Download Yu4ASRCweb201202 - Atmospheric Sciences Research Center

Aerosol Physics & Climate Research at ASRC
Researchers: Fangqun Yu
Aerosol Physics & Climate
The past decade has seen the growing importance of atmospheric aerosols (both from natural and anthropogenic
sources) in a range of real-word problems. Atmospheric particles influence Earth’s climate directly by scattering and
absorption of solar radiation, and indirectly by affecting cloud properties, precipitation, and the hydrologic cycle. The
aerosol indirect radiative forcing is poorly constrained in climate models and this represents the single greatest
uncertainty in assessing climate change. Aerosol particles are the carriers of a number of hazardous air pollutants, are
known to have adverse health effects, are associated with acid deposition, and can cause regional haze that obscures
scenic vistas. Atmospheric aerosols also act as sites for chemical reactions (i.e., heterogeneous chemistry). The effects
of atmospheric aerosols depend strongly on the particle size distribution, composition, hygroscopic properties, and
mixing state that are determined by a number of microphysical and chemical processes. Key aerosol properties exhibit
significant spatial and temporal variability at both regional and global scales due to their short residence times and the
non-linear dependence of production rates on atmospheric conditions.
Because of the important role of aerosols in modifying the climate, future climate changes and emission regulatory
actions may significantly affect the aerosol properties leading to important climate feedback processes. In addition,
various natural processes (such as volcanic eruptions, variations in solar activity and fluxes of galactic cosmic rays,
oceanic emissions of precursors and primary particles, biogenic emissions, etc.) may affect aerosol abundances and
thus serve as important external or natural forcings of Earth’s climate. In recent years, a number of conceptual ideas
have been proposed to compensate for “greenhouse” warming (i.e., geo-engineering), and most of these ideas are
associated with modifying aerosols in the atmosphere. In order to address various environmental issues associated
with aerosols and to more accurately predict current and future climate, it is essential to improve fundamental
process-level understanding of aerosol lifecycles, and adequately represent processes controlling key aerosol
properties in regional and global models.
Our primary research interests include: (1) Mechanisms and fundamentals of new particle formation in the
atmosphere: Quantum calculation, kinetic modeling, and data analysis; (2) Regional (WRF-Chem) and global (GEOSChem, CESM-CAM5) modeling of particle size distribution and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) abundance; (3) Aerosolcloud-Climate interactions; (4) Aerosol direct and indirect radiative forcing, climate change, and climate feedback
mechanisms involving aerosol formation; (5) Formation and growth of volatile nanoparticles in various plumes (engine
exhaust, power plant, volcano, etc.); (6) Soot particle formation and evolution inside engine; and other aerosol-related
topics.
More detailed and updated information about our research (including publications) can be found at
http://www.albany.edu/~yfq/.
Fangqun Yu
Senior Research Associate and Professor
Atmospheric Sciences Research Center
State University of New York at Albany
251 Fuller Road, Albany, New York 12203
(518) 437-8767
(518) 437-8758(fax)
[email protected]
Research Interests:
Molecular scale investigation of environmental nucleation processes through computational quantum study and kinetic nucleation
modeling
Formation and growth of tropospheric particles: Modeling, data analyses, and comparisons
Development and continuous improvement of a computationally efficient advanced particle microphysics (APM) model for
coupling with GEOS-Chem, WRF-Chem, and CESM
Regional aerosol modeling using WRF-Chem + APM and GEOS-Chem+APM on nested domains
Global aerosol modeling using GEOS-Chem + APM and CESM + APM
Key processes controlling particle size distribution and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) abundance
Aerosol-cloud-climate interaction study using regional and global climate models
Aerosol direct/indirect radiative forcing and climate change, climate feedback mechanisms involving particle nucleation
Formation and growth of ultrafine particles in various plumes (engine exhaust, power plant, volcano, etc.)
Combustion chemistry, and soot particle formation inside engine