Centre for Research in Earth and Space Science prime centre for atmospheric science;
Research assesses global impact of air quality on climate change
TORONTO, August 27, 2007 -- York University’s Centre for Research in Earth and Space Science (CRESS) today opened the Gordon G. Shepherd Atmospheric Research Facility. The facility includes three laboratories, two of which are equipped with special roof hatches that allow researchers to test new instruments while measuring the properties of the sky all year, expanding their work in analyzing and modeling air quality in the lower atmosphere.
Using the laboratory space, CRESS researchers will develop new instrumentation for assessing the impact of human activity on the atmosphere, which can affect air quality, climate change and weather patterns. Tested locally in Ontario, dials, lidars (laser-based instrumentation), sunphotometers and spectrometers are used in internationally-based field experiments to track and measure ozone and particulate matter caused by regional and global air pollution.
Whether generated by fossil fuel emissions, Boreal forest fires in the Yukon or Colorado, or monsoons in South Asia, these particles pose a rising health hazard to humans while potentially contributing to cloud modification. Lidars have also been used to study large convective storms, known as hectors, and the delivery of water vapour to the upper troposphere where it can form heat-trapping cirrus clouds and impact climate.
“While some of these particles have declined locally in absolute quantity over the last 40 years, the problem is arguably worse,” said Jack McConnell, professor of atmospheric science. “The way diesel fuels are burned produces fewer visible particles than similar processes 20 years ago, but the particles are now smaller, harder to detect and able to penetrate deeper into the lungs since they cannot be as easily filtered by bodily membranes, such as those in the nose.”
This type of research is especially applicable to the future air quality of the Arctic. “As the Arctic ice continues to melt and it becomes possible for tanker ships to travel between the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean during summer, we expect to see a large rise in air pollution, nitrogen oxides, ozone and particulates there,” said McConnell. “Tankers are essentially small towns on the move in terms of their pollution output; when absorbed by the snow, the particulate soot they produce reflects less sunlight and can accelerate the rate at which ice melts.”
McConnell and his colleagues noted a similar trend in northern Norway last year. “Due to spring rains, European farmers delayed burning off their fields longer than usual,” he said. “The particles produced by those fires were carried north and had a significant impact on air quality in the Arctic and Norway in particular, producing a darker colour in the snow.”
"Government investment in research infrastructure and equipment is essential to sustain globally competitive research programs while attracting and retaining the best researchers and students," said Stan Shapson, vice-president research & innovation at York. "This new facility builds on CRESS’ and the Centre for Atmospheric Chemistry’s combined strengths, and positions York as a leading centre for atmospheric and air quality research in Canada.”
Supported by the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and the Ontario Innovation Trust (OIT), the new facility is named in honour of Professor Gordon Shepherd’s prodigious research achievements in earth and space science.
Professor Shepherd was a co-investigator for the Canadian Ultra Violet Imager launched on the Swedish Viking satellite in 1986, and Principal Investigator for the WIND Imaging Interferometer launched on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) in 1991. Appointed director of CRESS in 1995, Professor Shepherd is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute and the International Astronautical Federation. He received the Canadian Space Agency’s John H. Chapman Award for Excellence in 2003 and the Canadian Aeronautics & Space Institute’s Alouette Award in 2004.
Founded in 1965, the Centre for Research in Earth and Space Science (CRESS) promotes, enhances and facilitates collaborative, interdisciplinary research in astronomy and astrophysics, atmospheric dynamics, chemical physics, geodynamics, geomatics, remote sensing, the space environment and robotics. Its members include faculty from the departments of Earth and Space Science and Engineering, Chemistry, Computer Science and Engineering and Physics and Astronomy.
York University is the leading interdisciplinary research and teaching university in Canada. York offers a modern, academic experience at the undergraduate and graduate level in Toronto, Canada’s most international city. The third largest university in the country, York is host to a dynamic academic community of 50,000 students and 7,000 faculty and staff, as well as 200,000 alumni worldwide. York’s 11 faculties and 24 research centres conduct ambitious, groundbreaking research that is interdisciplinary, cutting across traditional academic boundaries. This distinctive and collaborative approach is preparing students for the future and bringing fresh insights and solutions to real-world challenges. York University is an autonomous, not-for-profit corporation.
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For more information, please contact:
Janice Walls, Media Relations, York University, 416 736 2100 x22101 / wallsj@yorku.ca
