Welcome to new graduate students, Nasrin and Na-Yung, as well as new undergraduate students, Arman and Sadeya. They will all be gearing up quickly to participate in the upcoming THE CIX campaign. We are excited to have all of you as part of the team!
Goodbye Shira and welcome Mayré!
We bid farewell to postdoctoral researcher, Shira, as she embarks on a few well-deserved months off before starting as an Assistant Professor at the University of Alberta. We are sad to see her go, but excited to see her flourish in her new role!
We also welcome new graduate student, Mayré, to the team. We are excited to have her as part of the group!
Group members attend Canadian Chemistry Conference & Exhibition in Calgary
Members of the group travelled to Calgary earlier this month to present their work at the CCCE.
Alessia presented a poster describing our affordable off-grid precipitation samplers. Shira and Jessica both gave presentations about atmospheric acids collected with the ambient ion monitor-ion chromatograph-mass spec. Shira also presented a poster about leaching of PFAS from laboratory materials. Cora gave a keynote talk on the atmospheric sources and fate of atmospheric acids and officially received her early career research award from the Environment Division of the Chemical Institute of Canada.
Alessia presents her poster.
Shira presents her poster.
Jessica gives her presentation.
Cora received the emerging researcher award from the Environment Division of the Chemical Institute of Chemistry.
Two reactive chlorine papers published
Two papers led by postdoctoral researcher Ye Tao were recently published.
High time-resolution measurements of HCl are infrequently reported, but are critical to our understanding of the atmospheric chlorine budget.
Measurements from the CalNex campaign in Los Angeles and Bakersfield, California were published in Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres (link to paper). These allowed us to examine gas-particle partitioning of the HCl/Cl- system.
Measurements from the HaliFAQS campaign in Halifax, Nova Scotia were published in ACS Earth & Space Chemistry (link to paper). These allowed us to develop a new approach to constraining aerosol pH.
Instrument collecting high time-resolution HCl data at the HaliFAQS campaign.
Whales Initiative sampling sites successfully set up
Our team is part of the Whales Initiative, in which we are trying to better understand contaminant sources to the habitats of at-risk whale populations. In fall of 2021, we set up samplers to understand atmospheric deposition of PFAS into the habitats of the St. Lawrence beluga whales (in Tadoussac, QC) and the Salish Sea killer whales (on Saturna Island, BC).
Sampling site in Tadoussac, QC
Sampling site and team (Cora, Shira, Trevor) on Saturna Island, BC
Cora receives the CIC Environment Division Early Career Research Award
Cora was awarded the 2022 CIC Environment Division Early Career Research Award (announcement here). The award belongs to the whole team and reflects their outstanding efforts.
The fantastic team!
Lisa attends AGU in New Orleans
The first in person conference experience for our team since pre-pandemic times was had by Lisa. She attended the AGU Fall Meeting in New Orleans to present her analysis of data from the Twin Otter aircraft during the FIREX-AQ campaign.
Lisa presenting her poster at the AGU Fall Meeting.
Congratulations Dr. Furlani!
Teles successfully defended his PhD thesis exploring atmospheric reactive chlorine on Nov 30. Congratulations!
The newly-minted Dr. Furlani after his defense.
Masks off briefly for this photo at the celebration of Dr. Furlani!
Team members attend Fluoros Global 2021
Cora, Daniel, and Jessica attended the Fluoros Global 2021 meeting virtually earlier this month.
Cora presented an invited talk on the global distribution and transport of PFAS, Jessica presented a poster on using wastewater treatment plant influent measurements to identify PFAS sources, and Daniel presented a poster on PFAS measurements from an ice core.
Jessica also won a Fluoros 2021 ACS Environmental Poster Award. Congratulations!
Jessica presents her award-winning poster during the awards session at Fluoros Global 2021.
Papers measuring tropospheric HCl published
Two papers from our team related to tropospheric hydrogen chloride (HCl) were recently published. HCl represents the primary gaseous reservoir of reactive chlorine, which has been shown to impact air quality. As a highly surface-active gas, obtaining accurate measurements of gaseous HCl is challenging.
A paper led by Teles validated a new commercial spectroscopic instrument for the measurement of tropospheric HCl. He performed laboratory and ambient intercomparisons to demonstrate the accuracy and precision of this robust and compact new instrument. The paper was published in Atmospheric Measurement Techniques.
Another paper led by Andrea used the same commercial instrument to make measurements of HCl in a coastal city (St. John’s, NL) in the spring and a continental city (Toronto, ON) in the winter. By comparing the HCl measurements with co-located supporting measurements and a global model, we can better understand the sources of HCl in these areas. The paper was published in ACS Earth & Space Chemistry.
The HCl analyzer in action.