Arctic urban air pollution assessment

Cold weather often interacts with air quality. Credit: University of Alaska, Fairbanks

A new study supported in part by CPO’s Atmospheric Chemistry, Carbon Cycle and Climate (AC4) Program provides an overview of the Alaskan Layered Pollution And Chemical Analysis (ALPACA) field experiment. ALPACA is funded largely by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and is aimed at understanding winter air pollution in cold regions like Fairbanks, Alaska, where residents often worry about air quality. AC4-supported scientists Becky Alexander (University of Washington) and Lu Hu (University of Montana) worked with a large international team of researchers to describe ALPACA’s findings on pollution sources, chemical processes, and how weather affects pollution. This study is crucial because it sheds light on how winter conditions impact air quality and helps communities like Fairbanks tackle pollution issues. AC4 funded these two researchers to investigate changes in chemistry, carbon, and composition in urban atmospheres in the context of a changing climate.