Multiphase Atmospheric Chemistry Impacts with PartMC and MultiChem

University Of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign, Urbana IL

Investigators

Abstract

This project is focused on the development of a flexible modeling framework for multiphase atmospheric chemistry. The new framework has the potential for significantly decreasing the computational cost of atmospheric modeling and for improving the understanding of the role of atmospheric particles in influencing climate. This will be an important contribution to reducing the uncertainty in the predictions of future climate change, a subject of great impact for society. The objective of the research is to understand how per-particle multiphase chemistry impacts aerosol mixing state and thus climate, with a focus on mixed organic/inorganic aerosols. The distribution of particle compositions and morphologies (the physicochemical mixing state) can impact gas-aerosol partitioning, chemical aging, and aerosol water uptake, and in turn, impact aerosol impacts on climate. The flexible modeling framework for multiphase chemistry (MultiChem) will be used within an ultra-detailed particle-resolved aerosol model (PartMC) and standard sectional/modal models in both box and 3-D regional simulations. The science questions that will be addressed by this research are: (1) How is per-particle composition and morphology impacted by aerosol-gas phase partitioning of inorganic and organic species and the resulting changes to water uptake? (2) How do these impacts on per-particle composition and morphology propagate into aerosol climate impacts, in particular aerosol optical properties and cloud condensation nuclei activity? and (3) How do these impacts depend on meteorological conditions and the transport of particles and gases in the atmosphere? This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.