Seminar

Studies of Brown Carbon Particles from Wildfire Smoke

Rodney Weber

Rodney Weber

Georgia Tech

Thursday, 28 April 2022
10:00 am Mountain Time
webinar only

Abstract

The contribution of smoke from wildfires is having an increasing influence on air quality and climate. One component of these fires are organic aerosol particles that preferentially absorb light at the lower end of the visible spectrum, leading to the name brown carbon (BrC). As more studies have focused on BrC formation and evolution in smoke from fires, the picture is becoming more complex. In this talk I will discuss the results from our studies of BrC in the NASA FIREX-AQ mission, comparing methods for measuring BrC and the evolution of BrC close to the fires and at some distance. These results will be compared to other studies of BrC aging.


Dr. Rodney Weber is a professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Science at Georgia Institute of Technology. He earned his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Minnesota. He did his postdoctoral research at Brookhaven National Laboratory before joining the faculty of Georgia Tech in 1998. He has been awarded the American Geophysical Union’s Ascent Award in 2014 and the Cullen-Peck Faculty Fellow Award in 2007, among other honors. His research focuses on aerosol formation and growth mechanisms and its effects on air quality and human health.

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