PAOC Colloquium – Jeffrey Geddes (Boston Univerisity)
Title: Challenges and Opportunities in Coastal Urban Air Quality Research: Lessons from the Boston Basin
Abstract: Given the prevalence of coastal populations worldwide, it is imperative that we accurately represent and forecast coastal air quality and understand its unequally distributed impacts on human health. Satellite-inferred assessments of surface-level air pollution have the potential to complement traditionally sparse ground-based monitoring, but their accuracy and performance in complex coastal environments is uncertain. This presentation will summarize a combination of in-situ and remote sensing observations complemented by high-resolution modeling to study the interactions of air pollution and meteorology over the Boston basin. The role of the local sea breeze system in accumulating primary and secondary air pollutants, and driving steep spatial gradients over small scales, will be discussed. Our simulations suggest that the local distribution of air pollution is not well captured by our current monitoring capabilities and challenge the conventional understanding of air quality impacts in the region. We use a novel network of ground-based remote sensing instruments (“Pandoras”) throughout the Boston area to examine the link between total column abundance (as would be retrieved from satellites) and surface concentrations relevant to human exposures. Our observations confirm that satellite observations are uniquely challenged on sea breeze days, in contrast to other days when the local meteorology is more synoptically driven. Opportunities to advance the understanding of coastal urban air quality processes will be considered.
About this series: The PAOC Colloquium is a weekly interdisciplinary seminar series that brings together the whole PAOC community. Seminar topics include all research concerning the physics, chemistry, and biology of the atmospheres, oceans and climate, but also talks about e.g. societal impacts of climatic processes. The seminars take place on Monday from 12-1pm. Contact paoc-colloquium-comm@mit.edu for more information and Zoom password.
