Lisa started her 3-month participation in the FIREX-AQ campaign last week. She will be making measurements from the Twin Otter aircraft (“Chem Otter”) to better understand brown carbon produced from wildfires. She will be working closely with collaborators from NOAA and the University of Colorado. Lisa will be spending ~6 weeks in Boulder, CO preparing the measurement system before travelling to Boise, ID to undertake the research flights. Her trip is being funded through a Mitacs Globalink Award. Good luck Lisa!
Congratulations Devon!
Devon gave a presentation at the Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition earlier this month in Quebec City. He discussed his novel materials to denoxify HONO and was awarded best graduate oral presentation in the Environment Division. Congratulations Devon!
HaliFAQS campaign begins!
The Halifax Fog and Air Quality Study (HaliFAQS) began recently at St. Mary’s University in Halifax, NS. This project is a collaboration with the research groups of Aldona Wiacek (SMU) and Rachel Chang (Dalhousie) aimed at better understanding the role of ocean-atmosphere exchange on air quality and fog formation. Alex and Teles are heading our group’s contribution with several gas and aerosol phase measurements.Looking forward to seeing the results!
Welcome (back) Lisa and congratulations!
The group is pleased to welcome Lisa Azzarello as an MSc student! Lisa joined the group as an undergraduate student and is back with us for an MSc, where she will be examining the chemical composition of aerosols and the impact on climate. Lisa was also recently awarded a Mitacs Globalink Research Award that will take her to Colorado and Idaho this summer/fall to participate in the FIREX-AQ field campaign with collaborators at the University of Colorado and NOAA. Congratulations and welcome back!
Welcome Alex!
Welcome to our new postdoc, Alex Moravek! Alex did a PhD at Max Planck Institute for Chemistry and more recently has been working at the University of Toronto. Alex brings expertise in measurement of reactive gases and biosphere-atmosphere exchange. We are excited to have him join the team.
Group visit to Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation, and Parks
As the year winds to a close, the group visited Ontario’s Ministry of Environment, Conservation, and Parks where we learned about their extensive routine monitoring and emergency response capabilities. Special thanks to fantastic tour guides, ministry scientists Nick Karellas, Rob Healy, and John Wang.
Cora at Harvard
Cora was in Boston last week to give an invited seminar at Harvard in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. She presented Heidi’s perfluoroalkyl substances work, along with reactive chlorine work from Teles, Andrea, and Kathryn. Along with meeting many fantastic faculty and students, she was able to tour group alum Heidi’s new workplace!
Indoor chem chamber studies in Syracuse
Cora was in Syracuse recently to participate in chamber experiments with collaborators Tara Kahan, Jianshun Zhang, and Trevor VandenBoer. The experiments, known as Radicals and Oxidants from Cleaning in a Chamber (ROCC) were undertaken in the specialized chamber in Prof. Zhang’s lab. These are part of a larger project funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
The ROCC team (aka ROCCstars)
Cora and Tara show off the program and funding agency making this happen
Kathryn's paper published!
Kathryn’s paper, describing cavity ring-down measurements of HCl indoors, was published recently in the journal Indoor Air. Kathryn identified several sources of HCl indoors, including bleach, dishwasher use, and cooking, showing evidence for direct emissions and potential for indirect formation. This work was part of a collaboration with Tara Kahan’s group at the University of Saskatchewan (formerly Syracuse University).
Sectioning ice cores from Ellesmere Island
Daniel and Cora were at Environment and Climate Change Canada in Burlington, ON last week to section ice cores along with ECCC colleagues. The ice cores were collected from Ellesmere Island in the Canadian High Arctic in May 2017 and will be used to better understand the trends and long-range transport of contaminants. They were joined by York University Science Communicator in Residence, Molly Segal, who documented the process. Stay tuned for results!
