. Please phone or e-mail the media contact listed above to arrange an interview. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, at University of California, San Diego, is one of the oldest, largest and most important centers for global science research and education in the world. The National Research Council has ranked Scripps first in faculty quality among oceanography programs nationwide Now in its second century of discovery, the scientific scope of the institution has grown to include biological, physical, chemical, geological, geophysical and atmospheric studies of the earth as a system. Hundreds of research programs covering a wide range of scientific areas are under way today in 65 countries. The institution has a staff of about 1,300, and annual expenditures of approximately $155 million from federal, state and private sources. Scripps operates one of the largest U.S. academic fleets with four oceanographic research ships and one research platform for worldwide exploration. |
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