Biogenic Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) Emissions from Managed Landscapes and Their Contribution to Atmospheric Ozone and Aerosol

University Of California-Irvine, Irvine CA

Investigators

Abstract

In this project, the PI and project team seek to study the importance of urban and agricultural landscapes for biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) emissions and their representation within numerical air quality and climate models. This project combines field and laboratory measurements with numerical modeling (via updates to the Model of Emissions of Gases and Aerosols from Nature, or MEGAN, model) in order to quantify the role of managed landscapes on BVOC emissions, air pollution, and climate-relevant aerosols and oxidants. The MEGAN model is a widely used community model used by researchers and air quality managers and improvements to this model will be advantageous to both the research community and the broader public. The project includes funding for a postdoctoral scientist and a graduate student that, along with at least three undergraduate students, will be exposed to a multi-disciplinary integrated observational and modeling project. The overall research goal of is the identification and quantification of processes and sources that control urban and agricultural BVOC emissions and the characterization of the impact of land management practices on atmospheric oxidant and aerosol production. There are three primary scientific questions that the research team plans to address: (1) Are there missing terrestrial ecosystem sources or canopy processes that need to be included in numerical models to accurately estimate BVOC emissions? (2) What are the relative contributions of primary and secondary sources to whole ecosystem oxygenated BVOC fluxes and how do they respond to changes in canopy structure and speciation? (3) To what extent do urban and agricultural landscapes contribute to BVOC emissions and can emission responses to land management practices change regional oxidant and aerosol distributions? In addition to support for a postdoctoral research, a graduate student, and undergraduate students, this team will prepare two one-hour scientific activities to introduce the fundamentals of BVOC emission measurement and modeling to middle school students and how this can be applied in managed landscapes. This program is designed to serve underrepresented groups to demonstrate STEM as a career option. 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.