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  4. Overview of the Alaskan Layered Pollution and Chemical Analysis (ALPACA) Field Experiment
 
research article

Overview of the Alaskan Layered Pollution and Chemical Analysis (ALPACA) Field Experiment

Simpson, William R.
•
Mao, Jingqiu
•
Fochesatto, Gilberto J.
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2024
ACS ES&T Air

The Alaskan Layered Pollution And Chemical Analysis (ALPACA) field experiment was a collaborative study designed to improve understanding of pollution sources and chemical processes during winter (cold climate and low-photochemical activity), to investigate indoor pollution, and to study dispersion of pollution as affected by frequent temperature inversions. A number of the research goals were motivated by questions raised by residents of Fairbanks, Alaska, where the study was held. This paper describes the measurement strategies and the conditions encountered during the January and February 2022 field experiment, and reports early examples of how the measurements addressed research goals, particularly those of interest to the residents. Outdoor air measurements showed high concentrations of particulate matter and pollutant gases including volatile organic carbon species. During pollution events, low winds and extremely stable atmospheric conditions trapped pollution below 73 m, an extremely shallow vertical scale. Tethered-balloon-based measurements intercepted plumes aloft, which were associated with power plant point sources through transport modeling. Because cold climate residents spend much of their time indoors, the study included an indoor air quality component, where measurements were made inside and outside a house to study infiltration and indoor sources. In the absence of indoor activities such as cooking and/or heating with a pellet stove, indoor particulate matter concentrations were lower than outdoors; however, cooking and pellet stove burns often caused higher indoor particulate matter concentrations than outdoors. The mass-normalized particulate matter oxidative potential, a health-relevant property measured here by the reactivity with dithiothreiol, of indoor particles varied by source, with cooking particles having less oxidative potential per mass than pellet stove particles.

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Type
research article
DOI
10.1021/acsestair.3c00076
Author(s)
Simpson, William R.
Mao, Jingqiu
Fochesatto, Gilberto J.
Law, Kathy S.
DeCarlo, Peter F.
Schmale, Julia  
Pratt, Kerri A.
Arnold, Steve R.
Stutz, Jochen
Dibb, Jack E.
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Date Issued

2024

Published in
ACS ES&T Air
Subjects

air pollution

•

aerosol particles

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cold climate

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atmospheric chemistry

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Arctic Alaska

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
EERL  
Available on Infoscience
February 25, 2024
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/205566
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