The Future of Atmospheric Chemistry Research Remembering Yesterday, Understanding Today, Anticipating Tomorrow (2016) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
4 Anticipating Tomorrow: Societal Challenges
4 Anticipating Tomorrow: Societal Challenges
Pages 77-104
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 77... ...
The last section (Chapter 4.4) examines a number of areas where atmospheric chemistry affects society and where societal choices influence atmospheric composition, ultimately affecting people in different ways.
|
From page 78... ...
These changes to the climate are driven by increases in greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. Greenhouse gases absorb infrared radiation, and the increase in their atmospheric abundance due to human activity has produced a radiation imbalance in the atmosphere, which is referred to as radiative forcing of the climate system.
|
From page 79... ...
SOURCE: IPCC, AR5, 2013. for an overview of the role of atmospheric gases, aerosol particles, and clouds in the climate system.
|
From page 80... ...
and nitrous oxide. However, projecting the regional response in climate to radiative forcing is challenging, and the coupling between the regional response and atmospheric composition and chemistry is a particular source of uncertainty.
|
From page 81... ...
The impact of aerosol particles on the climate system is less well understood than the influence of well-mixed greenhouse gases, particularly their influence on clouds. Modeling, satellite remote sensing, laboratory, and field measurement studies over BOX 4.1 ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY IN THE NEWS: METHANE LEAK IN CALIFORNIA From late 2015 to early 2016, a natural gas leak at the Aliso Canyon gas storage field, near Los Angeles, released almost 100,000 tons of methane into the atmosphere (Conley et al., 2016)
|
From page 82... ...
Aerosol particles impact radiative forcing on regional signals that are not reflected on the global scale (Shindell and Faluvegi, 2009) , such as impacts on the Asian summer monsoon, rainfall patterns in Southeast Asia, North Atlantic variability, the evolution of tropical cyclones, and the invigoration of precipitation and intensification of precipitation.
|
From page 83... ...
Many studies have concluded that changing anthropogenic aerosol particles can shift the tropical patterns of rainfall, contributing to the Sahel drought (Held et al., 2005) and threatening the Amazon rainforest (Cox et al., 2008)
|
From page 84... ...
. The total cost due to health effects of some air pollutants in the United States is estimated to be between $71–$277 billion each year, the majority of that resulting from detrimental health impacts and premature deaths (Muller and Mendelsohn, 2007)
|
From page 85... ...
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has designated a list of hazardous air pollutants found indoors and outdoors that are known to be carcinogenic or cause other serious health effects ranging from eye and skin irritation to impacts on reproductive, neurological, and respiratory systems (see Figure 4.4)
|
From page 86... ...
Particulate matter has been linked to a range of health impacts, including asthma, cardiopulmonary disease, lung cancer, reproductive health problems (WHO, 2005) , and increased mortality (Pope and Dockery, 2006; Pope et al., 2013; see Box 4.2)
|
From page 87... ...
Half of the city's vehicles were taken off the road and production at local factories was scaled back in an effort to cut emissions. The atmospheric chemistry research community continues to play a key role in understanding the specific sources and conditions that lead to these dramatic events and identifying how emission reductions will translate to improved air quality in Beijing and other growing urban centers.
|
From page 88... ...
The toxicity and health effects of particles thus also depend to a large and under-appreciated extent on atmospheric chemical transformations that depend strongly on aging processes in the atmosphere. Exposures to higher levels of air pollutants can occur indoors, where people typically spend approximately 90 percent of their time (Nazaroff and Goldstein, 2015)
|
From page 89... ...
Because natural and managed ecosystems are so closely tied to the atmosphere, atmospheric chemical reactions and chemical composition play a central role in understanding how ecosystems respond to global change and affect climate change. Therefore, there is a crucial need to understand how terrestrial and marine ecosystems contribute to, and are controlled by, the chemistry of the atmosphere.
|
From page 90... ...
Ozone can be taken up by plants, reducing the productivity of natural (Chappelka and Samuelson, 1998) and managed ecosystems such as agriculture (Booker et al., 2009; Fiscus et al., 2005)
|
From page 91... ...
composition and chemistry. Understanding this complex two-way exchange of constituents between the atmospheric reservoir and ecosystems is necessary to determine how atmospheric chemistry affects, and is affected by, ecosystems.
|
From page 92... ...
. Biologically produced VOCs are key contributors to tropospheric ozone formation and, depending on the oxidation pathway, VOC oxidation products form or grow secondary organic aerosol particles.
|
From page 93... ...
They may be exacerbated by slow environmental degradation from poor air or water quality, or they may involve destruction of societal function and governance by natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, floods, or hurricanes. A changing atmosphere not only directly affects human health, agricultural productivity, and the state of the environment, but is also a substantial contributor to climate change.
|
From page 94... ...
. a Arctic Council Observer States 2015 National Reports on Enhanced Black Carbon and Methane Emissions Reductions: According to the framework for "Enhanced Black Carbon and Methane Emissions Reductions" agreed on at the Arctic Council Ministerial in Iqaluit April 2015, each Arctic Council Observer State was invited to join the actions described in the framework including sharing a national report according to the guidance to be found in the framework.
|
From page 95... ...
For example, the State Department initiated the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants4 as an effort to support international development goals as well as to gain international partners, and the EPA recently announced the Clean Power Plan, which establishes final emission guidelines for states to follow in developing plans to reduce CO2 emissions from existing fossil fuel-fired electric generating units. (However, this plan does not address other greenhouse gases such as nitrous oxide and methane.)
|
From page 96... ...
In 2015 alone, 10 weather and climate disaster events occurred with losses exceeding $1 billion each across the United States, including drought and flooding events.5 Atmospheric chemistry plays a key role in impacting the water cycle largely through serving as the conduit for the formation and transport of aerosol particles which act as cloud condensation and ice nuclei (CCN and IN) (see Figure 4.7)
|
From page 97... ...
. Thus, depending on their sources and composition, aerosol particles can lead to a re-distribution of water resources with more extreme events such as flooding and drought.
|
From page 98... ...
These results provide compelling evidence of the prominent role of aerosol particles in shaping regional climate change over South Asia. SOURCE: Bollasina et al., 2011.
|
From page 99... ...
The issue of fair treatment is based on the fact that societal impacts of changing atmospheric composition like climate change are not distributed equally. Studies of 6 Environmental Justice: https://www3.epa.gov/environmentaljustice.
|
From page 100... ...
Atmospheric chemistry research can contribute to a greater understanding of environmental justice by employing low-cost, widespread monitoring and high-resolution modeling to characterize the spatial distribution of pollution and its impacts, and by integrating this analysis with socioeconomic characterization. The unequal distribution of poor air quality should be a key part of assessments of future development and climate change.
|
From page 101... ...
The specific contributions of atmospheric chemistry research to each goal are discussed in the text below, where the targets relevant to both atmospheric chemistry and the overarching Sustainable Development Goals are identified.
|
From page 102... ...
. These trends can be included in future scenarios of air pollutants and greenhouse gases to demonstrate environmen tal costs and benefits of each course of action.
|
From page 103... ...
In turn, those predictions need to be based on fundamental knowledge of atmospheric chemistry. Refining such an effective predictive capability for tomorrow is an ultimate goal of atmospheric chemistry research.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.