The goal of this Phase I CCI is to establish interdisciplinary bridges linking theoretical and laboratory studies of heterogeneous chemical reactions under atmosphere-like conditions with field data and observations of real aerosol particles, as the means to establish a fundamental understanding of how complex reaction processes occurring on surfaces of aerosol particles impact climate, marine and atmospheric chemistry, and biogeochemical cycling. There is limited understanding of the chemistry occurring on the surfaces of aerosol particles in the atmosphere, even though the chemistry affects the particles' physicochemical properties, and thus, determines their overall impact on the Earth's climate. Due to the extreme complexity of atmospheric particles, experimental and theoretical studies have traditionally focused almost exclusively on heterogeneous reactions of simplified model systems, establishing only tenuous relationships with the properties affecting the chemical reactivity of real atmospheric particles. In contrast, field studies, which give unique insight into the complexity of real aerosol particles, cannot resolve the fundamental mechanistic drivers that ultimately control their impact on atmospheric chemistry and climate. Thus, the Center for Aerosol Impacts on Climate and the Environment (CAICE) will perform fundamental chemistry studies on the surfaces of real, complex aerosol particles created in controlled environments using a unique ocean-atmosphere reaction chamber to produce sea spray aerosols. A range of modeling and measurement approaches will be used to probe the chemistry and molecular scale properties of the generated sea spray aerosols and their subsequent reactions. The studies will allow the CCI to begin quantifying how specific heterogeneous reactions change the climate relevant properties of aerosols.
The Center for Aerosol Impacts on Climate and the Environment (CAICE) will also have broad impact by educating the future researchers who will have to grapple with large scale complex interactions in our environment. An interdisciplinary teaching curriculum will be developed to enable the students to acquire a solid foundation in fundamental chemistry, while focusing on problems related to the ocean, atmosphere, climate, chemistry and biology. The research in the Center will be shared with the scientific community through education and outreach activities, publications, presentations, news media, the web, and public workshops. Both CCI faculty and students will be actively involved in education and outreach programs. A key element in the public outreach plans is the Birch Aquarium which will host a new exhibit highlighting the Center's research to its 400,000 annual visitors.
The Centers for Chemical Innovation (CCI) Program supports research centers that can address major, long-term fundamental chemical research challenges that have a high probability of both producing transformative research and leading to innovation. These Centers will attract broad scientific and public interest by sharing the results of their innovative approach to this challenging question.
CAICE Phase I Outcomes An interdisciplinary team of scientists joined together to create the Center for Aerosol Impacts on Climate and the Environment (CAICE) with the overarching goal of improving our understanding of microscopic atmospheric particles, or aerosols, on the environment, air quality, and climate. Aerosols are emitted by a wide range of sources including coal combustion, ships, vehicles, wildfires, volcanoes, dust, and ocean sea spray. They play a major role in atmospheric processes, affecting local weather patterns and our water supply, impacting global climate, and affecting human health. They represent a significant global problem, as they are transported around the Earth on the timescale of days to weeks. Due to their highly complex and variable properties, aerosols represent the most poorly understood component of our atmosphere. The focus of the Phase I proposal involved initiating a new strategy for studying and developing a stronger understanding of the complex chemistry of atmospheric aerosols. In the Center, CAICE scientists developed a novel approach for bringing the real world into a laboratory setting to create realistic atmospheric aerosols in the form of marine aerosols so controlled studies on complex chemical processes could be performed. In a newly developed ocean-atmosphere facility, real waves are used to produce sea spray aerosol to measure the chemical composition and size of isolated sea spray aerosols. In an effort to study the effects of changes in composition, CAICE scientists induced biological processes in a systematic manner. Correlations were established between changes in seawater and the composition of the sea spray particles. In the initial stages of this Phase I Center, a tremendous amount was learned about our atmosphere, climate, and complex chemistry using this newly developed novel "real world in a beaker" approach. This lays the foundation for performing the next generation of experiments that will ultimately increase our understanding of atmospheric aerosols and their impact on our environment. A key publication highlighting the major accomplishments of the CAICE intensive study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2013. This publication summarizes some of the most significant Phase I CAICE findings from this Center grant include: 1) Established a world-renowned unique ocean-atmosphere facility where real sea spray can be studied in isolation for the first time. 2) Demonstrated the power of bringing the real world into the lab to study complex atmospheric processes. The complexity of sea spray was demonstrated showing sea spray contains complex particles ranging from pure salts to bacteria. 3) The successful achievement of bringing the real world to the lab demonstrated that such an approach could indeed be used to bridge previous results from laboratory and field studies. 4) A mesocosm experiment with varying levels of bacteria, viruses, and phytoplankton was performed. Through this study, correlations between biology and the climate properties of sea spray particles were established. 5) New theoretical tools to address chemical complexity were developed in parallel with the innovative experiments described above. The theoretical approaches are a critical cornerstone of the Center by allowing us to not only measure, but also explain and ultimately predict the behavior of chemically complex systems. 6) Development and integration of new cutting edge instruments and approaches to elucidate the chemical complexity of atmospheric aerosols and their properties. Over the course of this grant, CAICE scientists were also extremely active in the areas of education and informal science communication. A number of pilot projects focusing on environmental measurements were developed and tested with two local Title 1 schools, Paul Ecke Central (K-6) and Castle Park High School (9-12). CAICE PI’s, graduate/undergraduate students, and postdoctoral fellows visited the schools and worked with students on hands-on experiments focusing on chemistry, the water cycle, ocean acidification, and climate. The high school students worked on projects focusing on ocean acidification, chemical equilibria, and particle sensors. For many of the high school students, the outreach efforts extended for a 2-year period and culminated with presentations at the San Diego Science Festival, which nearly 50,000 people attend. In addition, CAICE faculty developed new undergraduate and graduate curricula, including a new undergrad/graduate course, "Instrument Development", and an upper level undergraduate and graduate level course on "Chemistry and Climate" which emphasizes effective science communication. In addition to these major projects, CAICE scientists participated in a number of other public outreach events in the San Diego area, in cooperation with their Education and Outreach partner, the Scripps Birch Aquarium which has 450,000 visitors a year. Furthermore, to help disseminate the results from CAICE, social media, including a dedicated CAICE website and Facebook page, were created to provide updates on CAICE activities and accomplishments. During the intensive 3 week wave flume experiment, a daily blog was created with the perspective from a different CAICE scientist including graduate students, postdocs, and faculty involved in the project.
