Abstract

Increasing energy demands and expanding human activities worldwide are changing the composition of the atmosphere and contributing to climate change and air pollution. These two environmental challenges are viewed as separate issues, but they are highly connected. Both greenhouse gases and air pollutants are emitted from many of the same sources.

Despite a growing recognition of this linkage between air pollution and climate change, there is still significant work needed to quantify emissions of airborne particles and different gases from diverse sources varying over space and time and to understand atmospheric processes and chemistry. In addition, mitigation and/or adaptation approaches should be coordinated. In this endeavour, the study of atmospheric chemistry is necessary to understand the identities, sources, transport, chemical transformations, and fates of gases and airborne particles. Furthermore, biogeochemical cycles that connect chemistry in the atmosphere with oceans, and the terrestrial and marine biospheres need to be investigated with cross-disciplinary breadth.

To fill these knowledge gaps, new laboratory and field studies are needed to characterize the complex atmospheric chemistry processes on scales ranging from local to global for future use in predictive models. These models also play a pivotal role in testing the relative importance and synergies between mechanisms and processes identified in the laboratory and field for controlling the regional and global distributions of atmospheric pollutants. By adopting a coordinated approach that considers the linkages between the environmental challenges of air quality and climate change, there is a tremendous potential for having a win-win outcome in terms of achieving social benefits.

AOGS provides opportunities for the integration of expertise across disciplines and across academia, institutes, government, and industry to pursue the collaborative research needed to propose innovative solutions to societal problems such as air pollution and climate change. This presentation will highlight the recent advances in the field of atmospheric chemistry and point out new opportunities for collaborative research at the regional and international levels.