EPA Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Webinar Series: Emissions Research to Improve Decision-making

Webinar
United States

Webinar Series Description: Air pollution occurs when harmful substances from a variety of sources are introduced into the air we breathe. These emissions can affect human health and the environment, so it is important to detect, measure, and monitor their behavior. Advances in research can be used by state and local agencies in their development of air quality management plans and in determination of problematic sources. In 2009, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program awarded twelve grants to universities and organizations to support Novel Approaches to Improving Air Pollution Emissions Information. Grantees measured and modeled emissions sources such as transportation, animal feeding operations, ships, and others, and also worked on developing new, cutting-edge techniques. Highlights from the research findings will be summarized in this four-part webinar series.

Webinar Series Dates & Featured Speakers

Monday, June 12 @ 12pm EST

Topic: Mobile sources
Automobile emissions are a familiar source of air pollution to anyone stuck in rush-hour traffic or behind a belching diesel truck. Predicting these emissions requires precise measurements of the many different kinds of pollutants and details about vehicle, traffic activity, and weather. This understanding enables individuals and local planners to understand impacts of their choices. Each of these researchers will describe how they helped to improve our understanding of vehicle emissions.

Speakers:
Christopher Frey, North Carolina State University
Framework for Context-Sensitive Spatially- and Temporally-Resolved Onroad Mobile Source Emission Inventories

Allen Robinson, Carnegie Mellon University
Improving chemical transport model predictions of organic aerosol: Measurement and simulation of semivolatile organic emissions from mobile and non-mobile sources

Drew Gentner, Yale University
Evaluation of Mobile Source Emissions and Trends Using Detailed Chemical and Physical Measurements

Monday, June 19 @ 12pm EST

Topic: Ammonia / animal operations
Animal feeding operations produce a lot of animal waste, and therefore can produce high levels of ammonia emissions. This source is not well represented in many emissions models. These presentations will chronicle the development of an animal- and weather-dependent model for farm emissions and the global implications of nitrogen emissions, including a new ammonia inventory. Since nitrogen is one of the key species linking air and water systems, greater understand will be useful for decision makers considering multiple media.

Speakers:
Peter Adams, Carnegie Mellon University
Atmospheric Ammonia Emissions from the Livestock Sector: Development and Evaluation of a Process-based Modeling Approach

Daven Henze, University of Colorado at Boulder
Constraining ammonia emissions and PM2.5 control efficiencies with a new combination of satellite data, surface observations and adjoint modeling techniques

Presentations:
Recent CMU Ammonia Modeling and Emissions Inventory (PDF) (27 pp, 8 MB, 6/27/2017)
Top-down constraints on NH3emissions (PDF) (29 pp, 8 MB, 6/27/2017)

               Additional grantee
               Jay Ham, Colorado State University
               Towards a Verifiable Ammonia Emissions Inventory for Cattle Feedlots in the Great Plains

                Unable to present in this webinar series, but previously presented:
              Towards a Verifiable Ammonia Emissions Inventory for Cattle Feedlots in the Great Plains (PDF) (22pp, 4 MB, 02/14/2011)

Monday, July 17 @ 12pm EST

Topic: Technique development
Recent advances in technology and ingenuity can help researchers better measure emissions both in the field and in the lab. These presentations will show how tall sampling towers and new data analysis tools can identify local emissions footprints, how inverse modeling can show the impact of local topography and fires on air quality, and how the effect of mixing emissions with unpolluted air can change laboratory results. Greater knowledge of individual sources is critical for understanding impacts at a local level.

Speakers:
Gunnar Schade, Texas A & M University
Improving Emission Inventories Using Direct Flux Measurements and Modeling

Benjamin de Foy, Saint Louis University
Improvements in Emissions Inventories using Semi-Continuous Monitoring Data and Concentrations Field Analysis

Max Zhang, Cornell University
Quantifying the Effects of the Mixing Process in Fabricated Dilution Systems on Particulate Emission Measurements via an Integrated Experimental and Modeling Approach

Monday, July 24 @ 12pm EST

Topic: Novel sources: Coarse PM, ships, LVOCs
New research and improved measurement tools can help identify and characterize emissions that were previously uncertain. These presentations will cover a few novel emissions sources, including how the emissions of large and small particles compare, how fuel and vehicle speed affects emissions from ships, and how to measure a recently identified kind of organic emissions from vehicles and aircraft.

Speakers:
Michael Hannigan, University of Colorado at Boulder
Coarse PM Emissions Model Development and Inventory Validation

Christopher Cappa, University of California - Davis
Characterization of Particulate Emissions from Ships from In Situ Measurements

Jesse Kroll, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Emissions of gas-phase low-volatility organic compounds (LVOCs) from mobile sources

Contact
Sherri Hunt (hunt.sherri@epa.gov); 202-564-4486

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this presentation are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use.