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Carnegie Mellon researchers urge regulators to rethink strategies for soot emission
March 02, 2007PITTSBURGH — Carnegie Mellon University researchers say government officials need to adopt new ways of measuring and regulating the fine particles of smoke and soot so endemic to serious health problems and the global warming crisis.
In a March 2 article published in the journal Science, professors Allen L. Robinson and Neil M. Donahue report a new conceptual model for how microscopic particles behave in the atmosphere that raises new questions about current regulations.
The research found new chemical processes that occur after soot and gaseous pollutants are emitted from cars and trucks, changing the chemical and physical properties of the soot particles and creating new particulate matter. These new particles are potentially more toxic and may have a stronger influence on cloud formation that can alter the global climate.
"One of our key findings is that this chemical processing leads to more particulate matter in the air, meaning that regulators are likely underestimating how sources such as cars and trucks contribute to pollution," said Robinson, an associate professor of mechanical engineering and engineering and public policy. "We need to take a holistic approach to regulating these sources that account for all emissions." Accounting for these new processes improves the predictions of the models federal and state governments use to develop regulations.
"A second important finding is that the properties of this new particulate matter are different than we previously thought and potentially more toxic," added Donahue, an associate professor of chemical engineering and chemistry.
Particulate matter poses a serious health problem. Fifty thousand Americans are thought to die prematurely each year due to particle exposure, and almost 70 million Americans live in areas that violate the federal standard. That standard was strengthened in September after scientists, armed with years of studies showing that these particles can damage lungs and the heart, advised the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that the previous standard of 65 micrograms per cubic meter of air was too loose.
A third key implication has to do with how the chemical process leads to a spreading of pollution over a larger geographic region. "We're seeing that urban pollution doesn't stay contained in the cities, but impacts rural and other downwind areas, creating even more complicated issues for regulators," Robinson said.
Fine particles such as smoke or dust form droplets in clouds and affect how much sun is able to pass through the cloud to earth, as well as the amount of moisture that is returned to earth. Both clouds and sunlight play key roles in climate change. The effects of particulate matter were identified as key to uncertainty in a recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) summarizing the state scientific knowledge on the impacts of human activities on global climate.
"For the longest time, particulate matter has been the least understood component of the climate system. The more we understand particulate matter, the more we realize that complexity has been masking our ability to calculate how big a role greenhouse gases have played in inducing global warming," said Donahue. "Moreover, the new mechanism we found changes the chemical properties of particles, making them more likely to participate in cloud formation. Therefore, particulate matter may be having a stronger influence on global climate than previously thought."
Carnegie Mellon University
"One of our key findings is that this chemical processing leads to more particulate matter in the air, meaning that regulators are likely underestimating how sources such as cars and trucks contribute to pollution," said Robinson, an associate professor of mechanical engineering and engineering and public policy. "We need to take a holistic approach to regulating these sources that account for all emissions." Accounting for these new processes improves the predictions of the models federal and state governments use to develop regulations.
"A second important finding is that the properties of this new particulate matter are different than we previously thought and potentially more toxic," added Donahue, an associate professor of chemical engineering and chemistry.
Particulate matter poses a serious health problem. Fifty thousand Americans are thought to die prematurely each year due to particle exposure, and almost 70 million Americans live in areas that violate the federal standard. That standard was strengthened in September after scientists, armed with years of studies showing that these particles can damage lungs and the heart, advised the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that the previous standard of 65 micrograms per cubic meter of air was too loose.
A third key implication has to do with how the chemical process leads to a spreading of pollution over a larger geographic region. "We're seeing that urban pollution doesn't stay contained in the cities, but impacts rural and other downwind areas, creating even more complicated issues for regulators," Robinson said.
Fine particles such as smoke or dust form droplets in clouds and affect how much sun is able to pass through the cloud to earth, as well as the amount of moisture that is returned to earth. Both clouds and sunlight play key roles in climate change. The effects of particulate matter were identified as key to uncertainty in a recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) summarizing the state scientific knowledge on the impacts of human activities on global climate.
"For the longest time, particulate matter has been the least understood component of the climate system. The more we understand particulate matter, the more we realize that complexity has been masking our ability to calculate how big a role greenhouse gases have played in inducing global warming," said Donahue. "Moreover, the new mechanism we found changes the chemical properties of particles, making them more likely to participate in cloud formation. Therefore, particulate matter may be having a stronger influence on global climate than previously thought."
Carnegie Mellon University
Global Warming Current Events and Global Warming News RSSGas from the past gives scientists new insights into climate and the oceans
In recent years, public discussion of climate change has included concerns that increased levels of carbon dioxide will contribute to global warming, which in turn may change the circulation in the earth's oceans, with potentially disastrous consequences.
Researchers document world's mammals in crisis
From majestic African elephants to tiny and often unappreciated rodents, mammals on Earth are in a state of crisis. One in four mammal species on Earth is being pushed to extinction, according to the Global Mammal Assessment, the most comprehensive assessment of the world's mammals.
Are we trading energy conservation for toxic air emissions?
A team of Yale scientists has found that certain countries and some U.S. states stand to benefit from the use of compact fluorescent lighting more than others in the fight against global warming. Some places may even produce more mercury emissions by switching from incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescent lighting.
Scientist proposes explanation for puzzling property of night-shining clouds at the edge of space
An explanation for a strange property of noctilucent clouds--thin, wispy clouds hovering at the edge of space at 85 km altitude--has been proposed by an experimental plasma physicist at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), possibly laying to rest a decades-long mystery.
Researchers find animal with ability to survive climate change
Queen's researchers have found that the main source of food for many fish - including cod - in the North Atlantic appears to adapt in order to survive climate change.
IMPACTS: On the Threshold of Abrupt Climate Changes
Abrupt climate change is a potential menace that hasn't received much attention. That's about to change. Through its Climate Change Prediction Program, the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research (OBER) recently launched IMPACTS - Investigation of the Magnitudes and Probabilities of Abrupt Climate Transitions - a program led by William Collins of Berkeley Lab's Earth Sciences Division (ESD) that brings together six national laboratories to attack the problem of abrupt climate change, or ACC.
Scientists working to protect NI from Bird Flu
Queen's scientists are involved in two international projects aimed to protect Northern Ireland's agri-food industry from Bird Flu and African Swine Fever, a disease which kills pigs.
Curbing coal emissions alone might avert climate danger, say researchers
An ongoing rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide from burning of fossil fuels might be kept below harmful levels if emissions from coal are phased out within the next few decades, say researchers.
Luck gave dinosaurs their edge
T. rex and Triceratops: In the popular imagination, dinosaurs are extraordinary reptiles that ruled the world for over 160 million years. But Steve Brusatte, a doctoral student at Columbia University who is an affiliate of the American Museum of Natural History, and colleagues are challenging this idea with new fossil data and math.
Brown-led research team proposes new link to tropical African climate
he Lake Tanganyika area, in southeast Africa, is home to nearly 130 million people living in four countries that bound the lake, the second deepest on Earth. Scientists have known that the region experiences dramatic wet and dry spells, and that rainfall profoundly affects the area's people, who depend on it for agriculture, drinking water and hydroelectric power.
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