Collaborative Research: Greater New York (NY) Oxidant, Trace gas, Halogen, and Aerosol Airborne Mission (GOTHAAM)

The New York City (NYC) region has the highest level of ozone (O3) pollution in the United States outside of California, adversely affecting more than 20 million people. In this collaborative field campaign, 14 investigators from 9 institutions intend to study air quality in the greater NYC region using NSF’s C-130 research aircraft loaded with state-of-the-art instrumentation. Gases and particles will be collected during summer when air masses are influenced by emissions from nearby forests, ocean surfaces, and human activities. This new information will help increase understanding of formation of O3 and particulate matter (PM) pollution. By sharing and disseminating results, air quality agencies in the region and other similar mega cities can take action to mitigate harmful pollution. A 4-pronged scientific approach is suggested to study processes that produce O3 and PM, and that focus on volatile organic compound (VOC) speciation, secondary organic aerosol (SOA) evolution, oxidant concentrations, and nighttime chemistry. Of particular interest is the emission of volatile chemical products (VCPs) that have received recent attention as potentially dominant sources of VOCs in urban environments where they contribute to aerosol formation. A combination of aircraft descents and missed approaches over the ocean and at designated airports, respectively, are designed to provide vertical profiles of measured species, many of which are surface-emitted and have short lifetimes. Weather and chemistry forecasting models will inform flight plans. Results will be directly comparable to those gathered by a subset of the research team during the WINTER campaign that took place over the NE US in February-March 2015. Of significant difference will be the higher biological input of VOCs and increased photochemical activity during summer. Observations will be combined with regional and chemical modeling to improve understanding of O3 and SOA formation in a coastal mega city. 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.