In Fairbanks, Alaska, Researchers Unravel Frigid Air Pollution
Sep 06, 2024 —
New research shows that an effort to improve wintertime air quality in Fairbanks, Alaska — particularly in frigid conditions around 40 below zero Fahrenheit — may not be as effective as intended.
Led by a team of University of Alaska Fairbanks and Georgia Tech researchers that includes School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Professor Rodney Weber, the researchers' latest findings are published in Science Advances.
In the study, the team leveraged state-of-the-art thermodynamic tools used in global air quality models, with an aim to better understand how reducing the amount of primary sulfate in the atmosphere might affect sub-zero air quality conditions.
The project stems from the 2022 Alaskan Layered Pollution and Chemical Analysis project, or ALPACA, an international project funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and European sources. It is part of an international air quality effort called Pollution in the Arctic: Climate Environment and Societies.
Read the full story in the University of Alaska Fairbanks newsroom.
Jess Hunt-Ralston
Director of Communications
College of Sciences
Georgia Institute of Technology
Rod Boyce
University of Alaska Fairbanks