Studies of the Fluxes of Atmospheric Organic Nitrogen Compounds to a Forest Environment

Purdue University, West Lafayette IN

Investigators

Abstract

This project investigates the formation and fate of organic nitrogen compounds in a moderately polluted forest environment. Such compounds may play a crucial role in nitrogen cycling and sequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide - interactions between the terrestrial biosphere and the ambient atmosphere are understood poorly and present an area of study not widely considered at this time by those concerned with carbon sequestration in forest ecosystems. Specifically, the project will develop the capacity for measuring fluxes of some selected alkyl nitrates - (isomeric) isoprene nitrate(s) and peroxyacyl nitrates including peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN), producing standard(s) for absolute calibration of isoprene nitrate, and characterizing the fate of organic nitrates through deposition within a forest environment. This project will be conducted at the Program for Research on Oxidants: Photochemistry, Emissions, and Transport (PROPHET) field site at the University of Michigan Biological Station. Kinetics of organic nitrate reactions with the hydoxyl radical (OH) will also be investigated in the laboratory. With regard to broader impacts, the project will characterize some potentially important forest-atmosphere interactions, offer insight into the role of nitrogen cycling in the carbon cycle within terrestrial forest ecosystems, and improve present understanding of forest biogeochemistry. The project will provide scholarship and capacity building through technology transfer to a number of young scientists, many of those women, and through institutional and PROPHET program outreach - through the larger NSF Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) and Biosphere Atmosphere Research and Training (BART) programs - facilitate broader community education and involvement.